i need to rant for a moment here
Jun. 14th, 2004 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
godreamDear People Who I Don't Know Who Beep At Me:
It's possible you mean well. Maybe you're trying to be friendly, or funny. You're not, okay? I'm sorry. But try to see it from my point of view. What I see is tinted windows and a couple thousand pounds of metal. SUVs are, like, the natural predators of bikes, and I get that lower-on-the-food-chain panic. Come on, you're coming up from behind me on random back streets, I can hear you coming but I can't see you, and then you honk? Please.
Beeping at me when I am pulled over on the shoulder of the road turning my bike upside-down to try to force the chain back onto the gears (I discovered, twice, that it's possible to put a bike into the equivalent of neutral while riding) and noticing how flat my tires are and thinking about how much I wish I had my license or stay-at-home parents with nothing better to do, and wanting to be home already because I'm worried it's going to start raining? It's just insult on injury. Screw you and your truck too, jerk.
Sincerely,
me
[Of course, if you're reading this entry, then it's inapplicable to you. But I needed to get it out of my system. I feel much better now.]
It's possible you mean well. Maybe you're trying to be friendly, or funny. You're not, okay? I'm sorry. But try to see it from my point of view. What I see is tinted windows and a couple thousand pounds of metal. SUVs are, like, the natural predators of bikes, and I get that lower-on-the-food-chain panic. Come on, you're coming up from behind me on random back streets, I can hear you coming but I can't see you, and then you honk? Please.
Beeping at me when I am pulled over on the shoulder of the road turning my bike upside-down to try to force the chain back onto the gears (I discovered, twice, that it's possible to put a bike into the equivalent of neutral while riding) and noticing how flat my tires are and thinking about how much I wish I had my license or stay-at-home parents with nothing better to do, and wanting to be home already because I'm worried it's going to start raining? It's just insult on injury. Screw you and your truck too, jerk.
Sincerely,
me
[Of course, if you're reading this entry, then it's inapplicable to you. But I needed to get it out of my system. I feel much better now.]
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-17 08:10 pm (UTC)Oh, the regular kind. I admit I only get the censor ones when I'm doing something stupid, like trying to cross Hudson. Goodness knows why I'd do a silly thing like that. :P
They're completely silent coming up on you, unlike skateboarders, and go pretty fast.
Ooooo, stealth bicyclists! A zillion years ago when my dad used to take me and my siblings on bike trails, we were taught to call "passing on your left!" or whatever in order to cut down on the surprise value, which I do do sometimes when I feel like being a dork, but a considerate dork.
The bicycle, then, seems to be an invention that both inconveniences people in vehicles both larger and smaller than it. Until I'm riding one around, I shall disapprove of it.
I'll bet I'd hate to get you started on motorcycles. :P
no subject
Date: 2004-06-18 10:28 am (UTC)