On Rule #59: Hold Your Line
Anecdotal research suggests that people are being let off-leash without adequate training to perform basic activities such as walking on sidewalks or through airports and busy city centers. I’m assuming this expands to shopping malls, but I never go there so I can’t be sure. It’s easy to blame the mobile phones which apparently grow from our hands, but even when no phone appears to be involved, the same problem exists: people wander about without any apparent awareness that anyone else might be in the vicinity.
Take, for instance, the gentleman who wandered off the Plane Train at SEATAC airport the other day. As he detrained, he stopped to investigate which of the 4 identical escalators best satisfied his fancy. I’m not one to criticize someone’s escalator scrutiny – you can’t over think these sorts of things – my issue is with the choice to stop just outside the exit of the train, completely unaware that he was blocking the way for the other passengers still left on the train.
It isn’t that these are bad people. We’re a product of our society and society teaches us that being a self-absorbed asshole is the right way to go about your life; there’s no limit to what you can accomplish when you don’t give a flying fuck about how those accomplishments impact other people. Which brings me back to my original point: we’re not getting the right training in order to avoid being assholes.
Riding a bike in general and riding in a group in particular teaches you all sorts of things about external dependencies and the trickle effect that our actions have on those around us. Rule #59 extends beyond just riding in a straight line, but to riding predictably and informing those riders who are dependent on you of dangers and obstacles. Cyclists develop a situational awareness that becomes second nature with practice.
I therefore propose that we modify our free-ranging policy to include a provision that mandates all humans be required to take a bicycle racing class and spend significant time riding in a group at speed before being allowed into the wilds of society. Don’t change your line when walking on a sidewalk without peeking over your shoulder. Don’t stop dead in your tracks without checking if someone is behind you. Don’t take a right-hand turn without warning when driving in the far left lane. Don’t block doorways. Don’t knock people in the head when you’re walking with a 2×4.
And for the love of Merckx, take off your headphones.
@sthilzy
On the commute home, I wound up getting tied up in the Commuter Grand Prix. Amazing the shit you see and the random passing of riders without any awareness that someone might be blasting by them.
The best thing to do there is to accelerate to traffic speed and take the lane. Sit up and Beg YJA’ers really do a double-take when that happens.
@unversio
A headphoned rider in a group ride two weeks back swung out without looking and bumped into me. Held my line, pushed back into him with my shoulder and he did the same into me until he regained his balance. No harm done luckily, but the riders behind skipped a heartbeat and were rather glad we knew how to handle a situation like that.
@starclimber
I am all for kids etc etc but one of my major pet peeves is the parents who act like the world should stop because they’ve manage to push out a baby. They’ll stop anywhere any time, interrupt any conversation, and – and this is my favorite – stand in the bike lane while they unload their pack of rug rats into wagons and carts, forcing the Cyclists to swerve out into traffic and risk getting hit.
My fear is that someday when I’m on a MUP whilst riding my #1, I’ll get stopped by some local authority and fined for not having a bell on it. In my head I then argue that few would hear a bell anyway since they all (yes, I know it’s an omniscience fallacy) have headphones in their ears. I then would have to accept the fine because in the end, it’s the bylaw that cycles have a bell, not that people have to have open ears to hear one.
I often loudly call ‘ding!’ when I come upon other pathway users from behind, and invariably the ones without headphones will reel in their dogs, single up, or wave to show acknowledgement of my approach.
The other train of thought that keeps my sanity on MUPs is that they are truly multi-use pathways. I have just as much right to be there as they do. Yes, their behaviour can be self centred, but is my expectation of right of way to the faster vehicle any less egocentric?
When I happen upon an uncontrolled dog (a retractable leash does not a controlled dog make), child, or pathway occluding group, I think of it as forced intervals. Accelerate, slow down for obstacle/hazardous user, accelerate. It makes me more resilient to the man with the hammer on those days on the road.
I should add however, that stopping dead in the middle of a lane, hallway, walkway, elevator door, top of escalator or other place where people and things are intended to be in motion is just plain dumb. Move right (or left as the case may be in your part of the world) and slow down predictably to a stop.
@TheVid Can I add “stopping immediately after entering a restaurant and looking around gormlessly despite having already read the menu in the window blocking the doorway for those people who’ve already decided they would like eat there”
My parents are terrible for that.
@Puffy
A future article will indeed examine the practice of pointing shit out. Only point at stuff you don’t want to ride over. No need to point out shadows or bits of paper. But potholes and branches are good.
@Rhodri
And stop their car in the lane of traffic to talk to a neighbor…
And then the fast lane will become a status symbol like it is on the highways.
@Deakus
Dialing long distance? Wait, can this iPhone actually make calls?
@Carel
I do a bit of this riding the CX bike in the park…but there I’m the oddball and try my best not to scare people too much. But the extender leash has almost made for a very sad ending to either my ride or a small dog on numerous occasions!
@Ron
I’m surprised it hasn’t been posted yet:
My morning commutes on the bike start early to avoid the crazy cell phone using, coffee guzzling drivers and consists of small village roads, a narrow wind-y flat followed by a wide climb and a 65kmh descent nestled in with the traffic, a short (legal) interval on the Interstate topped off by a couple of kilometers on the MUP. Without question, the stretch that requires the most awareness and concentration is the MUP. I especially dig the guys or gals (they all do it) who amble along three or four abreast yakking about last night’s game or today’s mah-jongg tournament.
@frank
The other day I saw a guy almost ride off a curb, looking over his shoulder yakking away to his ride mates. Fortunately I called the precarious situation to his attention just in time; otherwise he was going over the bars.
This. Jezuz H Merckx, this. This is one of the reasons I just can’t do group rides anymore (see the description of the upcoming Seattle Summer Cogal, STV.) The world is just chock full of these fucking assholes. No concept anywhere in their miserable little minds of the world about them. The incidences are too numerous to recount.
@Ron
Learning to hold your line on a bicycle might help with this sort of situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pgm8I0B8bY
@Duende Maybe he had a Schleckanical…or he’s never ridden a bicycle in the rain over painted lines. Counter steer man, counter steer.
@Nate
Didn’t the moron sue the mall or something, if I remember right? Love the commentary. Who are they, mall security personnel? That must have really brighthened up their day!
I read this just as I came back from a trip to Costco…if this belief elevates one to Grumpy Old man status then its’ ‘You kids get off my lawn!” time for me…that or I start giving everyone throat punches.
@Duende
That is just the best – I see these kind of morons all the time. The ones with the red cars are the ones with the biggest (smallest?) issues.
Many posts in this article strike a chord – commuting/ headphoned walkers/ dogs/ being tangled in an un-retracted leash that I didn’t see in the gloom/ actually hitting a mutt that decided to turn right just as I reached it. It wasn’t wearing earbuds either. All part of the joy of getting to ride to work. The weapon of choice is now the CX bike so I can happily ride verges to avoid many of the hazards ahead. Having a bell fitted and using it irrespective of whether it’s heard or not absolves me of culpability if some muppet on 2 legs listening to Michael Buble doesn’t hear it. When in non commuting ride mode it’s tarmac all the way irrespective of any available cycling ‘infrastructure’ so pedestrian hazards are reduced. I do my bit to try to educate when I ride in a group, it’s how I was taught and as a coach only right I continue the role. A few sessions on a banked track soon sorts out the strong bike riders but generally crap bike handlers from those who can actually hold a line and look before moving! Not as many as you might imagine.
FYI Belfast and Dublin did a great job of hosting the Giro despite the weather, I’ve a plentiful supply of memories and photos but sadly the ‘orange budget airline’ were not happy with attempts to get some large event sign souvenirs on their aircraft. BTW Hilden Brewery Dunlop & Hume beer, specially brewed for the event. Nice.
@Nate
We can’t all be geniuses. I’m here to lower the average so more of you look good.
Would have really sucked to explain to the throngs of fan(s) why I couldn’t sign the books anymore because of my double wrist fracture.
@scaler911
I’ve always wondered about this phenomenon. Glad I’m not the only one!
@sthilzy
I love it when my fellow ‘muricans say “maths.”
@Ccos
Took the words right out of my mouth
@frank ” I’m assuming this expands to shopping malls, but I never go there so I can’t be sure ”
My place of work just happens to be co-located in a shopping mall. Somedays its worth sitting outside in the mall for some light entertainment, of particular interest are the shopping trolley retrievers.
These muppets appear to be a law unto themselves, whereby speed and length of trolley train seem to increase as the day goes on.
Many a time whilst walking ive been tempted to yell ” Car back” as the trolley train goes smashing down the mall at light speed like a pissed off snake on crack.
@ChrisO
I am really at a compelte loss as to why you need music whilst riding. I love music, I make it, and buy lots of it, it’s great but when I get outdoors, the music stays behind. Are you really that bored/miserable that you cannot just enjoy the sounds of the environment (and your internal monologue) for a couple of hours a day? I’m not juding you, it’s an honest question. Being alone, and given hours of zero discraction, just you and the unverse is one of lifes greatest things in my opionion. I recently did the Scody Three Peaks, a 9.5hr ride. I did it solo, and only occasionally spoke to anyone as they never rode beside me, only on my wheel. Not once, did I long for music, or anything. The sound of the bush, the blood in my ears at times, that’s what made the ride. Anyway, just wondering why ear buds are required.
@frank
YES! As I have explained the over-calling doesn’t happen (regional town) here but I was riding in a bunch for three days in the capital city. We were riding the country roads outside the city and these clowns called every freaking blesh in the hotmix out. I spent half the time laughing that they would even bother. Then it occured to me that the dollars always flow south. Around here the roads are utter crap, down there, the country back roads are far superior hence the difference in opinion as to what required notification. In the end I told them if it doesn’t swallow your wheel to the axle, don’t bother to call it!
I think this should happen more often to those oblivious of their surroundings! Not paying attention? Lookout, the unvierse is about to bite your ass for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXiQGpIGlGo
@Puffy
I ponder the same question. Although I do all my thinking before riding, the ride provides me the space to sort through all the clutter. That internal monologue at first seems crazy, then it makes sense, then it just is. Earbuds filled with music, or even phone conversations, short circuit that process. I tried them once in both ears, then once in one ear, then a resolve to never use them on the road/path/trail again.
@TheVid
I’d never considered having a bell on my bike before. But these pics almost made me reconsider
@Puffy @optimiste I get that and in many situations I would agree.
I don’t use them in London for safety reasons, and I wouldn’t use them on a long country ride because I agree it is also nice to hear the environment and ones own thoughts.
However the two differences here are:
1. Not much environment. I’m training on the same roads, about 15-25km depending on route, and there’s not a lot of scenery or wildlife. It’s 0530 in the morning and for half the year it’s mostly dark.
2. I’m training. I find it helpful to sometimes tell my inner monologue to STFU and let me get on with it. When I’m commuting, pootling or just riding I am not so focused and happy to take in multiple sensory inputs.
@Barracuda
There was a guy in a group ride from my LBS last summer. We were on country roads that were perfectly wide enough for two lanes of traffic let alone a car and our group. Yet every time a car came the other way he would brake without warning. I couldn’t help wondering what he was like in a car. After a few brake tests I went and rode the head of the group and was expecting to hear mangling carbon behind for the rest of the ride.
@ChrisO Do the locals have 300 words for Sand like Eskimos do for Snow?
@Teocalli
Probably although my total Arabic vocabulary is about 20 words and sand isn’t among them. If I stay here another 30 years I might be able to converse with a three year old.
The way it was described to me was that Arabic doesn’t use adjectives like we do in English and the Latin-based languages.
So where we would say red sand, dry sand, marshy sand, rolling sand, bastard sand etc and could use 300+ adjectives for the same noun, they will have a different word for each of them.
That makes it quite a difficult language to speak, which is why there isn’t a single language.
There’s classical Arabic from the Koran, there’s Modern Standard Arabic (effectively the official version always used in newspapers, news broadcasts and written or official documents, like Mandarin in China), and then there are the spoken variants which tend to be regional. So there is the Meghreb (Egypt/Sudan/North Africa) Arabic, the Levant Arabic (Jordan/Syria/Lebanon) and the Khaleej Arabic (Saudi/UAE/Arabian Gulf) version. Khaleej means Gulf, I know that much ! And within that each country or smaller region may have some specific words. I know Egyptians who have a lot of trouble understanding Gulf Arabs.
So yes, between all that there are probably 3000 fucking words for sand.
@Steve-o
Problem is that in some parts of the world you are compelled by law to use them. Moronic law-makers!
@Steve-o
@TheVid
Yes! My pet peeve is those who are in the middle of an airport concourse and stop dead in the middle to look at the flight info boards – with their bag perpendicular to the length of the corridor. As you have said, have the decency to pull of toward the edge of traffic!
I was riding back from Rutledge the other day. Coming the other way were two girls on bikes, one younger, maybe 12 yrs old the other clearly at least at the age of consent. From a distance it looked like they were drunk, not only taking up the whole lane with a random pattern from left to right in long and short swooping arcs but occasionally, and without any sort of indication as to her inclination, into the oncoming lane. The older girl clearly teaching the youngster on the finer points of complete unpredictability. At first I thought, well at least she will succumb to the laws of evolution before she breeds, that was before I concluded it was too late as she was already passing on her teachings to a younger generation.
If I was a better person I would have stopped and taken the time to perhaps show them a safer way to ride, but I was not that person, rationalizing that it would of been a wasted effort and spoiled my 500 meter sprint to the railroad tracks. I stayed on the drops.
How about the “TriGuy” who shows up to the local group ride and creates chaos instantly by not holding his line, not communicating and just generally being a douche?
Happened last week, group slows up a bit, TriGuy jams on brakes Full On – I have to brake hard not to rear end him…I turn to apologize to rest of group behind me, whereas he is oblivious to all this…
You can’t even shame them by calling them out. Oblivious to all the Cat 6 shit pulled.
@VirenqueForever TriGuy should be debriefed of the “ways of the tri” and briefed on “the way”…
@The Grande Fondue
No, no, no, no, no-ooooo, no, nope. Disguise it by mounting under the top tube near the seat tube. Stuff in jersey pocket until needed.
@unversio
Fear it will be long and perhaps pointless but would be consistent with Rules #3 and #43…
@VirenqueForever Hire a hitman to enforce the Rules on your behalf.
@unversio
Just like Hockey – I love it…
So do you go for Renshaw, Tom Steels or… Marty McSorley?
@Barracuda
I have no idea what a “trolly train” is, but the pissed off snake on crack is gold.
@Puffy
To be honest, though, that isn’t high on my list of expectations either. Falling into a sidewalk sinkhole is right there next to “Being Eaten By Dragon” as far as my personal disaster recover planning goes.
@The Grande Fondue
A friend of Gianni’s and mine who I ride with on Maui rides with a bell. He dings it at every person he comes by as a form of some kinds of karmic Hawaiian greeting. I actually rather like it. Also, he can ride like a muthafuqa so that helps.
@ChrisO
Wow, that is so interesting. Just added Arabic to the list of languages I want to study but never will.
@Steve-o, @Carel
In my opinion, MUPs are the most dangerous places to be. Some of the worst accidents I’ve seen happen on those things; riders hitting head-on, or hitting an old lady and killing her (happened on the Burke Gillman)…if at all feasible, I will take the road with cars over the path every time.
@VirenqueForever
My favorite is when they ride in their tuck in the paceline. Then surge when they get to the front rather than pulling through like a civilized rider.
Got a thankfully uneventful but slightly jarring reminder of the importance of holding not just line but pace on Wednesday. Near the conclusion of a townline sprint, after doing my usual ride off the front in vain, I got caught and tried to grab a wheel. Coming out from behind said wheel I saw I was beat and sat up. Despite holding a quite predictable line, there was much yelling from behind as the pace slowed unexpectedly.
@unversio
My opinion differs @unversio I think that is an elegant design that doesn’t appear to detract from the overall lines of the bike. However, as @frank said, you’d better be able to ride like a muthafuqa (Arabic?) to truly pull it off.
@frank
That statement brought to mind an incident in 4th grade I hadn’t recalled in years. Only the 6th graders were allowed to ride bicycles to school, so on the last day of the school year, my friend and I inexplicably thought it would be a good idea to ride ours. When we arrived, the 6th graders were displeased we were encroaching on their privilege, proceeded to kick our bikes, and were about to inflict some bodily harm. The vice principal intervened and, after chiding us, escorted us into the school. We received several “just you wait” looks from the older kids.
As school let out, my friend and I sprinted to our bikes, frantically unlocked them and took off in a different direction before the others emerged. We ended up riding along a busy road with no sidewalk and a narrow shoulder. Somehow, my mom and his mom were each driving on that same road, saw us and both pulled over. That was weird. After we detailed the events of the day, my mom asked “so you were more worried about some 6th graders than cars on a busy road?” I didn’t say it, but I distinctly remember thinking “well of course.” Epilogue: just 3 years later, that same busy road became a regular part of my rides when I discovered road bikes.