Bike Lecturers

Yesterday I went on a 65 mile bike ride in preparation for next weekend's epic Napa Century attempt. I did the Alpine Dam ride in Marin (some info scattered around this website) which was beautiful and atrociously steep and amazingly solitary considering I never got more than 30 miles from San Francisco.

However, I had at least one instance where a fellow cyclist tried to lecture me on something. I ran a red light in downtown Sausalito, something I do regularly as A) it's a T intersection with no traffic coming from the right side (I'm safe) and B) I don't want to waste potential energy by stopping. This guy sidled up next to me and told me that I could get a $250 ticket for doing that. Annoyed, I sarcastically said, "Thanks," but Lecture Man was unwilling to take a hint and continued warning me about the perils of red light running until I waved him off and told him to run along.

How annoying is that? Do I lecture assholes about being assholes? Homeless people about being homeless? Lazy people about being lazy? Not unless I really care and they'll listen, which is a rare combination. Lectures from strangers will only piss people off, which is exactly what happened here.

In my experience, there are few San Franciscans as condescending as cyclists. They hate cars; they hate riders with less serious gear; they bike without the slighest look of fellowship on their face; they don't say hello. I've seen full-scale screamfests between riders and motorists because of something as stupid as the cyclist riding to the left of the bike lane, making it hard for cars to pass them. 90% of the time, I agree with the motorist.

There is one semi-common exception in which I side with the cyclist: if contact was, or almost was, made. Case in point-- I was riding home yesterday when a car stopped on a busy street. It didn't pull over; it just stopped. Thinking the driver was lost, I went on the inside as oncoming traffic was on the left. All of a sudden a door opens, an Asian lady sticks her head out, and I nearly had a trip to the hospital. Needless to say, I loosed a few expletives. But I DIDN'T stick around and lecture them repeatedly. And judging from the terrified look on the lady's face, I think they got the point.