Thursday, June 24, 2010

Riding abreast: Lycra clad wussies take note!

One of the proposed purposes of a blog is to offer an interactive format through which opinions can be stated by the author and then commented upon by the reader.  I'm fortunate to have a few readers who comment with alarming regularity....one of which always goes by the name of 'Anon Ymous'.....I believe he/she may be Middle Eastern.  At any rate, Anon Ymous posted another eerily relevant comment in response to the Nake Bike Ride post I wrote earlier in the week.
I believe Anon Ymous might actually be employing some kind of "Blog Spam"  which I recently learned about.  These Blog Spam comments can be keyed by something in the post itself that the automated spammer picks up on to initiate the advertising of objects for sale that are related to the post.  In this case, the Blog Spam listed some bags for sale which were clearly in response to some 'Fun Bags' published by the Riverfront Times and posted here on Tuesday.

And speaking of fun bags, if you possess the desire to show yours off during your recreational activity of choice, by all means, cycling seems a safe way to go.  Breasts are seemingly not in harms way while riding a bike and shouldn't be at too high a risk for injury in stark contrast to certain other activites.... say, naked sledding.
(Pair the effects of cold temperatures and proximity to steel runners and you have a recipe for a severed nipple.....no one wants that)

But speaking of reader comments and breasts, one of my favorite pass times (other than stealing people's garden gnomes) is reading the column in the Columbia Tribune written by the Spokesman.  This week's installment features a discussion and interpretation of some cycling laws regarding appropriate bike position on the road and the legality of riding 'abreast' .

As one can imagine, an article such as this invokes tremendous ire among many COMO citizens, and like Anon Ymous, some have become regular commenters offering up regular responses to all of the Spokeman's articles.  This was my favorite response to the Spokesman's column this week:

"The riding abreast is what I fault these guys that Hank Waters called "Lycra clad wussies."  When they don their brighly colored lycra and hit the roads they appear to have left courtesy behind.  Riding 6 abreast, they block both lanes of narrow country blacktops preventing vehicles from passing.  I had them rudely yell "Share the road" after following for two miles and honking several times.  The County Mounties should crack down on these bozos."

Now, whether Chas was really stuck behind 6 cyclists is debatable since there were no witnesses, but I'm pretty sure his written comment would constitute a confession of cyclist harassment which is against the law in COMO, is it not?  In the spirit of promoting better understanding between cyclists and non-cyclists, I'm sure we'd all be willing to forget his unlawful actions if Chas was willing to retract his statements regarding us being a bunch of "lycra-clad wussies."  There is absolute nothing wussie about wearing lycra.

5 comments:

  1. Ooooooh handbags! Where can I get some? I do hope it goes with my lycra outfit.

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  2. You know, its funny that the issue of riding abreast came up. The other day I was out on New Haven road and about 1/2 mile in front of me there was a group of 5 cyclists. They were at the bottom of a small rise, heading west, when a truck came up behind them. All of the riders except one got over to the right hand side of the road. The one who didn't continued riding "2 abreast" with the other front rider, even though he was about a foot away from the centerline. they were going pretty slow, and the person in the pickup truck was actually patient and did not pass them until it was safe to do so, after the top of the hill. I really don't understand why this person felt the need to ride in the middle of the road. When I caught up to and passed the group, that rider was still riding in the middle of the road, I actually had go get in the other lane to go around him (he was of course in his aero bars with his little tri top singlet on, so he probably couldn't be bothered). Needless to say, it was a little irritating. I can definitely understand why some motorists get frustrated with us. All it takes is a couple of people riding like dipshits to get everyone angry.

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  3. Dear Poobah,
    thanks so much for alerting me to the fabulously instructive video. I subsequently found the companion videos, including the especially helpful one on gear changing. How did I survive all those years of ignorant cycling? Amazing.

    Thnaks again Poobah, and keep up your most excellent work.

    ReplyDelete