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View Full Version : never bike with an ipod armband



curtis rosche
06-25-2009, 9:30 PM
biking on a sunny day with an ipod armband is a bad idea, it leaves weird tan lines after 17 miles

glenn bradley
06-26-2009, 12:35 AM
And I thought I only disliked them for their proprietary clumsiness ;-))

Leigh Costello
06-26-2009, 12:41 AM
Curtis, now get some palm tree stickers, place them where you will and do the same thing. Awesome tan lines! :D

Orion Henderson
06-26-2009, 9:13 AM
Riding on the road with an ipod?

Always seemed on the dangerous side to me. I worry about being able to hear cars coming behind me. On trails though-it is so nice to have.

Rob Russell
06-26-2009, 9:26 AM
Riding on the road with an ipod?

Always seemed on the dangerous side to me. I worry about being able to hear cars coming behind me. On trails though-it is so nice to have.

+1.

I'm a roadie (both recreational and commuter) and there's no way I'll do anything to interfere with my ability to hear cars coming up behind me.

curtis rosche
06-26-2009, 12:25 PM
well, there are enough backroad around me, i saw like 2 car all day. i dont use an actual armband, i have some athletic tape stuff that only sticks to its self, it works 2 or 3 times before you need a new peice, and i can get a couple rolls at a time from the trainer at school. also im not one of those people who blast their music so they cant hear. i can still hear a car when it comes up behind me.

Kent E. Matthew
06-27-2009, 12:35 PM
I am a roadie here as well. I don't see anything wrong with using an iPod. I usually don't hear anything coming up behind me until they are right with me. I have tried it myself but my problem was I couldn't keep the earbuds in place. I spent more time fussing with that so I leave the darn thing at home now.

Scott Shepherd
06-27-2009, 8:28 PM
Should have said "Never ride a bike that far without sun tan lotion on!" :)

Just kidding. Just be thankful you picked up the ipod instead of the Hello Kitty mp3 player ;)

Karl Brogger
06-27-2009, 11:37 PM
Question for the bicyclists: When making the mistake of sharing a piece of pavement with potentially 80,000 lbs of steel and load that is just waiting to turn you into a red smear, why do you go with traffic? Wouldn't it be safer to go against traffic? I grew up in rural no-where and would ride my bike to town as a youth some what frequently and I went against traffic so I could see and move outta the way of that overloaded gravel truck and not have to force him into the decision of killing the kid on the peddle bike, or the family in the mini-van.

addition- To the original poster: I spend a fairly large amount of time on the water in the summer, usually wearing a life jacket, a trapeze harness, a watch, gloves with the thumb and forefinger exposed and swim trunks. I get some screwed up tan lines, and that ones pretty sweet. :)

Kent E. Matthew
06-28-2009, 12:19 AM
Karl we are at a disadvantage on a 20 pound bike. I was taught by the rode racers who got me involved some 20 years ago cyclists are subject to the rules of the road just like any other vehicle. I was taught to ride with traffic. If I have to turn left I get over into the turn lane, and I can usually get through the intersection pretty quickly if I don't have trouble getting back into my peddles. It would only take one moment of distraction and yes I'm history. To be quite honest all of my close calls have come from traffic coming from the opposite direction. I have almost gone over hoods of cars pulling out in front of me from side streets. I had a young girl once look right at me, and turned right in front of me. I lost a water bottle on that ride. Thank God I saw them first, and for Dura Ace brakes. Riding through a popular park here a number of people tell me get over on the bike path. The bike path is narrow, and full of blind turns, and filled with traffic going at different speeds. Road bikes, mountain bikes, joggers, walkers, roller bladers. Very dangerous. Just as dangerous is the antics of some motorists. I have been cussed at. Had empty bottles thrown at me. One time I had a passenger in a moving vehicle try to slap my butt on the way by. He missed and caught me a little high. Just about put me off the road. I had a nasty bruise in the small of my back. So far in twenty years of riding the biggest threat I have faced has been some motorists who have seen me coming all the way. How can they miss me. I am usually wearing my University of Tennessee jersey. You can see that orange from orbit.

Chris Padilla
06-28-2009, 10:51 AM
Karl,

Big misnomer.

Bicyclists have every legal right to be on the road just like a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a bus, a semi, etc. In fact, if both drivers and bicyclist had this mentality or thought-process, it would be a lot safer out there for everyone on the road. Think of a bicyclist as a slow motorcycle and you'll begin to see my point.

In fact, it is illegal for a bicyclist to ride the wrong way when on the road or in a bike lane (to a certain extent, there are different "classes" of bike lanes). On the sidewalk is a different story but that can be dangerous as well because you can't be seen as easily. Drivers aren't used to looking for wrong-way traffic and as Kent posted, it is a BAD IDEA to do this.

Bicyclists on the road need to be seen and need to be seen predictably by drivers. Some have advocated that bike lanes on road, which are typically in the break-down lane or curb hugging, are a bad idea, too. Why? This puts the bicyclist to the far right and more out of sight to a driver who might be leaving from a parking lot or from a simple intersection of street. If the bicyclist were further away from the curb, they could been seen more easily and sooner from such intersections.

I typically ride right on the white line of the bike lane. Yes, this gets me further into faster traffic but I can guarantee you that I'm seen sooner and that is the main goal. If I'm not seen, I will get hit.

Another thing drivers need to be aware of is the right for a bicyclist to take over a lane of traffic if the bicyclist deems it is necessary to do so. An good example is a narrow street with cars parked on it. I sure don't want door opening suddenly in front of me so it may be necessary to move into the normal lane of traffic, take it over, and then move over when it is safe to do so.

Bicyclist also need to be aware that it is often safer to take over a lane instead of trying to take over just a little bit of it "to let traffic by" because that squeezes you between a fast moving car and whatever is to your right (parked car, for example). If you need to "take the lane", take over the whole lane, do not encourage cars to try and squeeze by you...force them to stay behind you until you deem it safe to move back over to the right. Many motorist do not like this and I've been honked and yelled at numerous times but it is the safe thing to do. Many beginning bicyclists on the road have a hard time with this concept and as an experienced road rider, I totally understand.

What we need is education to drivers to understand how to deal with bicyclists on the road. It needs to be on regular driver's tests. Think about it, if drivers just treated a bicycle like a slow motorcycle, things would go a lot smoother. I still get drivers who clearly have no clue what to do if they need to turn right in front of me and I'm in the bike lane...then go past me...then stop/hesitate...and then I'm wondering if they are going to pull a right turn in front of me, etc. If they would just get behind me or safely pull in front of me (into the bike lane), use their signal, all would be well but you see some funny stuff out there....

Be safe!!

curtis rosche
06-28-2009, 2:03 PM
going with traffic makes it easier because then you get to use the stop lights and things to cross the road. and if some jerk pulls out in front of you when you have the rightaway it also gives you the right to flip him off (since you are concidered a motor vehicle) not that you should or that i do. but that was what i was told.

also with going the same direction as traffic, some of the hills around me i get up to the speed limit of 30-40mph which wouldnt be safe to do on the very edge of the road and definatly not while going into traffic. under the speed limit you stay to the side.

Ken Fitzgerald
06-28-2009, 2:29 PM
Chris,

Right or wrong....at one time riding so you were going into the traffic was the way it was taught. Think about it. When you ride on the right side of the line..like an automobile, you are riding into oncoming traffic EXCEPT they are on the other side of the center line.

It is easy for someone operating a car or truck to not see a bicycle or a motorcycle.

There are also a bunch of irresponsible bicyclists and motorcyclists out there. Having information on the test doesn't seem to stop them from riding irresponsibly.

Everybody...cyclist and automobile drivers need to slow down and be more aware of each other....and ride and drive responsibly.

David Keller NC
06-28-2009, 9:14 PM
Actually, there's a physics reason for why it is safer to ride in the direction of automobile traffic than against it. In the event of a collision, if you are on a bike and heading the same way as the vehicle that rear-ends you or side-swipes you, then your forward velocity will reduce the imparted kinetic energy to some extent. Also, your trajectory will most likely be toward the shoulder of the road and away from following traffic.

If you were riding the other way, not only will the kinetic energy be additive (the speed of the collision will be your velocity and the vehicles velocity added together, instead of subtracted), the trajectory of the bicyclist will likely be onto the colliding vehicle, over the top and into the roadway, where a following vehicle will run over him/her.

"No Collision" is preferred, of course, but getting brushed by a car and dumped into the ditch is a heck of a lot more survivable than a head-on smack into the widnshield.

curtis rosche
06-28-2009, 9:21 PM
the school my mother teaches at had a teacher who rode his bike to school everyday, until one night during the winter when it was dark, he got ran over by a tractor trailer, hes fine now. after being in the hospital for a semester

Karl Brogger
06-28-2009, 9:25 PM
Karl,

Big misnomer.

Bicyclists have every legal right to be on the road just like a motorcycle, a car, a truck, a bus, a semi, etc. In fact, if both drivers and bicyclist had this mentality or thought-process, it would be a lot safer out there for everyone on the road. Think of a bicyclist as a slow motorcycle and you'll begin to see my point.

Sorta, at least in Minnesota. Here you have the "right" to be on the road, but you do not have right of way. I find that semi funny because operating an automobile you do not have the right to be there, it is a privelage, yet I pay fuel tax, registration fees, and carry insurance. As a bicyclist you have to be either past, or as close to the white line as possible, a fact that too few here realize or respect. I have no problem laying on the horn when trapped behind a group in the middle of no where. In fact I may add a set of train horns just to make sure my point is made adequately.



In fact, it is illegal for a bicyclist to ride the wrong way when on the road or in a bike lane (to a certain extent, there are different "classes" of bike lanes). On the sidewalk is a different story but that can be dangerous as well because you can't be seen as easily. Drivers aren't used to looking for wrong-way traffic and as Kent posted, it is a BAD IDEA to do this.

My whole point is I got the heck off the road way when there was car coming. Far easier looking forward than over my shoulder the entire time. I live near a small town with about 15k people that has two decent sized liberal arts colleges and both seem to have a very large number of people using a peddle bike for fun rather than transportation. Very few of the paved country roads have much of a shoulder, and even fewer of those have a paved shoulder. We get a ton of bicyclists out in the boon docks riding down these roads. For the most part they are straight, wide open roads, but they do have hills and that is the dangerous part. Billy big rigger coming out of the field a few thousand pounds over the limit will not be able to stop if there is a pack of bikes going 4 wide down the middle of the road. It happens with some regularity around here.

The part that really gets me wound up is that a large number of snowmobile trails that run down old railway beds have been paved for the bicyclists and now the snowmobilers can not use them in the winter, which is also funny because the bicyclist don't use them any way. You can go from Mankato MN to Red Wing Mn, almost entirely by paved bike trail. There's a gap of about 20 miles. I've ridden most of it, and it is quite nice, and you don't have to deal with playing roulette with people talking on the phone.

I've ridden motorcycles as long I've had a drivers license, so I fully understand the not being seen thing. I never do the same speed, or go slower than traffic, and it doesn't matter how fast traffic is moving. If you want to avoid becoming a grease spot you gotta drive super defensively.

Orion Henderson
06-29-2009, 9:04 AM
Bicyclists are required by law to travel with auto traffic. Bikes are so fast that they would come up on an oncoming car so fast there would be little time to react-unlike foot traffic. Bicycles are also not allowed to travel on the sidewalk. Proper road riding technique is to ride just outside the white line and/or shoulder. This is for two reasons: 1. to force cars to move over a little bit. Otherwise cars try to squeeze by and they should wait a bit. And 2-there is a lot of debris in the shoulder and you can easily blow a tire. Blowing a tire at 40+mph downhill is not a good thing.

In some states it is now illegal to bag a hard right in front of a bike-nice rile. That happens to me all the time. Bikes, cars, motorcycles all have the same rights and responsibilities.

mike holden
06-29-2009, 3:00 PM
Karl,
Re: going with traffic One, if you are on the roadway, you ARE a vehicle and subject to all the laws of traffic (and the rights, but you can be DEAD right). Two, studies have shown that riding against the traffic flow is considerably much more dangerous. Car/bicycle collisions have almost two thirds of the incidents occuring when the cyclist is going against traffic. In my opinion, this is because the cyclist is not where a driver expects traffic to be. You look right down the sidewalk for pedestrians, not right down the lane.
That is why cyclists ride with traffic.
Mike