Bikes in the Streets

Why do people get so fucking pissed off at bikers? They don't seem to get as pissed off at other cars clogging up the streets.

Earlier this week, I was biking home on Walnut St Chestnut St from West Philly. Around 22nd St, I caught up to a girl who was also biking. She asked me if I was turning. I said no. She asked if I wanted to take up a lane together. I was like, fuck yeah. So we biked down Walnut St Chestnut St for about six blocks in the right lane. A couple cars honked at us. We were moving faster than the cars mind you.

Why are the people of Critical Mass constantly being arrested and penned up? Why not corral and arrest every single person involved in a traffic jam? What's the difference? Oh yeah, we're not the ones causing pollution, increasing greenhouse gases, causig holes in the ozone layer and accelerating global warming. So, obviously, bikers are the ones to stick in jail, right?

I've always forgotten about it, but Philadelphia's critical mass is the last Friday of each month. They meet at the Clothespin at 6p. I've just added them to my calendar on my i700. I can't go this month though, I'll be in CT for the weekend.

Comments

[Sam]

I'm too afraid to ride with the Critical Mass people because I am afraid of getting arrested.

And often when riding with my husband, and the situation gets a little bit hairy (cars edging a little too close for comfort), I ask him to ride next to me so that we take up as much room as a four wheeler.

One of these days I am going to complain about those horrid cab drivers (I would ideally like to make it mandatory for cabbies to take a difficult driver's exam every few months or risk losing their license).

And were you biking against traffic on Walnut? Bad, bad.

[Sir Oolius]

I'm primarily a pedestrian (though I also own a bike), and I absolutely hate the way car drivers treat people legally crossing on crosswalks in Philly. There has been plenty a time that I pounded my fist on a car that gets too close, and a few times I actually had to jump out of the way to avoid physical injury. It only takes a few seconds to wait for a pedestrian to cross the street, and yet it seeems perfectly reasonable to everyone here that the pedestrian should wait for all the cars to drive by first before hurrying over the crosswalk seconds before the "don't walk" sign comes on.

On another note: have you guys seen that group of rollerbladers that roll around on the streets some evenings? Are they like CM?

[Sam: I was wondering the same thing about the direction of travel on Walnut]

[albert]

Woops! I meant to say Chestnut St. We were going WITH traffic. I take Walnut St to work, Chestnut from; got confused.

I've seen the in-line skaters too. They were skating right by Tangier last week during Drinking Liberally. Nobody knew who they were.