Do you feel the need? The need for speed?

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I understand that your also a bicyclist, (I am guessing from your previous post) but I hope people don't turn this into a hatred for all cyclist thread.
I have got that kind of reaction on other forums when I have talked about road cycling. Your right, but for the non cyclist reading this, I also drive so I understand what your talking about, but I have to say that most of the time the problem comes from drivers being impatient. I ride very respectably and have been hit a few times and ran off the road into ditches because drivers aren't patient. Normally for me this comes at times when there isn't a burm or edge to the road so I have to ride partially in the lane, so you get drivers that feel like they shouldn't have to slow down or hit the brake for no one, they pass you in the other lane will a car is coming the other direction then swerve back towards you because they have the attitude that bike shouldn't be on the road and because it slows me down, so if I hit them o well, thats there fault. If a cyclist swearves infront of a car and gets hit, well then that is something the driver really couldnt avoid, but so often that isnt the case. I just really hope this doesn't turn into a hate thread because of me.

Ah, yeah, I can see how it could inadvertently become like that. And you've assumed correctly, when I went to school, I rode my bike at least twice as far as I'd drive, so I'm also one of those people that's extremely aware of the cyclists around me (I almost never make a right-hand turn without checking for a cyclist, first). And fortunately, for when I'm cycling, Corvallis is a town designed well for people on bicycles (all main roads have bike lanes, the stop lights even have metal detectors for the bikes), so most drivers here are fairly adept at watching out for cyclists. I didn't mean to appear to be referring to cyclists in general, most of them do an excellent job, but rather I'm talking about that small percentage of dumbasses that make any drive more "colorful". The ones that think sticking their arm out to signal they want to make a left turn without so much as glancing behind them means they can swerve in front of traffic that's going 40mph. Ironically yet fittingly enough, the people that do this are the ones that you pretty much never see wearing helmets.

in australia last year, there was a man who drove behind a pack of 50 elite cyclists for a number of kilometers. they apparrently did not legally have to pull over to let him pass. there were too many cars coming the other way for him to overtake them, so he decided to use the breakdown lane to overtake them on the inside.
as he was overtaking them, they splapped the roof of his car as he went by, and yelled angrily at him.
after he got in front of them and pulled back into the lane, he jammed his brakes on, and all 50 cyclists slammed into the back of his car. they all fell off, and he drove away.

While he should not have done that to them, that was extremely rude of them (in other words, they were being a-holes) to not pull over and let him pass.

I knew you wernt saying anything bad DNForrest, I just didnt want to cause anything,

b9,
Normaly on large group rides (at least around hear) it is policy that everyone rides two riders wide, for that specific reason. I know in PA and most of the US there is a law that says a group of cyclist cant ride more then two riders wide. Normaly you also yell "car back" to the riders infront of you so everyone know to get over if you can.
Now if this was a bike RACE, the key word race, then they where alowed to use the whole lane, or whole road and didnt have to pull over, BUT there has to be a car behind the race to protect the racers and let cars know that it is a race, and not just a bunch of idiots taking up the whole road. Unfortantly, I have been in plenty of races where the car in the back, got to far behind (because they didnt know what they where doing), and a car got behind the racers, and the car didnt know what was going on, and hence was mad and trying to pass.
It is hard to tell what happend in Australia, but as you can see, it could have just been some bad accident, and not all the 50 cyclist fault, like I said hard to tell.

Todd

Point sort of taken, I don't ride at all like those guys, (couldn't in my city if I tried) as I don't play chicken with buses or run straight into intersections. But I'm not going to give up the road I legally have the right to ride on, and if you read Bicycling, read the first Interview with the cyclist "Whether people like cyclists on the road or not is unimportant to me, they're going to have to get used to it and respect it." (paraphrased to the best of my memory). I actually ride in traffic with a survival whistle in my teeth that I can toot on when I'm in a blind spot, as I was almost blindsided at school one day.
On that note, I don't give a damn who I piss off as long as I am following the rules. Motorists are frustrating enough when I'm in a car let alone on my bike. Timid and indecisive drivers can be as aggravating and dangerous as aggressive ones, so I am more than willing to make the decisions for them.

Sorry if I offended you or anyone, your right and I shouldn't have posted that. I have turned this thread way off topic. I would be the last person to tell you to give up your right to the road, I would be the worlds biggest hypocrite. Must be some misunderstanding going on, in no way did I mean to offend anyone. Just don't want to start anything with the anti road cyclist folks here or start a flame war with them, they will come by the hundreds

Todd

What do you think of the Mazda speed 3 ?

Road Racer no sweat

Speaking of speed,
I drove this up to 115 a few weeks ago:

To be honest, I didn't really like it. It's a stroked engine, and it idles extremely high. It's only happy at high speed, and it's a pain in the ass at low speed. Not to mention the handling on a Daewoo is more comfortable. I'd rather drive a Cobalt SS with A/C, stereo and managable (but surprising) speed and handling.

Don't worry! Even though I am more of a car person than a bike person, I totally admire and respect cyclists!

I live in an area that is mostly anti-cycling (Atlanta). There are almost NO bike lanes or even shoulders. I am in awe of the brave men and women who dare to ride these roads.

Maybe people who hate cyclists are jealous? (Don't mean to stoke the flame war) You have to be in amazing shape and a little nuts to do what you guys do. (Nuts? I say that in the most lovingly way) My baby brother is a cyclist. He is the sweetest, mellowest person I know - but he is absolutely fearless and a little suicidal on a bike - even more so in a kayak. (Whitewater)

BTW - Mazda Speed 3 - Su-weet! And actually, I've rented 626's before and they are much more powerful than their Toyota or Nissan bretheren.

I used to occasionally feel the 'speed' mood come on, but that stopped when I started working in a hospital.

I used to drive very dangerously(16-22 years old), and was quite the menace. It's a wonder I am still alive to talk about it! My family has always been into modifying cars as a hobby, and we don't mess around. My brother has a 1988 Camaro Iroc-Z28 that we built a fuel injected, supercharged 377 c.i.d. stroker for. It was emissions friendly, had all stock creature comforts, got about 22MPG freeway, and had approximately 800HP. I got the urge to see what it had on the freeway while tuning it, and got it up to about 190MPH(Thanks to high gearing[stock 2.77]), until I ran out of room(cars in the way). I had it up to 160MPH two other occasions with a passenger in the car. I would often take my Mustang out at about 3-4 a.m. into the deep country roads, and top her out at about 145MPH(slightly modified at the time), and do a little road racing. I would also drive like a maniac in my everyday driving car, inciting violence and anger in people. Too many stories there to go on about! Now, I get nervous just by going 10 over the speed limit. I do still love to speed on occasion, though. If given the opportunity, I would love to fly a jet.

Aside from my little jaunt in the Camaro, I don't drive more than 5+over (Some have said 10, and I think my speedo is off)
Because as I said I'm a cyclist, and I think to myself "what if I was on this road?"
My city is built quite literally around heavy and commercial vehicles, and has plenty of open highway roads for the knuckleheads to let loose on, but they do it anyways in schoolzones and it sucks

i like driving fast but i like driving quickly better. g forces are what really get my blood going, i love winding roads with no cops around. I've only got a honda accord (1992, before they got really fat), but it's still loads of fun to drive with a manual tranny. the pedals are nicely placed to allow some heal-and-toe action, it's not too heavy, its got a decently peppy engine considering the kind of car it is, so i enjoy it. i drove my roommate's civic (not sure what year, i think it's late '90's) and it felt slower and heavier than my accord, which is older and bigger.

as for biking, i also love road bikes. i had mountain bikes for the first 16 years of my life, but then i tuned up my dad's 30yr old Peugeot road bike, took it for a ride, and haven't looked back since. i can't wait until spring when i can get that baby out, oil her up, and take her for a ride.

there's a road in town that has a really long downhill and i (obviously) decided to see how fast i could go. the street's a 60kph (so cars usually don't drive any slower than 70) and i was passing cars. it was so fun but also terrifying since i knew that if any car pulled out in front of me i probably wouldn't be able to dodge it or brake in time and i'd probably flip over my handlebars and end up handicapped.

i also want a motorbike but i can't afford one at the moment and insurance would be killer. I've got 3 speeding tickets (only one of them with demerit points, the others were 15 over) so my insurance jumped from $2000/year to $3600/year, i don't even want to know how much a motorbike would cost me. once my tickets expire (actually, one just expired 4 days ago, the others will be completely gone in two and a half years) and i'm out of university i'll probably buy a motorbike, but until then i'll be powering my two wheels myself.

that is a very nice looking car (to a degree).

this is my mercedes 560 sel.


it is a superb car to drive. it accelerates from 0-62.5 mph (0-100kph) in 6.2 seconds (i know it is not as good as specs of a muscle car) and i have driven at 255 kmh in it and i determine i had another 20 kph or more to go at that time.
it is a sober grandfather's type of car, but it is one that most would find surprisingly didfficult to outrun.

i should delete this post and i did.

(as advised by a sentient NT who is with me now)