Next time a bicycle ’slows you down’ think about how much time you spend waiting in a drive through waiting for your fat burger.

And JK if you could do something to smooth out Kehr’s Mill on the hill by Marquette High maybe we could go 4 or 5 wide there on Sunday. Hahahahaha.

Look up why we have paved roads and pneumatic tires

My work location will be moving soon. I will be going from a 20 mile commute (each way) to less than 5 (each way). I am looking forward to the change. Oddly enough, it is the car/truck/SUV drivers reminding me the most why I look forward to the change: driving seems to make people angry and aggressive.

My bike will be my exercise, commute to work, and chill out time.

The most amusing thing I remember about cars and exercise is the recreational center at college. It was perhaps a 15 minute walk from the dorms to the rec center. People who were too lazy to walk up stairs (they took the elevator), or too lazy to walk to the rec center (they drove) prided themselves on their exercise time.

It is not just kids who are getting fat and lazy by not getting on a bicycle once in a while.

Simian

Wow. So many posts for a letter on bikers. That’s great! Maybe St. Louis can go multi-modal after all.

I’ll just throw in my two cents. We should all have multiple transportation choices. More choice is better, right? Some roads have bike lanes and Bike St. Louis is expanding into St. Louis County. Surely there’s a way we can balance out the needs of bikers and autos. I thought Marvin’s early comments were instructive - bikers and those in cars/trucks/SUVs need to cut the nonsense and practice defensive riding/driving. We’d all be better for it.

Besides the selfishness (”get of MY road”) that runs as a common thread through most of the pro-motor-vehicle-only letters/comments, there also seems to be this implicit assumption that people on the roads who are not in a motor vehicle are performing some sort of recreation or non-critical function, while all those in a motor vehicle are attending to some higher purpose, thus granting the motor vehicle some sort of favored status on the road. Could one of the motor vehicle advocates explain this logic, please?

If the logic is related to a trip having a purpose other than fitness, then you would obviously have no problem with people who use running or cycling as a form of transportation, right? Last I looked, subdivision roads, parks, Katy Trail, etc. don’t get most people to any destination they really need, e.g., work, grocery, day care, or general errands.

There are ignorant, inconsiderate people on both sides of this fence (which doesn’t have to be a fence, btw.). But, guess what, fellow drivers? There are more of *us* than there are cyclists on the roads, which means that the odds are pretty good that you or I are one of the ignorant, inconsiderate motor vehicle operators out there. And don’t trot out the argument that all cyclists are scofflaws–I see more of my fellow drivers violating laws daily with far more dangerous consequences, e.g., speeding, failure to signal, running red lights/stop signs, weaving through traffic, failure to pay attention to traffic, etc. etc.

Just remember…that *person* on a bike is a person, just you and I. Oh yeah…the person in the other car is a person, too. Try thinking of them as people rather than as obstacles or opponents.

Same for all the cyclists out there–don’t occupy a lane unnecessarily. If it’s not safe to ride all the way to the right, move over a little when it’s safe for traffic behind to pass and wave them around.

The streets around my neighborhood are Brentwood Blvd, Clayton Rd, Eager, Hanley, etc.

I have no choice but to use my neighborhood streets when commuting, shopping, visiting friends or running errands on my bike, often with my young sons.

Too bad auto drivers don’t respect, appreciate the rights of all road users. I suppose when you drive while eating, text messaging, smoking, talking on the cell, speeding,… paying attention to driving responsibly is difficult.

Cyclists aren’t going to work on Saturdays and Sundays dressed in spandex.
It’s much easier for a 40lb bike to slow down and pull over off the road than a 2,000 lb vehicle to stop and/or avoid hitting a bicyclist. Just drive on the edge of the road and stop being risk takers that’s all drivers ask.

As a former bike rider, I would not want to ride the streets today with everyone on anti-depressants, painkillers, anti-anxiety meds, muscle relaxers etc not to mention cell phones, ipods, gps, texting and the list goes on and on.

I think the people are so angry about this situation because it is upsetting the way people drive and if you add bike riders to the mix it’s a recipe for disaster. The streets are in such poor repair in St. Louis two large vehicles cannot even drive past one another without both drivers paying extreme attention to not hitting the other due to the narrow, rotting edged roads we have.

And with the aging population, who knows when somebody will experience a heart attack and/or stroke, blackout, faint, low-blood sugar reaction or other medical condition where they lose control of their car or van.

And hopefully there aren’t any methheads, capital of the us, in Ladue or Chesterfield. But if you tried riding out in Lincoln, Jefferson, Pike or St. Charles we would have to deal with those methed out drivers, too.

“Cyclists aren’t going to work on Saturdays and Sundays dressed in spandex.”

People don’t work on weekends? People can’t change clothes at work? How quick we are to judge, Megan.

Megan, when you are driving on the weekend, are YOU going to work? If not, then why are you on the road? What, exactly, are the legitimate uses of a road? Presuming that you’re not going to work, then what makes your use of the road any less superfluous than anyone else’s? Further, why does vehicle choice elevate the importance?

Certainly I choose to drive my car, but that was my *choice*. Other people choose to use their legs on a bike, others choose to walk. If anybody is handing out moral high ground rewards, it certainly shouldn’t be to me, the driver. I have chosen the least efficient means of transportation possible. I may have my reasons, but those are simply justifications and excuses most of the time.

As drivers, we need to stop being sanctimonious and selfish to ALL users of the roads.

Saturday morning at about 11:30 I was stopped for a train on Sappington Rd. near Ursuline Academy. I was the first car by the crossing with maybe two cars behind me. A group of bikers came up my right and stopped no the side of the road. One of the bikers came out in front of me and sqeezed in beween by front bumber and the crossing gate then proceded down the middle of the lane across the tracks holding up traffic while the rest of his group waited for the cars to pass then proceded onto the road. The one biker who cut in front of me is the one I will remember, though. As a frequent driver through Chesterfield Valley and on Highway 94 I know that the majority of bikers try and stay to the side and ride safely, and I will share the road until I safely pass them. Unfortunately you have the few who either through arrogance or stupidity ride with a “if you hit me I will sue you” attitude and give the rest of the riders a bad name. As far as the rider on Sappington Rd. goes, I hope for your wife and childrens’ sake the day never comes when the fire department has to hose the remains of your head off the road because you ride like an idiot with seemingly no conception of the fact that the vehicle you are riding is not comperable to a car in speed or size.

Perfectly stated malz1265. My sentiments exactly. Cyclists ride like they own the road to themselves. One mishap and they will quickly learn the hard way. If they are even aware of what has happened to them or in a vegetative state