Namaste to you too...

[chuckred]

I'm ready to take up golf.Of course, I'd get hit by someone's errant drive, but that would be minor.

Heading out on my ride this evening, I got squeezed into the gutter by a lovely soccer mom in a Subaru with a "Namaste" bumper sticker. She had to speed up, force me toward the curb, then brake hard to go into a round- a-bout with me right behind... no reason to pass other than rudeness... the irony!

Then, an almost fatal mistake on my part on the way home. Stopped at a stop light before crossing a major highway. Waited for it to turn green with a walk signal. Checked traffic, it was still coming from quite a distance, but with lots of room to stop. I started across and realized that the first two cars were not only not stopping, they were accelerating! I was already most ofthe way across and was able to get out of the way without any real effort (or I wouldn't be typing), but they both blew the light at about 70 - way, way , way after it had turned red. Thankfully no one was driving throught the green at the time.If it had turned green while I was riding, I would have gone right into the intersection and been toast!

I didn't have a chance to see if they were on cell phones, texting, reading Shakespeare or aiming for me... I just don't get it...

[Louis]

I live far enough out in the boonies that in a weeks' worth of riding I probably see five or six lights. Stop signs can be a hassle with cars, but complicated (and even simple) intersections are trouble, given how distracted drivers can be.

[chuckroast]

OK, I'm a dope....what's Namaste?

[PBWrench]

Glad you're safe! She was just saying hello . . .

Namasté or Namaskar (Sanskrit: नमस्ते [nʌmʌsˈteː] from internal sandhi between namaḥ and te) is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian subcontinent.

[chuckred]

OK, I'm a dope....what's Namaste?

It's the new age way for a housewife to say "I'm cool, I go to yoga... Peace and harmony be on you as I run you off the road..."

Forgive my sarcasm... the irony was just too much for me at the time.

[Steelhead]

It's the new age way for a housewife to say "I'm cool, I go to yoga... Peace and harmony be on you as I run you off the road..."

Forgive my sarcasm... the irony was just too much for me at the time.

She shouldn't be too hard to spot in the future, and I have been known to approach those types of drivers when out about in my regular clothes and ask if they remembered me - how they nearly ran me off the road. It is funny how people react to you when you aren't kitted up in lycra. Most will genuinely give a sincere apology and hopefully be more careful in the future.

[chuckred]

But I really wish I had seen who the idiots who ran the red light were. She was just in her yoga bliss - they were out for blood!

[toaster]

Namaste can be defined as, "I bow to the divine in you".

Rarely, while while riding your bike in traffic do motorists ever have that sentiment.

Is there a Sanskrit greeting for, "Get out of the road, my lycra-wearing humble slave"?

[SadieKate]

I just want to know the correct response to give as I pound on the door of the gigantic SUV driven by the idiot on the cell phone at intersections (who looked horribly shocked Tuesday and then proceeded to nearly run down a couple of skateboarders in the roundy who then pounded on her door again). Poor little abused thing.

Oregon Driver Manual: You may only pass a bicyclist when you are traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour or greater and passing distance is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver's lane.

It then goes on to talk about not pushing a cyclist into road hazards like storm grates and road debris.

She obviously has reading comprehension challenges because I'm sure her cell phone wasn't a distraction.

[chuckred]

why people feel the need to speed up to 50 MPH in a 25 MPH zone to pass a cyclist going 30 MPH....


Oregon Driver Manual: You may only pass a bicyclist when you are traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour or greater and passing distance is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver's lane.

[gone]

Oregon Driver Manual: You may only pass a bicyclist when you are traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour or greater and passing distance is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver's lane.


They might as well add: and you are required to smile as you go by.


Do you know if anyone has ever been cited for this without having been involved in an accident?

Although I would love it if this were the law of the land and was adhered to, this appears to me to be one of those unenforced and unenforceable laws useful only to trial lawyers of the next of kin.

[Kevan]

I think you guys are finally getting a hang of this thing called road riding. Congratulations...you're now full-fledged cyclists!

Damn, I'm proud of you!

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . those wonderful legions of drivers who absolutely MUST save five seconds by passing you on a double yellow on a blind hill or curve. They obviously haven't thought about where they're going to swerve if a car suddenly pops up over the hill or around the curve . . . they're going to go right into---YOU!

BBD

[chuckred]

I think you guys are finally getting a hang of this thing called road riding. Congratulations...you're now full-fledged cyclists!

Damn, I'm proud of you!

Still learning after more than 40 years on the road! Won't stop learning until I'm dead, I suppose...

[SadieKate]

. . . those wonderful legions of drivers who absolutely MUST save five seconds by passing you on a double yellow on a blind hill or curve. They obviously haven't thought about where they're going to swerve if a car suddenly pops up over the hill or around the curve . . . they're going to go right into---YOU!

BBDI guess it's too much to hope that they will do as Brian Kest, yoga guru extraordinare, says. "Do it with awareness and sensitivity."

[PaulE]

Still learning after more than 40 years on the road! Won't stop learning until I'm dead, I suppose...

They're like deer in the headlights. When they see cyclists, they forget they have a brake pedal, they only remember the horn and the gas pedal. And the Pavlovian response is to get past us, even if it is to then stop at a traffic light or make a right turn right as they pass us. The concept of waiting an 20-30 seconds is incomprehensible. Except when you stop behind them at a red light on an uphill or when they pull out in front of you from a deli at a strip mall. If they're in front of you and you want them to move, then they forget to use the gas pedal. For those instances, I would like to know the Sanskrit for "Use the one on the right!"

[Kevan]

I guess it's too much to hope that they will do as Brian Kest, yoga guru extraordinare, says. "Do it with awareness and sensitivity."

" Ooooooo...that had tuh hurt. Sorry pal! Anyway Paul...as I was sayin'..."