i am with you. when i am near the vehicles then they see me. when i stay to long in bike lanes i feel WAY more vulnerable. I ride pretty defensive because i have children to take care of, but to most drivers i bet i am pretty aggressive.

Assert your presence, but be mindful of your mortality.
I learned how to ride with Wolfpack Hustle in downtown Los Angeles.

Depends on where I am. Downtown and up on even Burnside I take up lanes and split traffic but out in the burbs, I ride on the sidewalk at times. People are CRAZY out in Beaverton. I hate riding here.

Irony: I felt safe riding brakeless in downtown near the west hills when i lived here. Now out in genertron-city, I feel like the brakes should go back on. Too many close calls.

Max is NOW!:

I've ridden in Beaverton three times and am terrified of riding there. It feels like drivers just don't give a damn out there.

Exactly. Even riding around my house out here sucks. It is the same drivers who drive like maniacs in the wide Beaverton streets, but on narrow, windy roads, close to where they live, so they speed 'cause they think they know the area well.

Anyway, in the city sometimes I weave if I feel if makes me more visible, and sometimes I stay in the bike lane. I've nearly been hit in the bike lane because I wasn't seen and I've nearly been hit while in a lane because the guy was an asshole. Its a bit of a tossup. My favorite was passing two cars then getting out in front of one and merging over, then being told off by him for "riding unsafely." To the guy wearing a helmet, with a brake, and who was considerate enough to use a hand signal...

i ride through downtown rush hour every day on my way home and usually just act like a car, with the occasional splitting of lanes. sometimes i feel reckless by doing that, but then some kid will blow by me as if he's sprinting to the finish of monster track with a rabid tyrannosaurus hell-bent on tearing his dick off and i'll start feeling pretty good about my riding style.

deliciousfuture:

i ride through downtown rush hour every day on my way home and usually just act like a car, with the occasional splitting of lanes. sometimes i feel reckless by doing that, but then some kid will blow by me as if he's sprinting to the finish of monster track with a rabid tyrannosaurus hell-bent on tearing his dick off and i'll start feeling pretty good about my riding style.

That kids name is ian

My question is for the people who live in Beaverton: Why do you live in BEAVERTON!?!?!

I't doesn't matter if it's closer to work/school, or whatever reason you choose to submerse yourself in the clusterfvck that is Beaverton, you need to get out of there!

Watch out for DC, that shit is, how they say, "wack"

felldownthewell:

Max is NOW!:

Watch out for DC, that shit is, how they say, "wack"

I'm inclined to agree. However Georgetown is a sweet school... It'll probably end up being NYU though.

Georgetown is a sweet school and the hood around it is also sweet. But can you really pass up the opportunity of NYU? It's NYU!

I also understand being trapped in a burb. You'll be out of there soon enough...

i split lanes sometimes but i don't make a habit of it. I'm in no rush usually and people drive like fools downtown.

today? i didn't notice anyone, i had just fallen in love with some crusty girls leaving safeway on 10th with big cakes

I would have started swinging (and I'm not even a fighter) if I saw that.
Vandalism is vandalism.

Yea that was a bluff anyway. I would have ridden by and thought, "huh. weird."

Tim:

which is unusual for him because he is basicly an honest guy

I lol'd

bicyCOLE:

weaving is so fun....!
i've been weaving in and out of SF traffic this past week...it's been awesome!

I stayed in the haight this summer and rode like a fool all over SF. Memorable, to say the least!!

Tim:

man walton can weave through trafic like none other. though seriouslly he is about to win the race tumrow . i heard he is going to ride with two three spokes just to go a little faster, which is unusual for him because he is basicly an honest guy so i have hurd.

What's dishonest about using two tri-spokes? If you got em ride em. It'll be interesting to see Walton vs. Chaz in the alleycat. Someone better post results, atleast the top 3...

As far as the traffic thing goes, if I'm going as fast as a car then I act like a car. Sometimes I'm passing cars, which means I'm going all over the lanes, anywhere to keep my ass intact. I find that if you're really hauling ass it's safer not to be in the bike lane but instead whatever lane suits you, because the danger of getting right hooked at a light rises the faster you're going... either way I try not to ride like an absolute dick unless it's an alleycat. I've been hit twice, both times drivers at fault for not seeing me when I was riding lawfully, so that's made me see the vulnerability that is inherent in riding in the city.

Tim:

i heard he is going to ride with two three spokes just to go a little faster, which is unusual for him because he is basicly an honest guy so i have hurd.

hahahaha

got me my 32 spoke. x 2 represent

i had 23 spokes total... 20+3

yah he did. chaz, walton, sharky, mason,....and I can't remember after that. and the tandem riders got DFL

i has 1,3235616 spokz in my pocket.

pushing people? say what??

sorry humancongereel, i tripped on a bike (seriously) what would the 5 seconds i saved do for me me anyway?

walton:

sorry humancongereel, i tripped on a bike (seriously) what would the 5 seconds i saved do for me me anyway?

just saying, you shouldn't do that shit. i didn't see the fall and i just thought you were being an uber-competitive jerkoff. yeah, you want to win, and it's not some group ride or anything where you have to wait for everyone and call lights and shit, but there are moments where you try to preserve some sort of sense of community and not fucking people over.

but you say you fell, and a couple of people i know vouched for you saying you're a decent guy, so i'll believe it and just drop everything.

oh, and 5 seconds isn't much, but in an alleycat it's the difference between having to wait for 7 other people to get their manifests done because you missed your chance to get in, then getting into traffic where 5 seconds is enough for the conditions to change a lot. so it can give you a big competitive edge.

aanyway...fuck it. i'm done with this. it'll be like nothing ever happened.

I bomb through traffic all of the time. Plus, if I pull up to a truck at a red light I will also wait behind it so that I can see if he's going my way. If so, I'll grab on to the bed of the truck and get a pull. This is always SUPER TIRING on a fixie. You don't use any energy to pedal, but you're pedaling faster than ever!! And that's beyond tiring. But it's always fun and it's great for tackling hills.
I will also weave my way in front of traffic at red lights. Then just pull out in front of them as if there was a bike box there.

Yo MAX- are these some sort of official Alleycat rules? If so, where are they? I'd love to check em.

So to get back to the original question. Yes I weave in & out of traffic a lot. I do it with a headphone in one ear. And I do it all very defensively, although, as we all know, I'm sure the auto bots feel that my riding should be considered offensive because I get in front of their precious gas guzzlers. And because I so rudely got to go through a red light as they had to wait for it.