Attention world: I am “that guy”
You know who I'm talking about. The insane person in tight, odd looking pants riding a bicycle on the road that you are tempted to get your friend to push over as you fly by them at insane speeds.
In the interest of personal fitness--and not to mention saving approximately 1 gallon of gas a week, I bought an Orbea Onix road bike last month. Unfortunately I haven't been able to ride it much with my recent sickness and flights to miscellaneous parts of the US for work. Nevertheless, I love my bike.
Before you slap your forehead while shaking your head vigorously and exclaiming, "He's going to kill himself the crazy fool!" let me explain that I have a helmet and I do not ride on busy roads that don't have a bike lane. This means that roughly 75% of my commute to work in the mornings is on sidewalks, which just so happens to be illegal in GA since bicycles are legally recognized as vehicles. If I am stopped by a bored cop I'll take the ticket, because there's no way I'm riding in the road on Brekinridge. I drive pretty crazy fast on that road and I get passed like I'm standing still.
So far, the ride to work is relatively fast--less than 10 minutes on a good day--as long as there is a car in front of me at red lights. Apparently I don't weigh enough to set off the sensors. The ride isn't terribly tough either. I spend most of my time in a low gear riding at about 15-25 mph on the main sections of road that I take. My bike is incredibly fast, even with a 200 lb. dood riding it.
In the interest of protecting myself and my cycling/motorbiking fellows, please do me a favor: watch out for cyclists. Don't worry. I'm no green crusading destroy all SUV's hippie, and I had the same disdain for "That Guy" as you before I became one of them, but as gas prices soar to over $4.00 a gallon I hope you realize that the mpg rating on my Onix is, well, infinity. Please do me a favor and curb your impatience, watch for hand signals, and don't honk at me. I already know I'm good looking.
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May 27th, 2008 - 22:44
Nice bike. Scares me to even think about riding one in da Atl though. Too many fast moving larger chunks of plastic, metal, and glass for my taste. Or maybe that’s just the paranoia of actually being ran over before, who knows. That’s kinda funny, I stopped at the Golden Pantry and filled up the Rado, which was 70 stinkin’ bucks at $3.92 a gallon. I scanned my rewards card after I payed for it, and it said I had “won a reward”, so I told the cashier “Maybe I won a moped.” lol Even at 23-27 MPG, even the Rado is costly, with it’s 19.5 gallon tank. Also, some stations, mine included have been putting in “up to 10% Methanol”, which, gives you worse millage, because the dang corn liquor burns faster than the guzzoline. So paying more for worse fuel economy? Lovely, ain’t it. Now I’ll give the soap box and megaphone to someone else.
BTW, it was good to see ya for the first time in a while, and meet Judy too. She seems to be a good gal, so hang on to her!
May 28th, 2008 - 14:17
I like being an obstacle to fast moving traffic. It’s fun. I still haven’t gotten up the courage to ride on brekinridge yet. Maybe one day…
June 5th, 2008 - 20:27
Hey dood, p.s. Cyclists are aloud to use crosswalks at intersections. So if you don’t set off the sensor, use the button for the crosswalk. just an FYI
June 5th, 2008 - 20:44
Great tip! Unfortunately there’s a caveat: you must walk your bike across the street in a crosswalk. It’s the law–not that many people observe it =P.