On riding a motorcycle in the Shoals and people driving HUA...

Man, all that time you spent laying on your horn, flipping him off, waiving your arm, and screaming profanities, you could have just got out of his way. Honestly, *** are thinking stairing down a F150 that's about to run over your bicycle. He did however later have a SMISYBIDC.

Loki, I was thinking the same thing. GOOTWay

Pup, I suggest you (try) to ride in Memphis. These people around here are down right nice to bikers by comparison.

Road Puppy, The Southern Cruiser Riding Club Chapter 188 is the largest National Riding Group in North Alabama below is a link to their facebook page. If you Google SCRC in Northwest AL  you may get more info, hopefully this will help.

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=328223990169&v=wall

 

The CMA ( Christian Motorcycle Association ) also a National group has a local chapter.

 

Hopefully this will help you in your quest.

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Bicycle? That's rich.  I've stared down 18-wheelers -and won, bizzatch. Dumb hick in a pickup is small game.

Well then how ELSE would I end up on "dis'bil'ty" like all of the other losers around here?  Then maybe I could live easier.  I could just as easy put my engine on my wheelchair with a suicide shifter and a set o' wheelie bars.........

 All of that transpired in about 3 1/2 seconds.

I could've just put a ball bearing through his forehead in that time.  Maybe next time I will.

 

Thanks, Rat. I'm on FB. I'll look 'em up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Only because they don't even see them.

 

I rode in NYC and Bridgeport, CT. Now THERE'S a place that makes L.A. road rage look like an afternoon picnic with the Teletubbies.  People throw bricks out of the backs of pickup trucks at bikers in Bridgeport.  Gang members in lowriders try to pick 'em off for sport with MAC-10s. Then there's the outlaw bikers....They don't like anybody.... Ya gotta ride fast and evasively in Bridgeport.  The old Father Panik Village was always good for running the gauntlet on a dare.

 

Memphis would be like playing whack-a-mole.

 

Road Puppy: It's just plain too dangerous to ride here in the Shoals! In my 7 years here I have seen it all, from the texters to the cell phone blabbers to the ladies putting on make-up while driving. You might as well go ahead and design a car without turn signals because no one here uses them. I'll bet the government must love these cell phones! They have figured out a way to insure that not all 300 Million of us collect there Social Security.

I hope you wear bright clothing. A person on a bicycle could be hard to see. Were you out in the middle of the road? I would hit the ditch.

I just bought a Honda Shadow 1100 sabre. So far everyone has been cordial and willing to share the road.

Drivers around here are so inattentive that it is folly to ride around on area roads in any kind of unenclosed vehicle. I have lived everywhere from small towns of 500 or fewer all the way to cities of one million and more and nowhere except here have I encountered such a high occurrence of pure dumb cluelessness among drivers!

Be careful RP. I've lost 2 people in my family to motorcycle accidents in the last 10 years. Just be careful out there and watch out for all those crazy drivers.

I ride when I can and I am sure glad I don't have the attitude you have.  I get ****ed at some drivers but I am sure not going to play chicken with them.  Giving someone a California Howdy or a nice selection of words does nothing.  Good luck to you.

RP, and other motorcycle riders.  Check out Dixie Abate and Bama Rides.com.  Dixie Abate is probably what you are talking about.  If folks round here pull out in front of semi trucks and plow into the back of school buses they don't mind running over a motorcycle.  I ride also, so I know what you are talking about.  Many if not most drivers are more than considerate, it is just the rude idiots that stick in our minds.  Ride safe and keep the shiny side up.

Thanks, Mad American.  I'll check them out.  You're right-there are some considerate drivers around here-ya just gotta weed thru the asshats to meet 'em.

 

Nwbama: I grew up riding and driving in NY/New England, playing high speed chicken with everything from big trucks to motor cops. I can fly if I need to.  Up there-if they're heading for ya-it's because they're actively trying to take you out. They're maniacs-but they know exactly what they're doing.

 Down here in the Shoals-I've noticed that a lotta people don't really drive cars so much as they just "aim and pray" that they make it to where they're going.  I'm under the impression that lotsa folks don't actually give a s#!t....about ANYBODY on the road.  Mebbe if some of us scooter people gave 'em a reason to give a s#!t once inna while-They might begin to.

 

I actually enjoy the game a lotta times. Mebbe it's the type-A New Yorker in me but a good road war can just make my day sometimes. I'd rather not, I mean, I follow the rules but like being in a bar fight-yeah, it accomplishes nothing-but it sure makes yer right arm feel good for a lil' bit.    Vehicular combat is just another day where I'm from.

 

Extra: I'd like to know where you ride...cuz I haven't yet met those folks.  I get the ones that don't signal, the ones that are oblivious cuz they're on the phone, or the ones that should've turned in their keys ages ago cuz they can't hear, can't see, and can't move so they can't react to anything.

 

Even when I'm in my car I've notced that nobody'll give ya a gap to enter a main highway. Nobody'll flash ya or wave ya on at an intersection when they're not sure who has the right of way-if they even have a clue how an intersection works....I have a brief layover during weekdays at the Texaco on Royal Ave. between routes and I park my bus and stand outside for a smoke watching the four-way stop at Royal and Hermitage.

 

What a retarded flying circus! I counted six near misses in a ten minute period just this afternoon alone. People just get there and look at each other(if they even do that) with a "What do I do NOW, coach?" look.

 I notice that a lotta drivers around here are familiar with hand signals. My bike doesn't have any turn signal lights and they're not required here, so I hand signal. People notice those here. That's a good thing. I haven't yet had anybody misunderstand my signals.

 

I know some guys around here who ride but are thinking of giving it up for fear of getting clobbered out here.  I'd hate to see that happen....  I know I couldn't ever give it up. It keeps me relatively sane.

 

Sixxer: It doesn't matter what I wear. I've had 'em almost clobber me when I'm wearing my bright green reflective work vest.  If they can ass-end a bright yellow school bus covered in signs and flashing lights-They ain't gonna see me either.  I was properly positioned in the correct lane at the intersection. All I would've had to do to avoid death was dive off the bike to the right.  I've had to do it twice in the past while riding around Rye, NY. It is a well-practiced maneuver.

 

I just sigh and wonder when the day is gonna come that some yahoo is gonna hafta learn one of my other well-practiced maneuvers. The steel-toe- boot-to-the-head-broken-mirror-flyby.

 

'Tis a shame, it is....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think anyone gets up and says to themselves " I think I will try to kill a motorcycle rider today", I think folks are so concerned with everything but driving that they don't realize the danger that they put themselves and someone else in.

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Nope. Usually it's a 'crime of opportunity.'

 

Or just a stupid accident caused by a dumb ass with a smart phone.

 

I hear on the news that Alabama legislators are considering a statewide ban on texting while driving.

It can't happen soon enough and I hope they can enforce it.

 

I think they ought to do what a lot of other states have done and ban handheld devices while driving entirely.  (But you already knew that.)  

Inattentive driving is involved in more accidents than DUIs

RP, I agree with you about cellphones and texting.  I think the penalty for talking on a phone or texting while driving should be as costly as the penalty for DUI.

As a proportional rate, there are about as many innattentive and rude motorcyclists as there are car drivers. I see many weaving in and out of traffic, pulling out in front oncoming traffic....Go ahead, they will stop, when they hit you!....and others so preoccupied with looking at their reflection in the store window that they do not pay attention to the road.  I have owned and ridden motorcycles, and know that people do not look out for you, but I also know it is my responsiblility to be cautious and courteous as well.  Give a little repsect, and you might get some back.  Does not matter if you are driving a motorcycle, a golf cart, a car or a bus.

We've ridden motorcycles for years. It does work both ways. There are as many "clueless" bike riders as there are "clueless car drivers". People go out and buy a motorcycle and think because they have driven cars for so long they automatically are capable of riding bikes. We've been on rides where people riding with us blow through red lights and stop signs, and speed, among other things. When that happens they're usually told about it right then and there. How many riders have had those "crotch rockets" blow past you on the rear wheel, usually with some "sweet thang" hanging on for dear life on the rear?  I'm usually torn when I see it, not sure if i should admire the riding or call them stupid ******** for putting themselves, "sweet thang" and other drivers at risk. Usually it's the ******* thing that wins out.

Yup, Tey and Best, I can assure you that what ya'll are saying is true.  Part of the problem in Alabama is that you don't have to prove that you can ride.  You pass a written test, go buy a 800 pound motorcycle and you is a "biker".  Take that same bike and put the loudest pipes you can find on it and you are safe.  One of my favorite sayings I have read says " if loud pipes save lives, imagine what learning to ride would do".