at least i have an ethos, amirite?

as a followup to a previous post, i'll try to prove that i'm not a total douchebag when i'm on my bike.

but first, i read up on Critical Mass and found out what real douchebags on bikes are. after reading that i understood why my san franciscan friends hate cyclists. i had heard of critical mass before but i thought it was a once a year kinda deal, not a once a month shut down random roads and piss off motorists kinda deal.

now, abuse of police power is not the way to deal with douchebaggery of this sort, and i guess the NYPD agreed, since they stripped that guy of his badge. it's not clear to me what the best approach is to deal with the CM folks.

anyhow, my rules of the road are pretty simple: don't piss off people that don't deserve it, don't put myself in danger, and don't give cyclists a bad name. sure, i'll blow through a stopsign, but not when it violates any of the above. if there's a motorist approaching, i'll make sure he's ceded the right of way, willingly, unless he's being a total sack, in which case i'll take it. example of being a total sack: trying to take my right of way when i got there long before he did, and was waiting for peds to cross.

i'll ride in the middle of the road sometimes, because there's no bike lane and the shoulder is full of potholes, glass, and other hazards. yup, it holds up traffic too timid to pass me, but they seem to mostly understand.

actually, when i ride, i don't tend to see a lot of poor behavior on bikes. yeah, i see plenty of sidewalk riders around town, and biking through crosswalks, or diagonally through intersections, and that sort of thing. but for the most part, i guess i'd have to be in a much more urban area to see the sort of poor behavior that i myself try to avoid.

i've already had enough clipping practice, though. no need to stop at that sign 1 block from my apt if there's no traffic and no cop.