The Random Turn – The Book of Ninja Styles

This topic has 38 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 7 months ago by MCL1981.

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November 3, 2011 at 1:10 pm #910551

pfunkallstar
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This morning wasn’t a particularly early one, but it was surprisingly eventful. Why? Oh, just some NINJAS!

Heading down the Custis trail I was keeping a pretty regular pace (15 mph or so) and came upon a young woman dressed in an all-black ensemble (Ninjas!) rocking some over-sized headphones. I get out “On your…” and then she does the classic Ninja “no signal, this is the imaginary end of my run, turn around.” Luckily I was able to dodge her but got an indignant stare.

Down past TR Island I encountered a slightly more visible Ninja, sporting the head to toe Georgetown look. As we approached the split on the wooden deck she darted to the right and then performed what can only be described as a “J-Turn” deftly trotting backwards to head down the left split. Again, I was able to dodge her, but I definitely left some rubber on that grip paint.

Seeing as how the trail was almost empty this morning, I’m just going to chalk this all up to spectacularly bad luck and move on. Also, for those that will say “Well you need to be more (visible, loud, agressive)” I had my Torch of the Sun on blinky down near TR and my voice can be heard for a mile.

Anyways, feel free to contribute to the Book of Ninja Styles. Plenty of entries to be had.
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November 3, 2011 at 2:12 pm #931955

Terpfan
Participant

I was chatting with my girlfriend who occassionally jogs on parts of the MVT about bikes passing her. She runs with her headphones in, but is generally cognizant of surroundings and wears bright colored running gear. Anyway, she told me she normally can’t hear people saying ‘on your left’ but has no problem hearnig the bells. I think that’s a pitch/intonation situation. For what it’s worth, I started only using my bell for runners and realized I was getting a much better acknowledgement rate than saying on your left.

November 3, 2011 at 2:34 pm #931956

txgoonie
Participant

+1 for the bell vs. verbal warning. I was riding on the MVT on the part near the airport right next to GW Parkway. Called my pass to another cyclist and he yelled at me to give a warning. (I’m not sure what his problem was as I had waited till we both had passed a runner to perform the pass more safely instead of zooming past, I gave him a wide berth and nobody was coming in the opposing direction. ?? *Sigh* Anyway…) Like I said, I did give the warning (as I always do) but with the rush-hour traffic going by, he didn’t hear me.

It does bear mentioning that the other cyclist was a Biker Ninja! It wasn’t quite dark yet, however I had my rear blinkie, reflective belt and headlamp on (low). The other cyclist didn’t have any safety gear on at all! When you’re on the trail with dense traffic blinding you, it can get a little dicey seeing stuff in front on you. I’ve definitely had to swerve suddenly b/c I can’t distinguish a dark figure in front of me from a shadow.

November 3, 2011 at 2:45 pm #931957

Dirt
Participant

I’m really lucky to have pretty good hearing. I’m able to hear the shuffling of feet given off by the runner up to the 1958 “Miss Pay Your Personal Property Tax” pageant from a good distance. I’ve also gotten used to her stopping and making herself as wide as possible when she figures out that a bike is approaching. She hasn’t yelled at me in a while. I’m beginning to think she doesn’t love me anymore. I thought today was gonna be a good day for her to comment, since I hadn’t seen her in a while.

All joking aside… She and her dog walking friend are a regular part of my commutes these days. It is cool that they’re out and being active… even if they seem to actively seek out opportunities to cause problems with cyclists.

Ride where they’re not!

Pete

November 3, 2011 at 2:47 pm #931958

americancyclo
Participant

@pfunkallstar 10128 wrote:

As we approached the split on the wooden deck

I had a daylight jogger pull that on me on the way home yesterday at the bridge over spout run.
Most joggers pick visual cues as their turnaround point. My spidey sense always starts tingling at the beginning or end of a bridge, cross roads, or sign posts.

November 3, 2011 at 2:52 pm #931959

paulg
Participant

I heard the term ‘Crazy Ivan’ used to describe the Ninja U turn and it’s always stuck with me. Seems appropriate. (Not sure what a Crazy Ivan is? watch the Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery doing his Scottish/Russian accent or just go to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baffles_%28submarine%29 it’s a good cold war flick)

November 3, 2011 at 3:08 pm #931961

baiskeli
Participant

Not quite a ninja story, but I once encountered two joggers, both with headphones, at night, running in the bike lane on Fairfax Drive.

Love the term “Crazy Ivan!” It’s why I always give pass warnings. I see it in non-jogging pedestrians too, and even cyclists.

November 3, 2011 at 3:20 pm #931963

pfunkallstar
Participant

@baiskeli 10139 wrote:

Not quite a ninja story, but I once encountered two joggers, both with headphones, at night, running in the bike lane on Fairfax Drive.

Love the term “Crazy Ivan!” It’s why I always give pass warnings. I see it in non-jogging pedestrians too, and even cyclists.

Oh man Crazy Ivan is going into my Encyclopedia-biketanica stat. I’ve tried the bell thing but have gotten a so-so response from it. Usually my baritone barking is more effective. Also my thumbs were ruined by Space Invaders. On a serious note I had my shoulder go out again on the ride home yesterday and had to one-arm it all the way home -lame.

November 3, 2011 at 3:21 pm #931964

Dirt
Participant

@paulg 10136 wrote:

I heard the term ‘Crazy Ivan’ used to describe the Ninja U turn and it’s always stuck with me. Seems appropriate. (Not sure what a Crazy Ivan is? watch the Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery doing his Scottish/Russian accent or just go to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baffles_%28submarine%29 it’s a good cold war flick)

Hahahahahaha I love it. I always go to starboard at the bottom of the hour.

November 3, 2011 at 4:26 pm #931973

PrintError
Participant

Tuesday evening was a new one. 6:30pm, nice and dark. Thanks to my headlight, I spot a ninja jogging on the center line with a well-lit oncoming jogger. Being safety conscious (and wearing my Trail Patrol vest), I YELL “ON YOUR RIGHT!!!!!” (since he’s on the center line with a whole empty lane to his right) and slow my approach down to about 20mph.

As predicted, he IMMEDIATELY swerves hard right, directly into my path. In the same breath, almost as if one sentence, I belt out, “OR ON YOUR LEFT, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!”

Sometimes I wish I could reach out and smack someone at speed…

This morning: 6 joggers and 1 cyclist. ALL SEVEN WEARING ALL BLACK. I made a comment to each one, not that any of them will listen.
Me: Hi-vis everything, lots of reflective strips, dual SuperFlashes on the tail, LED headlight on full strobe. You can see me!

November 3, 2011 at 5:24 pm #931981

mstone
Participant

I agree that verbal warnings are counterproductive. Regardless of what the caller thinks, most of the time the recipient can’t really understand what’s being said and needs a perceptible period of time to figure it out. The bike bell is pretty unambiguous. The verbal caller also needs to decide whether to call from a distance (actually allowing some reaction time for the pedestrian, but increasing the probability they won’t be able to understand) or wait until the last minute (so they’ll definitely hear, but what’s the point–they can’t react that fast anyway). You can ding the bell far enough away to see what they’re going to do before you get there. If you’re with a bunch of regular cyclists, go ahead and shout. For a mixed use trail, find a nice bell.

November 4, 2011 at 12:25 am #931990

MCL1981
Participant

@paulg 10136 wrote:

I heard the term ‘Crazy Ivan’ used to describe the Ninja U turn and it’s always stuck with me. Seems appropriate.

My favorite move…
We must give this jogger a wide berth.

November 4, 2011 at 12:14 pm #932001

Justin Antos
Participant

@pfunkallstar 10128 wrote:

and then she does the classic Ninja “no signal, this is the imaginary end of my run, turn around.”

Ha ha! I laughed out loud at this one. Have experienced it a few times, thankfully never too close.

November 4, 2011 at 1:11 pm #932003

WillStewart
Participant

This is one reason I’ve used blink mode with a low (80 lumen) light, as it tends to draw more attention coming up behind ninjas. That and it’s mounted on the front of my recumbent, so I can’t just reach up and change it at speed. With my new helmet light added to the mix, I plan to move my head around to ensure the lighting changes are noticed, instead of just a gradual change a fixed light often has.

November 4, 2011 at 1:25 pm #932004

Dirt
Participant

Americancyclo and I were riding home last night, JRA-style, and a runner pulled a Crazy Ivan in front of us. There was plenty of room for us to miss her. She almost looked before she leaped.

November 4, 2011 at 1:38 pm #932009

pfunkallstar
Participant

I was drafting a guy who was hauling this morning (I normally take Fridays easy but why not pick up a Cat 6er if you can), when a freaking truck crested over the hill right before the Rosslyn downhill. I almost needed some Depends after that.
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