Curmudgeonly post about failing to call passes

[baiskeli]

@JeffC 21567 wrote:

On to tales of wackos and our necessary venting of frustrations: so this Monday morning crazy dude on orange road bike who looked like John Denver/Theodore Roosevelt combo tries to pass me (UNANNOUNCED of F$%^&* course) on the Custis headed eastbound right before the drive way entrance to the hotel near Fort Meyer Drive. This was extremely dumb for so many reasons it is hard to know where to start. For one, it is a blind line of sight into the hotel parking lot, for another it is the busiest stretch of the trail, and for another the stop light was red 20 yards ahead, who passes to get ahead to a red light? As soon as he pulls to the left side of me, as if on cue another biker comes around the corner from the hotel parking lot and almost crashes into crazy John Denver/Roosevelt guy who then nearly veers into me. So I slow down and pull as far to the right as possible. I had some choice words for John Denver/TR crazy guy road biker who was so embarassed by his dumb move, he crossed to the other side of Lee Hwy as soon as he could to avoid me.

Yeah, that’s the same spot where I had to explain to some noob why passing on the right, without warning, was a really dumb idea, especially when others are passing me on the left while there’s traffic coming from the other direction and I’m going to be moving as far to the right as possible to make room. He didn’t look like John Denver though.

[pfunkallstar]

@baiskeli 21631 wrote:

Yeah, that’s the same spot where I had to explain to some noob why passing on the right, without warning, was a really dumb idea, especially when others are passing me on the left while there’s traffic coming from the other direction and I’m going to be moving as far to the right as possible to make room. He didn’t look like John Denver though.

Maybe that was the same guy riding in the middle of trail up Rosslyn hill yesterday…

[rcannon100]

Again, if you are startling people with you calls, please try calling your passes further back.

[tringa]

I am grateful to the small fraction of cyclists who bother to call their passes on MUPs. However, those who warn verbally usually do so too late / too quietly to make a difference. I hear the sound of their tires before I hear their softly whispered “on your left.” At least they are trying, though, in contrast to the majority of the silent assassins who are too elite to bother with a warning. As a dedicated bell-ringer, I recently started ringing my own bell when being passed silently, just as a friendly suggestion. Thus far I’ve had about twenty passers who gave no acknowledgement, three who gave a friendly/sheepish wave, and another one who waved, but only with his middle finger.

[Raymo853]

I too am a dedicated a bell ringer. I make sure to get dual tone bells. As someone suffering from a bit of hearing lost in one ear, I can never tell where single tones bells are coming from.

[jnva]

@tringa 91435 wrote:

As a dedicated bell-ringer, I recently started ringing my own bell when being passed silently, just as a friendly suggestion. Thus far I’ve had about twenty passers who gave no acknowledgement, three who gave a friendly/sheepish wave, and another one who waved, but only with his middle finger.

I always “try” to ring my bell before passing buts not always possible and sometimes because I’m wearing gloves when I flick the bell ringer thing the dumb bell just doesn’t make a noise. I’ve had someone ring at me after I pass and I have waved. I wonder if that was you! Ps I didn’t give you the middle finger – that is reserved exclusively for car drivers.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I whistle like an incoming artillery shell.

[Terpfan]

@Brendan von Buckingham 91477 wrote:

I whistle like an incoming artillery shell.

Your comment reminded me of an encounter this morning that I almost did as a missed connection, but it was more like a bizarre response:

I was taking the sidewalk ever so briefly along Rt 1 well south of Alexandria (the light by my house is literally a 3-4 minute wait and people run it routinely so it’s smarter to go to another light) at a pretty slow speed. I saw an older gentleman walking so I slowed down even more, rang my bell with plenty of time, and then started to move over. He jumped across the sidewalk halfway into a full out bush saying “i don’t want to get hit.” Needless to say, I had plenty of time to move back over and proceed without coming remotely close to hitting him.

[Drewdane]

@5555624 21192 wrote:

Or they’re just clueless. It seems that I notice the same number of called passes year-round, which means the percentage plummets with nice weather.

My experience is pretty much the same on the WOD and Custis. It really irritates me because I don’t just ride there, I also routinely walk along the path. When I’m on foot I’ve taken to calling out “PLEASE CALL YOUR PASSES” whenever a cyclist passes me without warning. For some reason I don’t do it when I’m on my bike – I couldn’t say why.

[SilverSpring]

I suspect it’s a function of the greater volume of cyclists in the good weather, and the increasing bike-friendly culture in the area, but I do find myself calling “On your right” a lot more these days….

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