I live east of Tulsa in a remote small neighborhood and was coming home just at dark. I notice a car about 100 yards in front of me suddenly swerve over into the left lane. As I approach the approximate area the car swerved I see a guy riding a bicycle down the middle of the lane.

As I get closer I start blowing my horn and they guy just keeps riding right in the middle of the road at about 20 mph. The speed limit is 40 mph on this road. He is in full riding regalia. Helmet with little mirror attached, bike riding spandex singlet, hydration backpack and bike shoes. No lights on the bike and no reflectors visible. So I pull up along side him keeping my required 3 feet distance, roll down my window and ask him if he knows he is supposed to ride as close to the right side of the road as is safe to do so.

This dude explodes. Starts cussing and steers toward the side of my truck. I thought he was going to grab the window frame. Calls me a f u c k i n g moron, a white, redneck, bigot and proceeds to tell me he is a bike riding instructor and I didn't know what I was talking about. Then he name drops the name of a local attorney who organizes the Tulsa TUF bike race every year and says he wrote the law. I know the attorney and he is a flake. I told him I was an attorney(I don't know why because I rarely volunteer that information and very few people would guess that is my profession) and I know the law because I had to prosecute a number citations issued to bike riders for doing what he is doing. (Actually, the tickets I prosecuted as a city attorney were for bikers riding 3 or more abreast and impeding automobiles on a two land road). Then I started chuckling and ask him how I could be a bigot for telling him to obey the law. He told me I was a bigot because I was an ignorant, Trump supporting, middle aged white guy driving a truck. (In other words a good American-it is even a Ram 1500 4x4) I told him that was not the definition of a bigot. He told me it was and he knew what a the word bigot meant because he was an English professor. At least he didn't claim to have invented bicycles.

So I go on my way for a few more yards to entrance to my neighborhood and after I make my turn this dude turns in behind me. So I pull over and get out of my truck thinking maybe he wanted to further discuss our difference of opinion and I don't want some crazy bike dude following me home. He rides by without stopping and asks if I have a problem. I said "only with you buddy" and get back in my truck to go home. This dude make the same 3 turns I have to make to go home and rides right by my house. At each turn this dude does not stop at the stop signs and rides right in the middle of the road. So by this time I am pissed having to follow this arrogant asshat and decide I will follow him to his house so we can further discuss the problem. So I follow him as he rides around my neighborhood for the next 30 minutes never stopping at a stop sign or signaling his turns and staying 60 feet or so in front of me. I have a full tank of gas and get to laughing wondering how long this tubby, English professor/bike instructor can keep peddling this bike in the 90+ degree weather and high humidity we have been having because now he probably doesn't want to stop and further discuss the finer points of bike law with some crazy Trump lovin, gun ownin, truck drivin, redneck. I am certain he can't do it for 300+ miles and I don't have to be back in my office until Monday morning. I have AC, 2 liters of water, some rations, a radio and a full can of Grizzly. Lets go for a bike ride.

After about an other 10 minutes he cycles back toward my house and pulls into a small park 2 houses down from my house. Now I really can't go home. So I pull into a parking spot with a view of where he is sucking wind and sweating like a pig and light him up with my brights. After another 5 minutes he walks up to my truck bitching about me following him. I tell him I was doing so because it was full dark and he is riding a bike without lights or reflectors and I didn't want him to get run over. This dude is huffing and puffing and can barely speak 5 words to me in a string. I tell him I have a lengthy video of him running stop signs and failing to signal his turns. He tells me he has beat 2 tickets for that in the past and it isn't against the law. He tells me will turn on his lights when I quit following him and he doesn't have to signal and can't come to a complete stop without unhooking his bike shoes. He goes on to tell me I don't know the law. That he wouldn't want to be my client and again reminds me is an English professor. I said "that figures" and he ask what I meant by that comment. I said because you are obviously a liberal, entitled turd who doesn't mind inconveniencing people and are what is wrong with this country. He got back on his bike and said he hoped protesters killed me someday because he wasn't a supporter of them, but after his encounter with me he is. He also tells me I made him miss a phone call . I respond "that breaks my heart". I ask him if he needed me to follow him home since he didn't have lights and he said he didn't need anymore help from me. At this point he turned on his bike lights, both front and back. and the red blinker on his helmet. So as he was riding away I said "Trump 2020" and wished him well. He said I hope he wins because he has already destroyed the Republican party. He rode right past my house again and I had to wait for him to peddle his fat ass the entire 1/4 mile of my street and turn before I could go home. My 20 something year old self would have handled it in a way that would have been more satisfying, but jail, disbarment and lawsuits did not seem like fun at nearly 60. I probably just should have pulled to the left and gone around him after the approaching car went by, but I couldn't believe someone would be so damned inconsiderate to ride in the middle of the road at night and do so without lights and without guiding right for an overtaking, horn blowing vehicle. This [bleep] is why people hate bike riders.

This is Oklahoma law on the issue the professor and I were debating. You fellows decide who was correct and who was the bigot.

A. Every person operating a bicycle or motorized scooter upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as is safe to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except under any of the following situations:

1. When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction;

2. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway;

3. When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions and while exercising due care, including but not limited to:

a. fixed or moving objects,

b. parked or moving vehicles,

c. pedestrians or animals,

d. surface hazards, or

e. any time it is unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway; and

4. When riding in the right-turn-only lane.

B. Any person riding a bicycle or motorized scooter upon a one-way street or highway with two or more marked lanes of travel may ride as close as is safe to the left-hand curb or edge of the street or highway.

C. No person operating a bicycle or motorized scooter shall pass other vehicles between lanes of traffic traveling in the same direction.

D. Persons riding bicycles or motorized scooters upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles or motorized scooters. Persons riding two abreast shall not impede the normal and reasonable flow of traffic and, on a lane roadway, shall ride within a single lane.

Perry


'

This reminds me of the dude that stole the ambulance and posted about it here.

So, your decided to pull up along side him....

How did that decision in any way make your life better?

You shoulda busted a cap on the 38 Super on that sock sniffer.

I ran into a situation like that a few weeks ago. I just cracked the mother [bleep] over the head with my 1911 and kept rollin

You certainly were in the right, but what you've failed to consider is that Leftists/Marxists are entitled to do whatever the hell they want to, inconvenience anyone they want to, and commit any crimes they want to - all with impunity. It's a Brave New World, my man.

Antelope-You are probably correct. Ignoring bad behavior will make it go away. I should have just said "friend-you make me sad" and taken up bike riding in the middle of the street...at night. Did it make my life better? Maybe-I got a laugh out of it for a bit. The more I laughed and smiled the more unhinged pudgy Lance Armstrong became. I went from wanting to beat the crap out of him to mirth to pity for the a bit more of the human race. But I am not always correct in the way I respond to things. So perhaps there was a better course. After all he was just in the pursuit of happiness.

That was General Stuart. He was a good guy but IIRC was out of his mind on drugs at the time, due to his health. He passed away not long after that.

Perry, did you go to Tulsa University for your law degree?

+1

Yes. A long time ago.

20mph is a petty fast pace on a bicycle, pudgy as described e was running at close to maximum effort. He may have been pushing for a personal best on that stretch, was on a roll and didn’t want to interrupt that by stopping to put on his lights. It might be he actually lives right by you and was almost home but had to make these crazy detours on account of some crazy pickup truck driver following him.

At 20mph ya don’t got much time to avoid potholes, especially in bad light, likely he was in the middle of the lane because he couldn’t see well enough to ride close to the side of the lane.

Not saying he was right.

I think you done good!

The entertainment value of knowing you'd totally ruined his day was worth it!

I hope a LOT of them get their day ruined.

Bike Nazis give other bikers a bad name.

Paul Barnard will be along shortly to tell his side of the story.

Ya and some of them insist on riding 2-3 abreast so they can chat with their buddies.

As a TU College of Law alum, I don’t think either one of you covered yourself with glory in that little episode. Lol

It’s okay though, I’ve been there and done that sort of stuff.

Great story, thanks for posting.

The bold and underlined gives the biker the "legal" right to never ride next to the curb, because it is up to him to make the call on road condition.

Most people don't realize all of the crap in the road collects towards the curb, and out from it, and it causes flats if you ride there. That's why motorcycles don't ride on that side of the lane when they must ride in the far right lane.

You beat me to it!!

Obviously, he was riding too fast for conditions. He couldn't maintain his speed while still following the law. A motorcycle equivalent would be going into the other lane to run a good line through a corner.

I worked with a guy that was on the way to work early one morning, came upon a biker, at driving speed, dark, middle of the lane, no lights....................... DRT.

Do stupid stuff...win stupid prizes.........

I would have had a custom t-shirt or bumper sticker made for him.

It would read: "I killed a bicyclist."

PW,

I really enjoyed this story.

You should share it here:


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...me-have-it-i-am-a-bicyclist#Post15037157

You could have just said nothing, instead of being afraid to go home. You could have gone straight home and enjoyed a cold beer instead of following some stranger around the neighborhood.

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I ride with the mindset that if I die on my bike it’s ALWAYS my fault for being out there in the first place, and I commute to work alongside heavy traffic in places. The mornings are the worst; bad light and half-awake drivers trying not to be late for work. Consequently I ride the curbsides all the time while watching my mirrors. I’ll also bail off the asphalt onto the dirt in a heartbeat if I have to.

Used to be Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tours but now I’m on Schwalbe Mondials, $80 each but worth every penny: https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/road_tires/marathon_mondial

Premium tires rarely flat, but when they do it’s often terminal, like a 2” nail through center tread and out a sidewall. Once I got a circular tear center tread exactly the size of a 9mm cartridge case (steel? Seems like brass would be too soft). So if I flatted on a fired 9mm round, how Street Cred is that?

I get about a flat every 1,000-2,000 miles, most times having to replace the tire. I also carry a couple of dollar bills in my tool kit to fold up and use as tire liners between the tube and the tear in the tire, enough to get me home.

His lights were off because he doesn't want to stand in the breadlines for new batteries...

I have seen plenty of kids come to a complete stop without putting feet down.
On motorcycles no less.

Maybe, but most of the serious lights are rechargeable now using a standard smartphone charger, the modest draw of LED lighting allows this. Ain't that many good battery ones left, which is a pain because that’s my preference, no trouble at all to pack an extra set of AA or AAA Lithium Energizers around but if you forgot to recharge a rechargeable, you’re SOL.

Around here many bikers turn on those lights in the day time. They're really bright.

BTW: I would be very polite to all drivers, stupid car drivers and stupid bike riders. In my state 1,000,000 people have concealed carry licenses. Just ignore the bike rider and go around.

Roll coal

What he said

Se3ems to me the only people obeying the law when riding a bicycle around here are the kids.

That's complete Horse Shiet. I specifically ride towards the curb on my motorcycle just to be as far away from oncoming traffic as I can. I've not seen a huge build up of crap on the curb side of the road, I've been riding for 30 years.

Who obeys traffic laws on a bicycle?

My only concern was not getting squished.

Nobody.

I had a typo on the speed. I doubt that guy could attain 20 mph. He was riding about 10 mph max.

No curbs where he was riding on the main road. However, it did have a clearly marked white line and about a foot of pavement to the right of the line.

Should have used the pink font....

Fixed it.

Clearly he is a "red diaper doper baby"

I had a little rechargeable light about the size of a pack of matches with two little magnetic contacts you stuck to either end of a AA, or C or whatever to vampire the juice out. Kinda finicky, but then they replaced it with a USB model so you had to pull out your computer to charge it...though I guess you could use a usb power brick....
You could clip it to your hat or whatever...

For some reason the scene from Easy Rider comes to mind with the two back woods guys riding next to Dennis Hopper in an old pickup truck blow him away with a shotgun.

Exactly: #1 Not getting squished. #2 Not POing drivers.

Generally if you maximize #1 you help #2, big part of the reason we all hate cyclists is you can never be sure WTF they are gonna do when you are passing them. When the cyclist obviously stays out of your way it means they know you are coming up on them and are acting accordingly.

And here I thought you were going to say you'd have made the custom bumper sticker from him.


Agreed. Not that there is never any debris there, but I rode bicycles in traffic for years without any problems from drivers or curbside debris caused flats.

You must have rode different streets than I do 🙂

Roofing nails, regular nails, screws, metal debris, glass, more glass (beer, wine and liquor bottles), bits of retread with wire, and the occasional cartridge case and syringe with needle.

I have destroyed every brand of premium tire there is over the last seven years and maybe 12,000 miles.

It gets worse when it’s been a good while since a heavy rain.

I'm not saying there was never any road hazards close to the curb or never any broken glass, nails, etc. But I don't recall that being a constant issue keeping me away from riding closer to the right. However it has been over a decade since I last rode in traffic and I don't doubt that could be worse now given the overall degrade of individual conduct in general. I imagine the roads are also more dangerous due to smartphones as well.

Don't forget tools..
My saddle bag fell off once and I found a nice set of pliers and a wrench when I went to pick it up..

This



And this:



Choose you battles. Fight the one's worth fighting.

If your lefty friend continues to play stupid games and wins a stupid price, would that really be a bad thing?

What would you do if he pulled a gun and shot you? Or burned your house down in the middle of the night? I think you shouldn’t have gone looking for trouble!

Truth.

If I was on my bicycle at night (I often am) and some guy followed me, I’d presume malicious intent on their part.

Apparently OK. trained attorneys are immune from common sense and seek out confrontation to enforce truth, justice and the American way. I guess there are not any drunk, drugged or deranged bicyclists in OK. and the OP knows who might be safe to harass. Some great judgement on display there.


mike r

Buy Volkswagen

It would have launched the VW too, but he had burned most of his energy by the time he got to numbers 13 and 14