I got pulled over for speeding !

[dingbat]

I used to work in the repair shop at University Bikes in Boulder on the corner of 9th and Pearl. 9th street has a steep hill to the north of that intersection. Sometimes, if a repair bike had a speedo that recorded max speed, we'd take it down that hill on the test ride after the work was done and ramp up the reading just to mess with the owner's head. You could get 45-50 mph out of any old p.o.s. I recall high 70's from some of the nicer road rigs.

It was fun to watch people come down that hill on bikes. They'd always be cruising. One day I saw this big nasty hippy-looking guy flying down it while a little yellow car overtook him just to make the right on Pearl right in front of him. His front wheel stopped on the right-front quarter panel, he launched head first over the hood, came down on the other side, forhead first, with his whole body straight out behind it driving the impact. His head bounced off the pavement just in time for this massive, expedition sized, backpack he was wearing to drive it into the pavement a second time. I'm pretty sure some of his brains had made it to the outside by the time he stopped moving.

[dingbat]

Wow.

What can a cop do if you're speeding on your bicycle, and you don't have any ID?

Don't know this for certain, but I think they can detain you untill they figure out if you are who you claim to be.

... and they seem to be making pretty good progress with the smoking.

[Jack M]

Don't know this for certain, but I think they can detain you untill they figure out if you are who you claim to be.

Couldn't you then do what the detainees do on CSI? "Am I under arrest?" - "no" - "then I'm leaving. good day sir."

[willywhit]

espi,

get a motorcycle and you'll much happier at speed.

when I was 8, I came ripping around a corner at speed on my single speed and couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting a bus broadside. Woke up in the hospital as they were digging gravel out of my face. no helmet, doh.

nuther time in Cape Elizabeth, jack knows where, a kid lost his brakes on a hill next to our house and hit our station wagon and superman'd over the hood. kid had some baaaad roadrash but was ok.

Got a bunch of crash and burn stories on dirtbikes and skateboards over the years.

Driving a buddy to the hospital as he's going into shock is no fun.

Be careful out there kids

You CAN get into some trouble with the cops for bicycling really drunk on cape cod late at night on the way home from the pub.

just sayin'.......:rolleyes:

[dingbat]

Couldn't you then do what the detainees do on CSI? "Am I under arrest?" - "no" - "then I'm leaving. good day sir."

Let me know how that works out for you.:lol:

[Jack M]

Let me know how that works out for you.:lol:

hehe... yeah.

[dingbat]

You CAN get into some trouble with the cops for bicycling really drunk on cape cod late at night on the way home from the pub.

just sayin'.......:rolleyes:

A DUI is a DUI! You think they'd give you props for taking your 30# bike rather than getting behind the wheel of a 3000# car.

A few years ago, my brother, some friends, and I are riding bikes back to Seagirt from a cookout in the Squan. (NJ). This kid Ben has a beer in a traveler. My brother and I got a little ahead, turn around just in time to see Ben clip a telephone pole at a corner. He goes ass-over-teakettle, legs and arms spraweled everywhere, into the street. No sooner than he comes to a stop, he pops up and anounces "I didnth eevenspil mah beer". The red solo cup was full, he hadn't spilled a drop.:D

[Dave ESPI]

Willy, I'll NEVER be on a motorcycle. Have lost a few friends on them and one is a parap'lgic. It isn't lack of ability, it is everyone else that you have to watchout for. Plus there is no physical gain in "riding" versus "actively pedaling" a bike..... cept you are less stinky and not as tired when you get to work.. LOL.

Police can give you a citation for not having ID on your personal self. Technicaly after 2008, (thanks to the "morons" who allowed this PATRIOT ACT to pass) If you don't have your US citizens passport or 2 forms of recognised US Government ID on yourself at all times, they can lock you up with no reason given untill you can proove you are a legal us citizen. Not tht they will enforce this, but if they want to be di*kheads, thy have the ability and legal authority to do such.

Carvedog, I don't get offended easily. If anything I'm all for colorful robust free speach and calling people a bonehead, moron, dumbass, idiot, stupid, etc etc.... It's a persons' right to such opinion and choice of words when expressing it.

"sticks and stones.... but words.... never hurt." unless someone throws a dictionary at you.... LOL

[Pow]

awesome story Dave! Might not want to rack up too many speeding tickets on that, they might take your bicycle license too!

[Rob Stevens]

One thing is for sure... If you come off a bike on pavement at 50 mph, your head will leave your body. The undertaker can sew it back on to your torso, though, so if you're wearing a helmet, your lifeless head should be more presentable for the ceremony.

Dave: You sound like a guy who really likes to ride dirt. You should get a new bike ASAP. The mere presence of a kickstand on your current ride indicates a POS. I'm not being a dick (well, maybe I am)... Just stating a fact. You don't have to get a Scott Ransom to be riding on a whole 'nother planet. Most modern trailbikes would reduce your present bike to its component elements. Also, please don't try to sell it for $1000. If you do it on eBay, you'll be ridiculed on MTB forums like people are here, trying to sell Burton FP's for $1500. $250 seems about right. You said earlier that you dont get upset when people call you names... Does the same apply to your bike?

Father Wolf: That was a good story.

Carvedog: Fight the power.

[Neil Gendzwill]

One thing is for sure... If you come off a bike on pavement at 50 mph, your head will leave your body. The undertaker can sew it back on to your torso, though, so if you're wearing a helmet, your lifeless head should be more presentable for the ceremony.

That's not for sure at all. People survive crashes at a lot higher speeds than that on motorcycles, so long as they're wearing the right gear.

[Dan]

That's not for sure at all. People survive crashes at a lot higher speeds than that on motorcycles, so long as they're wearing the right gear.

Gotta agree with Neil on this -- it all depends how/what you impact. I've wiped out doing 40-45 mph heading downhill into Eastsound on Orcas Island (Puget Sound), and came out without even hitting my head or breaking any bones. I did have fairly gnarly road rash though, and having the gravel dug out wasn't very much fun: the scars are still there, 20 years later. (Partially obscured by longboarding scars now )

I was kind of lucky because I did a superman onto the pavement, then slid to a stop=fairly gradual deceleration. If I had done the superman into a tree or (much worse) a car heading the opposite direction, things would probably not have turned out so well.

I was wearing a helmet, and wouldn't bike without it, but it didn't make any difference at all for that particular wreck.

[queequeg]

But hey, being treated like a car is the price we pay if we want to be able to take a lane, which is permitted by Oregon law. The only problem is that cyclists and cops are the only ones who know that...

I regularly have to tell NYC drivers that they may NOT ****ING SHARE MY GODDAMNED LANE WITH ME. They're always like "You don't know what the **** you're taking about, you're supposed to be on the sidewalk" and I usually have to tell them that it is just as illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk as it is for them to drive there. I have been lucky enough on more than one occasion to have been having just one such "conversation" (while moving on the road) with some ****tard driver when a cop has pulled up behind us and whooped his siren. Both times I have just sat silent and let the driver dig his own grave, and both times the driver got slammed with a major ticket, while I went happily on my way.

New York City drivers absolutely suck out my farts. Not only are they intensely, morbidly, ludicrously ****ing stupid, they are aggressive as hell to boot. I would love to be riding my bike in Portland Oregon where the driver stupidity/agression is somewhat curtailed by the more laid back atmosphere. The IQ of the average person drops by about 75 points as soon as they step in a car, but with NYC drivers, its more like 150. They're borderline retarded by the time the engine rolls over.

I run red lights all the time on bikes, which is neither safe or legal, and if I ever get stopped by a cop I deserve the ticket. I just cant be stopping and spinning back up every six blocks or so.

[C5 Golfer]

So does your bike insurance go up ??? Confuzzeled.

I talked with a bike hating cop the other day -- he said he has ticketed a bicycler for holding up 5 cars on a road. I know the road of which he spoke - it has no place place to pull over on the shoulder safely.

[dingbat]

New York City drivers absolutely suck out my farts. Not only are they intensely, morbidly, ludicrously ****ing stupid, they are aggressive as hell to boot.

:lol::D

Hahaha! I have so many stories from, and have been hit by so many cars while riding in Manhattan I don't even know where to start, so I won't.

They put a speed limit on the loop in the park when I lived in town. It was hysterical. The cops would sit in a cushman at the top of the little hill on the west side of the small loop with the radar on. If you could break the speed limit coming up the hill, you could certainly out-run the cushman on the way down. They'd chase until they realized it was futile, then be waiting at the top again the next time you came around. ****ing riot!:D

[skatha]

it's cheaper to make sure everyone buys and uses a helmet than to have legions of head injured tough guys living off disability, your dumb ass now becomes my problem. seatbelt laws are a little more arguable for a few reasons.

Sorry, a few anecdotes do not overcome years of research, scientifically speaking. As an erstwhile ER doc, I've had more experience than probably pretty much everyone here with motor vehicle accident trauma and deaths associated with it. I've told a lot of families their family member died and have yet to tell anyone their family member died because he had his seatbelt on. My ex is a paramedic and also has yet to see a "DRT" -dead right there-related to seat belt use. In fact, I just went to a funeral of the son of one of my friends. He would have likely survived his accident had he been restrained by a seat belt.

As for helmets with motorbikes, scooters, bicycles-my memory of the woman who died falling backward off a scooter starting off is still vivid after 18 years. All it takes is your skull hitting the pavement at 12 mph and you've sustained enough force for a fatal brain injury. The helmets really aren't for the high speed crashes, they're for the relatively benign falls that could have resulted in a fatality.

Just my 2 cents...

[Kimo]

If I had my way... there would (1) be no helmet and no seatbelt laws and (2) neither one's insurance nor the guvmint would be required to pay a single penny of the medical expenses incurred by someone stupid enough to think that the lack of such a law is a good enough reason to not wear a helmet or a seatbelt. Of course, I never get my way.

[Dan]

I would love to be riding my bike in Portland Oregon where the driver stupidity/agression is somewhat curtailed by the more laid back atmosphere.

Yes! <a href="http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120953155058710300">Portland just received a "platinum" certification for its bicycle programs/infrastructure - only the second U.S. city to do so.</a>

Hats off to you for having the b@!!s to bike in NYC. I've biked in some nutty places in Asia (like Hanoi and Bangkok), but I'd think twice before hopping on a bike in New York.

[Dave ESPI]

Dave: You sound like a guy who really likes to ride dirt. You should get a new bike ASAP. The mere presence of a kickstand on your current ride indicates a POS. I'm not being a dick (well, maybe I am)... $250 seems about right. You said earlier that you dont get upset when people call you names... Does the same apply to your bike?

Carvedog: Fight the power.

I love dirt, but a lack of a kickstand means laying my bike down somewhere, and I don't abuse my back ( picking it back up)

I put the kickstand on it. I had one on the rear trailing frame, but the f-er kept comming down on me when I was launching off stuff and catching it on branches and shieit. I put the basic kick stand on it and when I trail ride, I zip tie it up to the post so it is highly unlikely to open on me. I can kick down hard on it, and break the zip tie when I want to park it, works great :)

Truth be told, it was about an 800.00 bike around 10 years ago, and no way would I ever realisticly dream of getting anything more than 200.00 for it, so no worries... LOL I fully know what its "worth is".

Do I need a Ransom? no. Do I want one? yes. Why? i donno, it has the features I want, and its better than the GIANT I sold lastyear that I got as a replacement for this RU. There are a lot of knock offs made of this exact bike, but this one was the real deal with Ballistic shocks and titanium/ aluminum rims and frame. I just really cant part with it... its been a good bike to me, and I rarely find anything that is made to last anymore.

"Drive it like you rent it"... well, I want to do that and still own it :)

LOVE HATE

Queequag, I like driving in NYC, but bike in it? no fn' way. YOU ARE GOING ON MY " THE PEOPLE WITH A FEW SCREWS LOOSE AND MAY NEED MENTAL HELP" list... LOL

[dingbat]

Sorry, a few anecdotes do not overcome years of research, scientifically speaking. As an erstwhile ER doc, I've had more experience than probably pretty much everyone here with motor vehicle accident trauma and deaths associated with it. I've told a lot of families their family member died and have yet to tell anyone their family member died because he had his seatbelt on. My ex is a paramedic and also has yet to see a "DRT" -dead right there-related to seat belt use. In fact, I just went to a funeral of the son of one of my friends. He would have likely survived his accident had he been restrained by a seat belt.

The father of one of my kid's friends is a Mass. State Police detective. He does nothing but investigate highway fatalities. He's told me that except for a couple of extraordinary exceptions, every fatality he's investigated, the deceased was not wearing a seatbelt.

[Rob Stevens]

That's not for sure at all. People survive crashes at a lot higher speeds than that on motorcycles, so long as they're wearing the right gear.

Do I have to put those smileys on everything I overstate to make a point?

No government agency should feel like they have to tell people to wear a helmet. You should just do it so you don't wind up a full-time drooler.

[Derf]

Those police goons will never cease to amaze me! I you got a ticket for speeding in a car, I would say "good for you, you deserve it". But speeding on a bicycle? That is just plain stupid on their part. If you didn't have an odometer, how would you know? You could easily contest it. If you have one, you could say it was not calibrated.

I'm a bicycle militant, and some things I read just make me angry. Policemen always pick on the weakest: pedestrians and cyclist. it's not the cyclists that are dangerous on the streets and they don't cause the death of thousands of people each year.

[Petrol]

(thanks to the "morons" who allowed this PATRIOT ACT to pass) If you don't have your US citizens passport or 2 forms of recognised US Government ID on yourself at all times, they can lock you up with no reason given untill you can proove you are a legal us citizen.

Where IS that BS flag when you need it...

Hey, here's an idea, when the cop ask for your ID, just say, "No Habla Ingles" . . .

and I'm sure they'll let you continue on your way

[Dr D]

Where IS that BS flag when you need it...

Hey, here's an idea, when the cop ask for your ID, just say, "No Habla Ingles" . . .

and I'm sure they'll let you continue on your way

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

The simplest solutions are the best! luv it!

you could also try asking him for his:eplus2:

[Rob Stevens]

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

The simplest solutions are the best! luv it!

you could also try asking him for his:eplus2:

A few years back, an off duty cop tried to light me up for riding a closed trail.

My friends had already gone past the trailhead and he assumed (correctly) that that's where I was headed.

Since I hadn't dropped in yet (DH track) I figured he could **** off and told him so when he asked for my ID. He was in his private car, wearing no uniform, though he had a friend in the car who backed him up when he gave me his business card. I told him that any idiot could get those made at Kinko's and didn't he know what the penalty for impersonating a cop was?

With fire shooting out of his holes, I bid him "Adieu" and went off to find a legal trail a bit higher up.

My friends, who had stopped to wait, eventually came back to look for me. When they did, the coppper was still there. He tried the same thing on with them. One stayed and one fled the scene. The one who stayed was charged to the full extent of the law. This was no little charge, but a rather large fine as we're in the Banff National Park and poaching trails is a federal offence. He actually lost a job because he could not travel until pardoned.

Myself and the friend who ditched were kinda hard on our buddy who stayed and let this loser with no ID, or any other visible clues, hold him. Of course, he shat on us for ditching him, but was in an undefensible position considering he should have lit out himself.