Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A Swift Reply

Scott Myers, Copy Editor at The State News, wrote a near-brilliant and humorous response to Clueless Zach Colman

The fun begins with:

White 2009 Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno.
That’s the bike I ride — and if you’re a motorist on the road and plan on running me over, I hope you have a good lawyer, because I might sue you.
Intentionally.
Because you see, with all these dangerously inattentive motorists on the road nowadays, doing things like changing songs on their iPods, sending text messages while driving or falling asleep because they can’t get enough sleep to function on the same schedule as 90 percent of the rest of the world, I’m tired of getting run over.

And ends with:

Those are the blinking lights on my white 2009 Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno in front of you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d do your best to avoid them.

Well done, Scott. 

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Stupid. It Burns!

Via TCW, I read this from Zach Colman who writes for the Michigan State University student run newspaper, Statenews.com. I don't know how many comments this idiot usually gets, but this column got A LOT. A few favorites:

Zach wrote: "I cannot drive my car on the sidewalk, so why must you ride your bicycle where I drive?"

"Dumb as D. Bobby" pointed out (complete with link) that the MSU biking regulations state: " .. Since bicycles aren’t legally allowed to ride sidewalks on campus .."

Zach wrote: "But roads are for cars, not bicyclists. The bicyclist should not have been in the car lane."

"Michael" pointed out that the Michigan Vehicle Code states: "Each person riding a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, or moped or operating a low-speed vehicle upon a roadway has all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter".

I won't even point out how stupid it is for Zach to use Lance Armstrong's average speed in the Tour de France as a cycling speed benchmark (I'm sure some commenter did).

It was the third paragraph which set the tone for the burning stupid which followed. Zach wrote: "But you see, with all these things I can do in my car nowadays, such as choose a different song on my iPod, send a text message while driving or fall asleep at the wheel because I had to wake up for a worthless 8 a.m. biology lab, I might not notice you."

OK. Zach. You are obviously too stupid to drive. Your column demonstrates that you are a failure as a journalist. Your attitude towards Biology demonstrates that any career involving Science is probably not in your future. Science also involves research, something for which you obviously lack motivation and/or ability. Judgment seems to be a problem for you based on your self-assessment of how you drive. That's going to narrow your field of study and career choices even further.

So what's left?

Inmate?

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Morning Ride

With the warmer weather, it's getting easier to take photos during the morning ride. There was no way I was going to take off my lobster mitts and expose my bare hands to 20 degrees and 17 MPH self-generated winds just to take a picture of a rider I probably won't recognize due to the amount of layers they're wearing. Anyway, today I took some photos early in the ride and what follows is the best one. Turns out my fitness level only allowed me to take a few shots early in the ride when the pace was slow and I could easily stash the camera and catch up.

Still, a nice start to the spring riding season.

Morning Ride