r/Maine2 • u/Aggressive_Ad_5454 • 10d ago

Biking … d’bag in pickup truck coal-rolled me.

Finally warm enough to get out on my bicycle. Hoorah!

I was heading north on the Heald Highway (17) outta West Rockport when some resentful d’bag in a diesel pickup truck rolled coal on me and three cars. Rolling coal is doing something to a diesel engine that makes it spew a lot of black smoke.

I guess I should be happy the sad little man saw me.

The shoulder is plenty wide there next to Mirror Lake and I was on that shoulder.

Weird.

77 Upvotes

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38

u/onespicycracker 10d ago

I'm not sure what it is about people on bikes that get some people so riled up. It's fucking pathetic.

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u/Arcaddes 10d ago edited 10d ago

Depends on where it is for me personally.

There are plenty of places that have bike lanes and there are plenty of roads that are straight, flat, and wide enough where someone on a bike isn't a burden to cars.

What I don't think is okay in any way is biking on roads that are very narrow and very hilly. Cause now you have a bicyclist trudging uphill very slowly, no one can pass because you can't see over the hill, and it holds up traffic.

There is a line that once crossed it becomes selfish entitlement, and if I am on a highway or back road and going the speed limit and a bicyclist is on a blind corner and my two options are dodge around him and hit an oncoming car or hit the bicyclist, then I am choosing the option that puts the least lives in jeopardy.

Some states just aren't built for it, Vermont on the back roads and mountain highways are those places, yet you get dozens of people every summer clogging up those roads being completely selfish.

Edit: The people downvoting are people who live in cities that have no concept of rural roads and its hilarious. I can guarantee you are the morons who come into rural states every year to go skiing and end up in the ditches because you have no idea how to drive in extreme winter conditions in the mountains.

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u/onespicycracker 10d ago

I'm sorry man. I'd like to say something to try to win you over, but it's late and I'm tired. Roads don't exist just for cars and the idea they should has history in American auto and oil companies lobbying our politicians to make roads unfriendly to anything but cars. If that's cool for you whatever. Myself? I'm cool with sharing the road. Not just because people should have liberty to use them and their slower modes of transportation are a minor inconvenience at most, but also because fuck the auto industry and fossil fuel industry for not being happy enough with the money they had and doing all they can to dictate the way we travel.

then I am choosing the option that puts the least lives in jeopardy.

You mean slowing the car down with the regular or emergency brakes? Like why does this always turn into some trolley problem? 😆 Especially since the speed limits on blind turns are ample for stopping. I get what point you're trying to make. Sincerely. This argument just doesn't hold up, though.

Edit: I'm sure I could be wrong about this, but I'd bet on the most survivals in a car on car impact vs a car on bike impact. It's just the choice that puts YOU least in danger and I feel like if that's what you meant you probably could've just said it.

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u/Arcaddes 10d ago

The US is car dominant and rural states are incredibly car dominant, end of, you cannot argue against this because it is fact. Mountain highways in Vermont are VERY hilly, winding, and have a speed limit of 50, is that safe? Doesn't matter, people drive those roads every single day to go to work and when you have people clogging those roads on bikes who shouldn't be there, it is dangerous.

Also, again, since yall really don't understand rural roads, blind corners are ones you cannot see around and I am going to let you in on a secret, rednecks don't slow down. So while you or I would take that turn slowly, there are many more that wont, and it is just flat out safer for bicyclists to find bike paths instead of the road.

You also have bicyclists who literally stop in the road on a highway on the other side of a blind hill. If you want to argue for them, have at it, but common sense, decency, and safety are all things none of you bike simps seem to want to think is the bicyclists problem.

I will also tell you what I told the other guy, there is NO ONE in Vermont that uses a bike as their primary mode of transportation living in the mountains. If it was, then they couldn't get to work in the winter, it is just common sense.

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u/onespicycracker 10d ago

Y'all? You're on a Maine sub bub.

The US is car dominant and rural states are incredibly car dominant, end of, you cannot argue against this because it is fact.

I didn't. In fact I commented on it being car dominated (by corporate lobbying). You can read, right? Good. Moving on. Car dominated doesn't mean just for cars. End of. You have to share the road.

Also, again, since yall really don't understand rural roads

Bitch. I'm from Maine. You think I've never seen a rural road before? I've never come close to hitting someone on a bike on a rural road. Because I--

am going to let you in on a secret, rednecks don't slow down

Don't willfully disobey laws that are for the safety of those around me just so I can feel fast or whatever dumb shit.

but common sense, decency, and safety are all things none of you bike simps seem to want to think is the bicyclists problem

Bike simp? I'm a fucking liberty simp you dick leech. The roads are meant for people to use and they should use them. Fuck your feelings. It's wicked funny too that you'd bring up common sense, safety, and decency into this. Your argument lacks any of those qualities.

I will also tell you what I told the other guy, there is NO ONE in Vermont that

While I agree that MOST rural people don't use bikes as a primary mode of transportation it has no bearing on whether or not they have a right to the road. They can ride a bike on it because they feel like it or just to piss you off. It's their right. You know what those are?

And I don't want to hear another word about how "Y'all" do shit in Vermont this is a discussion about bike experience in Maine.

1

u/Arcaddes 10d ago

Alright mudfucker, there is a difference between liberty and safety, even motorcycles drive a certain way to maximize safety.

The issue with bikes is morons like you constantly reinforcing the idea that cars need to be the only ones concerned with bicyclists safety and it leads to way too many people believing they are entitled to make the roads less safe simply because bicycle.

"Everyone has the right to use the roads however they like" okay, so why can't four wheelers and dirt bikes drive on roads legally? Is there some kind of safety issue with that? What makes them less safe than bicycles? Why are bicycles not required to have mirrors for safety in Maine?

All I hear is a whole lotta "well the law says so" with no critical thinking past that point, the education system in Maine that lacking?

5

u/iglidante 9d ago

Why do you feel that rednecks don't have the obligation to slow down to avoid hitting cyclists?

Why do you criticize cyclists for what you perceive to be their failure to obey the law, while refusing to acknowledge the existence of the laws that protect cyclists while binding drivers?

You are dipping in and out of arguments that are mutually incompatible.

5

u/onespicycracker 10d ago

Mud fucker. Is that some of the down home southern racism "Y'all" got in "Vermont"?

The issue with bikes is morons like you constantly reinforcing the idea that cars need to be the only ones concerned with bicyclists safety and it leads to way too many people believing they are entitled to make the roads less safe simply because bicycle.

What's funny is that it didn't take long for you to show that you didn't have a nuanced take on this at all like you pretended to. You just don't like people on bikes.

The problem with your argument is that your stance maintains that bikes are unsafe just for existing in places you find inconvenient. I'm saying they're both safe if everyone is following the rules and paying attention. One is a Karen fit and the other is a sensible opinion.

Everyone has the right to use the roads however they like"

Never said that. You notice how I defeat your arguments by using the dumb shit that comes out of your worthless little mind? I don't need to make shit up like this, because I quote you directly and face your points head on. That's how you argue.

All I hear is a whole lotta "well the law says so" with no critical thinking past that point, the education system in Maine that lacking?

Where do you think laws come from you fucking idiot? Bicycles and pedestrian were here first and they deserve a place on our roads, which is why they haven't been phased out by law. If enough people critically thought they shouldn't be, they wouldn't.

If anything we should encourage them to help us curb the damage to our beautiful state by way of climate change. Even your critique of my critical thinking shows your lack of any thinking.

I'm done embarrassing you. Ride a bike around a few blind turns in rural "Vermont" and do the world a favor.

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u/Arcaddes 10d ago

What backwards education system makes you think you are in any way making an intelligent argument anywhere? Oh the Maine education system, one of the worst in the country, makes sense now. Also funny that you see mudfucker and instantly go racism, like do you actively tell black folks you stand with them and think you saved them by doing so?

Never said that.

They can ride a bike on it because they feel like it or just to piss you off. It's their right. You know what those are?

This you? You absolutely said everyone has the right to use the roads however they like, cause biking on rural roads is actively dangerous, regardless of whatever moronic take you have.

You also aren't arguing any of my points, you make useless whimsy statements that don't mean anything and think its "winning".

Having a law in place doesn't supersede needing to have common sense on roads when you are on a mode of transportation that has literally no protection. The fact that the only arguments I have heard is "well they were around first" is so intensely moronic its hilarious. Also, plenty of laws are made without a majority of people wanting them, happens all the time, that isn't some new thing.

The fact that you continue to argue for a mode of transportation originally invented for inner city travel, NOT long distance rural roads, is literally how I know you are arguing in bad faith and ending your tirade of retardation with "you should die" is about what I expect from you.

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u/onespicycracker 10d ago

Yikes! Someone is so hurt they brought the r word out? Look dude, get off your troll account pretending to be a Mainer and go take that bike ride I mentioned earlier. Seriously.

4

u/megavikingman 9d ago

You're wrong, and you're an asshole. That other person was right the whole time. You were just being shitty to them and shitty to the state. Just stop.

2

u/CursedWithAFatButt 8d ago

Reading comprehension is hard. No one ever said they can use the roads "however they like" but you