Yes it is the law.

I have no idea which club it was that was riding 3 and 4 across, but it was definitly a club, or one hell of a party. They were strung out in groups of about ten people, and there were more than 5 of these groups. We encountered them starting at Redwine Rd. and they were on Berhard, and Goza, the slow pokes were trailing on Antioch. Yes I think they were all together, sort of...We always see this on the weekends and they never go single file when cars are coming. I don't know what mythological club that you are talking about that preaches safety, and curtesy.

Are you the belligerent cyclist that swerved into the truck that was trying to get by you? The truck straddled the yellow line and the cyclist attempted to swerve into him, I guess to intimidate him.(no, he was not trying to turn left) I was behind him......you know what I would have done to help you if you had hit him?? Nothing, other than call the sheriff's dept and tell them what you did.

You do need to share the road, it is the law.
This would be a lot easier if they had bike lanes on the shoulder. This seems to work in other communities. How much extra would it cost to pave the shoulder?

Bike Club? Oh please. What we're talking about here is a bunch of white trash gangs on bicycles.

When a car comes up behind a group of cyclists, the group changes to a single file in order to allow the car to pass safely.

NO THEY DON'T. In fact it's only about 1 in 5 groups that will merge to a single file. To those I salute. But even at that they're usually several feet off the white line. Half of you bike clowns intentionally dare and challenge auto drivers. Hence the driver rage and dislike for the cyclist clowns.

Often I've come up on a group only to have them broaden their footprint on the roadway.

They are a recognized mode of transportation you share the road with.

Give me a break. You act like you're saving the world and performing a public service. You're interfering with traffic on roadways that people who actually reside in that area have to use to commute and live. Furthermore you're a road hazard that is placing our families in jeopardy to satisfy your own selfish motives. Heck you clowns don't even live anywhere near where we live and you act like we're supposed slow down and dodge you everywhere we travel. Don't give us that hogwash about recognized mode of transportation. Heck it's legal for me to own a shotgun but that doesn't mean I can blow the windows out of your pansy mobile.

What you.... may not see, or care about are things like gravel, glass, debris, cracked asphalt and so on that can cause a bicyclist to crash and be injured.

Okay bonehead. What the heck do you expect when your traveling on a path designed for AUTOMOBILES? So go to Lake Horton and ride the bike paths there like sensible people do.

As far as the cyclist refusing to let cars pass; Maybe he was turning left?

Yeah right. Pee on our feet some more and try to convince us it's raining. So if I'm to understand you correctly a road hogging cyclist is supposed to position itself for a left turn at least a quarter of a mile prior to reaching the desired intersection.

There have been too many close calls to bicyclists due to ignorant and impatient motorists.

Now for my version....There have been too many close calls to motorists due to ignorant, egotistical, and self centered cyclists daring motorists

Most cyclists will not argue with a car - they crush easier.

Wrong again dude. The more of you there are the more daring, vocal and challenging you get toward motorists.

As far as the crushed part goes......well better you than me.

Squirrels play in the road and become unintentional road kill. If you're squirreling around in the middle of the road what makes you any different than a squirrel?

________

You may not be at war with Islam, but Islam is at war with you! If we lose.... They will follow.

I must respond to my good friend Git. You do have some misconceptions. I do not pretend to be doing a public service by riding my bike and sharing my spandex with the world. No. But the law permits bicycles and if you are a true Second Amendment fan, you will respect this as the rule of law.

I would agree and I do find it remarkable that some cyclists are rude. As one poster said, we crush more easily. Besides, although I occasionally carry a semi auto Beretta 25, I would doubt that any cyclists carry long guns, and some motorists do! Messing with a motorist is a bad idea. There is plenty of rudeness though in this world on both sides and the cyclists that do not yield down to single file when motorists approach are rude and are asking for it. However, I think most bicyclists are good. I also find that almost all motorists are polite and safe. I am very careful, very polite and I do not want a fight. And let me say this---- when I ride down into Pike County, south Coweta county, Gay, etc., I rarely have a problem. Sometimes its kids hollering at you but that is rare. What makes us more nervous than motorists is aggressive dogs.

Misconceptions, Git….We cannot use the bike paths. You don’t want us to. The average speed of a cyclist on the roads exceeds the maximum speed of a golf cart. On almost every ride we do, our top speed will exceeds mid 30’s and the average speed exceeds 20. On walking trails this would be crazy. Cart paths are suitable for 10-15 max.

Stop signs…..I think this is a misunderstanding. Yes, technically a group of five riders should line up, one by one, and each one should take a turn and yield a turn with the other lanes. Do you really want that? You would be blowing the horn. I get on the back end of a vehicle and go through the intersection. It is safe, fast and you are not delayed. When it doubt, I dismount and wait. Amazing--- many times when I dismount a motorist will go out of their way to motion me to go through.

I think one thought that permeates all of this discussion is that too many of as Americans are very impatient and very selfish. We berate each other over small materialistic things. This is wrong. My deceased father 30 years ago used to say that the best thing that could happen to America would be another good stiff depression. Perhaps he was right. We go to church but how often do we abandon our loving hearts ?

For now, I will stay out of your way motorists and try my best to share a small piece of the road.

P.S. For some history on Fayette cyclists, ask the legendary LeGay Saul about the black dog on Ebeneezer Road and the man who had a fatal heart attack. That was ugly behavior from both constituencies.

P.S.S. One other sad observation---- if you ride your bike from Fayette to Pike, for example, the improvement in air quality is astonishing. It amazes me folks.

Now I feel like I've been summoned to the principals office.

But the law permits bicycles and if you are a true Second Amendment fan, you will respect this as the rule of law.

You know I'm a true 2nd Amendment fan. However, I don't brandish a firearm in public and intentionally jack with people in an effort to intimidate others to prove that I have a right to own and operate my weapon. I value that right and I use it responsibly. Tell you what... let's start enforcing the bike laws on the cyclists to the same degree we do weapons carriers. If I stand in the middle of the road waving my firearm for no other reason than to show how tough I am then by golly put me away. Same goes with many (not some) of the cyclists that irresponsibly hog the roadways while intimidating and abusing their rights to highways. Let's put them away.

On rare occasion I had Boortz on this morning and he was talking about a scientific study that showed how pit bull owners felt the need to strut their dogs around to compensate for their lacking of quantity of certain bodily appendages. I think that's the case for many of these bikers. They're trying to compensate for their own personal inadequacies by abusing their rights and forcing themselves on motorists in an attempt to intimidate us. Makes me wonder what issue they're trying to make up for.

I have to admit that it makes me want to touch the idiot with my passenger door when he eases over to the middle of the lane when he knows that a car is approaching for whatever stupid reason. (For the record my self control always trumps the little chuckling horned guy sitting on my "left " shoulder trying to tell me to "do it". Now if you ever see Git with an angled snow plow mounted on the front of his pick-em-up truck then you know he's had it and he can't take it anymore.

We cannot use the bike paths. You don’t want us to. The average speed of a cyclist on the roads exceeds the maximum speed of a golf cart

Ok..you got me there. Kind of like when I took my knobby tired bike to PTC one fine afternoon to explore some paths. I was gingerly cruising down this big ole curvy wooded hill gaining speed every few yards just absorbing the pleasantries of life when.....ut oh... Out of nowhere I engaged a sharp 90 degree turn that I could not negotiate at the rate of speed I was traveling. Well let me just say...... Have you ever taken a moment to thank God for those times when you stand up and shake the dust and briars off of yourself while walking away from a tumble that should have rightfully killed you? Anyways....we'll move on.

We go to church but how often do we abandon our loving hearts ?

That's an easy one as the answer is "daily". And shamefully so.

I will stay out of your way motorists and try my best to share a small piece of the road.

And I will reciprocate Moses. Cogito...I'm having trouble with this image of you pedaling away with a Beretta .25 cal semi-auto strapped to your back while wearing spandex and with your long flowing hair, beard and robe flowing behind you as you glide up the highway. Question though... Where do you put you staff?

________

You may not be at war with Islam, but Islam is at war with you! If we lose.... They will follow.

Find this paragraph in your above post:

Give me a break. You act like you're saving the world and performing a public service. You're interfering with traffic on roadways that people who actually reside in that area have to use to commute and live. Furthermore you're a road hazard that is placing our families in jeopardy to satisfy your own selfish motives. Heck you clowns don't even live anywhere near where we live and you act like we're supposed slow down and dodge you everywhere we travel. Don't give us that #### about recognized mode of transportation. Heck it's legal for me to own a shotgun but that doesn't mean I can blow the windows out of your pansy mobile.

Edit out the #### cause it's become the latest cause celibre or however you put it for censorship. Cheers Brother,

Kevin "Hack" King

And I overlooked that. Thanks.

I'm a knobby tire guy too! Problem is these days I prefer or should I say require flatter ground. Guess I need to work on that.

On a side note. Got a pic e-mailed to me. Wish it had come sooner during the Imus controversy I'd a slapped it up as an avatar. The pic was that of a nappy headed hoe. A garden hoe with nappy carpet glued to each side of the blade.
________

You may not be at war with Islam, but Islam is at war with you! If we lose.... They will follow.

Imus is a true American. What I mean by that is he is taking his problems to litigation. He is suing CBS and MSNBC for firing him.. I guess when an employee acts out of line you are supposed to suck it up and keep paying them.. What's the world coming to? or is that "comming to"?

Kevin "Hack" King

The title of my posting sounds..... well hellish.

Imus is talk radio's version of Hillary Clinton. Classless, nasty and ugly. But before you come after me for that one I can compare him to plenty of skanky Republican's too.

Coming or comming??? Have you heard of IE Spell Check? Helps me out a lot with my third grade edumacation. It's a free download that after installed you can right click on your draft and it'll correct the vast majority of spelling errors while offering a few more suggestions.

It's coming. I right clicked.

Bad PTC introduced that one around here about 6 months ago.

________

You may not be at war with Islam, but Islam is at war with you! If we lose.... They will follow.

just like all other "Vehicles". That's interesting since most of the bike riders completely ignore stop signs and traffice lights. No less than 5 times a week i get passed by some bike rider, on the right of me, while I'm sitting at a stop light. Then while I'm sitting, if no one is coming, they ride through the red light.

I may have to start making a(in my best Gomer Pyle Voice)"CITIZENS ARREST"!

I've been biking for 25 years and I've never had any of these problems. Could it be my knobby tires? Only snakes, squirrels, deer, and an occaisional ferile cat and dog for me to worry about. I am a huge advocate of gettin off of the couch (sans the tights), but many of our local riders give all riders a bad name; blowing through stop signs, riding two and three across, and relying on the attentiveness of drivers to a fault. Many riders don't ride as if they will get the short end of the collision stick. I'm not sure why that is, but I see bikers setting poor examples on a daily basis. Personally, I even break for squirrels, so they're safe with me, but there are too many teens on cell phones and changing CDs to ride carelessly.

Kevin "Hack" King

Perhaps it is time we sent a few of these courageous souls to help out in Iraq. They could ride around all day every day and detect IEDs for the military.

I always have to laugh when I see the different perspectives of the various local citizens that post on here. Similar to the "free speech" section that people use to rant, the post speak for themselves.

I have lived,AND DO LIVE in PTC for more than 30 years, I grew up as a child riding my BMX bike to the BMX track, on the paths and sometimes the roads. I lived on my bike as a kid in PTC. I've moved on to Mountain bikes and Road bikes in my recent years. Biking is great in all forms and with fuel like it is, I personally will use mine more for getting around town. If it were practicle I would commute to work on one. Like anything, you should learn about what your talking about before you fly off the handle.

The original poster seemed reasonable in his thougths, and yes cyclist should do their best to move over if able. Like anything else, there is always a bad apple or two to give them all a bad reputation.

With that said, I would add that when cyclist are riding in a group, someone in the group will yell "carback" and at that point the group will do their best to "thin-out". That doesnt mean it can happen with the snap of a finger, its a process, and dependent on the riders experience level. In a group ride you will often have all levels of experience.

Someone in a previous post said the rider swerved out on purpose. I doubt it, I would challenge you to ride your bike in a straight line while looking over your left shoulder to observe the traffic behind you. Hence, you will sometimes observe that the cyclist will
NOT look back for that very reason in order to maintain the line they are riding. In addition, a cyclist or group of, may not hear the car behind, because of wind noise and other outside noise masking that quiet convertable sports car cruising behind. Believe it or not, the noise level can be very high.

What does this boil down to? Everyone should be reasonable in a perfect world and try to consider the others perspective. Unfortunately, based on the observation of the previous post, my words will fall on deaf/ignorant ears.

What you cant deny, is that the law says we must both obey it. If you want to go to bed knowing that you hurt someone who was simply trying to enjoy the great outdoors, then all I can say is Karma is a {{{EDITED}}}.

Even with all the growth, PTC is still a great place to live and raise a family, and ride your bike, and drive your car with the top down.

To each there own, dont knock it till you try it.

Thank you PTC4LIFE, I had almost thrown in the towel looking for what my upbringing would class as "good old common sense". Why is it that in order to get our perspective conveyed we resort to the extreme on the differing mindset. You are correct, in my opinion, in that hurting someone on a bike irregardless of fault will weigh on at least my soul and perhaps others who refuse to admit so.
Roads are to be shared, as is life, if bikers can endure my gas fumes, I certainly will take the necessary time to insure their and my safety.