11 Cycling Pet Peeves

Written by
Marc Lindsay
We all get annoyed from time to time when we're out on the road. From unruly pedestrians to motorized fat bikes, here are 11 pet peeves that can annoy even the calmest of personalities. What gets under your skin while you're out on a ride?
Riding on the Sidewalk
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Cyclists who ride on the sidewalks are a danger to pedestrians. In most areas of the country, state laws require bicycles to follow the same rules of the road as any motorized vehicle.
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Unleashed Dogs
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Dogs that aren't fenced in or that aren't on a leash really have a way of ruining a ride.
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Honking Motorists
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A motorist that honks and waves to get you to scoot over when there's no place to scoot to can be frustrating. The philosophy of impeding traffic when there's space on the shoulder or a bike lane is fair, but cyclists have just as much right to the road as a vehicle.
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Screaming Pedestrians
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I've had a lot of stuff yelled and thrown at me while riding my bike. The worst, you ask? I took a water bottle to the chest as the pedestrian screamed, "Go Lance Go!"
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Motorized Bicycles
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It's one thing to get passed by a cyclist that's in better shape than you. But getting passed by a bicycle rigged to a gasoline motor doing 30 miles per hour in the bike lane? That's annoying. A bike with an exhaust pipe isn't a bicycle, it's a moped.
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Traffic Laws
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Cyclists need to obey stop signs and red lights. It's annoying to stop at a stop sign when absolutely no one is around. But we can't have it both ways. If motorists need to obey the law to the letter, cyclists do too. It's safer for everyone.
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Headphones
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Cyclists that ride with ear buds or headphones as they fly down the road, oblivious to the world around them, are risking their lives and the lives of others for the sake of music. This just isn't cool.
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Runners Going Against Traffic in the Bike Lane
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Runners who run against traffic in the bike lane when it's dark increase the risk of a crash. Head-on collisions are never fun.
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Cellphones
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You shouldn't use your cellphone on your bike or when you're driving a car. They're both equally awful and unsafe.
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Drafters
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It's common to come across cyclists that like to sprint into your slipstream after a pass. It's considered rude, in this situation, to sit on someone's wheel and not take your turn pulling at the front. You don't randomly join someone's gym workout, do you? It's better form and more polite to introduce yourself if you want to meet someone new on the road.
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An Obstacle in the Road
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Drivers who treat cyclists as an obstacle make the road an unsafe place to ride a bike. Wouldn't it be better if everyone was a little more patient and realized that we all have someplace that we need to go?
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