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Snowdens Secret posted:I have almost made this thread so many times. I had some jackass this morning decide he really didn't want to turn left and just crowded me out of my lane. I hate these loving texting and web surfing motherfuckers so much. Drive your drat car. Is it really essential that you tell Suzy McPherson in marketing that the Six Sigma quality team won't be able to make the meeting on Thursday right the gently caress now? VVV There should be a corporate stupidity rant thread somewhere. Moral_Hazard fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Jul 26, 2013 |
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Jul 25, 2013 21:15
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Smudgie Buggler posted:Do cops in America really ticket you if they see you lane filtering/splitting safely? It's a legal grey-area (read: probably illegal) in Australia, but you're only ever going to get booked if you're riding like a fuckwit. Cops aren't interested in prosecuting sensible use of a motorcycle. Yes. I've gotten pulled over for it before (though thankfully no tickets yet). It's illegal in every U.S. state but California where it's not illegal, but not specifically legal.
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Aug 9, 2013 16:19
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astrollinthepork posted:Stuck on the side of the road cuz some dumbass on a Harley thought that he was too cool for gear. I have no idea what happened, but there's a bagger in the ditch on the of the road. Looks like he went wide into the opposite lane. A helicopter showed up 15 minutes ago, but it's just sitting here idle so I guess the guy croaked. It's really hard to feel any sympathy when my rear end is in full gear. For the cop thing, that's nothing. Here in CT, two high-school kids got into a shoving match on a school bus right in front of my office and nine cop cars showed up with the cops bellowing orders, stopping traffic, and generally acting like they were in Fallujah. Too many times recently, I've seen cops behave in a way that makes me shudder to think of how they would react to a really bad situation.
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Aug 14, 2013 17:58
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Snowdens Secret posted:CT is full of people giving inappropriate 'go aheads.' I don't get why, because half the time it seems they could just keep moving and go and you could go right behind them even quicker, rather than waste time trying to decode if they're stopping or turning without signals (another CT delight) or they've just died of old age mid-drive or what. The other half of the time they're trying to wave you into traffic with thirty cars behind them and people trying to pass them on the shoulder, again because no one can figure out what the gently caress they're trying to do. I get to help with the "dumb poo poo CT drivers" too you know.  People putting on their right blinker and then turning left is probably the most annoying. That and texting. the bsd boys posted:I'd just like to say that getting stuck behind a group of supercars doing 10 kph under the speed limit on a great road is the single most frustrating thing in the entire world. Only time I've crossed the double yellow is when someone was doing 15 mph under the posted speed limit on a beautiful road.
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Aug 28, 2013 16:08
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Snowdens Secret posted:I did a charity ride the other day and got stuck next to some 50-ish lady on a late-model bagger whose only protective gear was gloves and unarmored knee-high boots. We were theoretically riding staggered so every time she fell back to where we were side by side I'd squirt ahead. At one point I noticed she was shouting some half-conversation vaguely in front of her and I'm still not sure if she was trying to talk to me or the bagger rider 30 feet in front of her. Which ride did you do?
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Aug 29, 2013 19:52
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I too vouch for swerving slightly in my lane when approaching an intersection where a car looks like it is about to turn.
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Sep 2, 2013 15:21
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clutchpuck posted:I bet having the headlight's beam flash back and forth makes you very visible. I think it goes without saying that reducing speed, especially at night before an intersection is the best course of action.
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Sep 2, 2013 23:28
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I take walks at lunch almost every day to keep the fat-assness to a minimum. I saw this car weaving in the road like the driver was drunk. As he passed me, it was a guy with a phone to one ear, a file folder laid out on the wheel and writing with his other hand and trying to steer with his knees.  I'm very tempted to call the cops from now on for very egregious things.
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Sep 5, 2013 20:41
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Well another wonderful CT driver story. Today, on my way to work, there was some police activity which really slowed down traffic in both directions. Well, this guy in a lawn care truck decided he didn't feel like waiting and came straight at me down the wrong side of the road. I have to seriously get license plate numbers on poo poo like that from now on. gently caress these loving people. All the while he's waving like "thank you for letting me by". Yeah, you loving retard, I didn't want to become a road pizza. That's why I pulled over. edit: The truck in question didn't just travel 20 feet like some people do. He drove down the wrong side of the road like 200 feet. VVV What's a gopro? Moral_Hazard fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 14:46
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:lotta traffic in your cave? No, cheap, horribly behind the times, and general reluctance to use gadgets. poo poo, this whole forums thing is tough enough and it only cost me  . Until about 2 weeks ago, I still had a dumbphone. I googled the gopro though, it does seem really cool.
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Sep 6, 2013 20:18
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:are you my dad Probably. Jim Silly-Balls posted:They are awesome and we have a thread for them here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3223561 Oh, nice. Looks like I have some reading to do. And, speaking of dads, I think I'm going to get mine an SA account. At 74, he won't be the oldest goon, but he can start an "Ask me about vacuum tubes and punch card computing" thread.
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Sep 7, 2013 02:21
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Digital_Jesus posted:Minor rant. Took the factory warning stickers off my bike today. Three of them came off fine, but the fourth the adhesive was practically bonded to the goddamn fairing and took a chip out of the paint. $20 for the matching pen. Argghhhhh. Windex and a razor blade. Soak it in windex first and use the razor blade to gently scrape off the sticker. It should just lift right up after it's good and soaked. My condo complex had a couple of nazis on the board who loved stickering vehicles that violated the parking rules. One of my neighbors showed me the above trick. Snowdens Secret posted:This loving poo poo I laughed out loud at that one. Yes, those people are so loving annoying. In trying to be more patient as I age, I sometimes console myself that some horrible driver is quite elderly and I tell myself, "be patient, because you'll be there someday buddy." Then, when it's safe and polite to pass, I see it's somebody in their early 20s, face absorbed in the contents of their smart phone. See what patience does? Moral_Hazard fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Sep 11, 2013 |
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Sep 11, 2013 19:36
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I like people who come to a complete stop one an on-ramp to the highway.
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Oct 15, 2013 22:05
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Rime posted:I arrived home this evening to find that some cocksucking mainlander backed into my bike, knocked it over and totalled the front end, and drove off leaving it lying there in a pile of gasoline and shredded rain cover all day. Since I have no hope of tracking down who did it, my deductible is $700. Dude, that loving sucks. Sorry.  As for group rides, I like five and under. More than that you start increasing the oval office quotient beyond tolerances. That and it's harder to keep a group together.
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Oct 17, 2013 12:36
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Xovaan posted:gently caress yeah. You better post pics! You should see their sales manual. Yesterday, I had a delightful encounter with a raging BMW X5 driver. I live in one of the richest counties in the country so BMW's far are more common than domestic sedans and some of them are some of the most obnoxiously aggressive drivers around. loving ultra-aggressive luxury SUV drivers suck large horse cock. That's why, in the back of my mind, I'll always be suspicious that Lien of Range Rover fame tried the usual angry luxury SUV driver thing. It doesn't help that my town (heck half of Connecticut) has some of the shortest yellow lights I've ever seen. Nothing encourages aggressive red-light running like a 1.5 second yellow.
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Oct 28, 2013 15:36
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A friend of mine from church; his 17 (now 21) year old son was into motorcycles so dad encouraged me to set son on the right track with msf course, gear, learning how to ride etc. My friend and his wife encouraged their son's riding and the son told me that his folks had gotten crap from their circle of friends because they let their kid ride (THE HORROR!!!) a motorcycle. I guess a product of where I live, I don't get the tough guy "I'd ride to fast" comments. I usually just get the "what kind of bike" questions from people who don't know anything beyond maybe manufacturers or "I bet it's fast" My R1150R tops out at about 125-130 (I'm a wimp I've only gotten it to 110-115)but people see motorcycle and think it can go 180 mph. Like deeters, I've used the "fast enough" comment. Among the sea of stupid comments I was really flattered the other day at the supermarket when two checkout girls 10 years my junior started fawning over me and calling me a sexy badass for riding in the cold and my Teiz suit. The most hilarious is they both wanted one even though neither rode. I asked why and they said, "It looks really warm."
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Nov 4, 2013 16:48
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I've used "decent working order" then add every upgrade or major preventative maintenance job and then subtract anything that needs fixing or to be replaced. I try not to oversell, but try not to undersell either. Easier said than done. KozmoNaut posted:Silly man, they obviously wanted to get into your suit There are times I wish I picked up riding at 20 instead of 29. Still, I'm grateful that my wife is cool with riding and rides on the back. Beats being the guy who has to fight with his wife/gf/so constantly about the motorcycle.
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Nov 5, 2013 16:44
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I think in some countries the tradition is to drive with only the parking lights on roads with streetlights. I know Kuwaitis did that from experience. When I'm in the car, I'll tend to only use the parking lights during the day, if it's raining or whatnot. Maybe it's because my eyes are sensitive, but that wall of headlights on the highway at night for me is not fun.
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Nov 13, 2013 21:01
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Drifter posted:The Kuwaitis being most famous for traditionally driving on two wheels of their cars instead of their normal four... Flow of traffic was 160kph in Kuwait. I've learned to look beneath the lights or on a very dark road I'll look at the yellow or white line to avoid staring at the lights. I think, for me at least, the sensitivity is the by-product of really good night vision. I have a hard time reconciling the very bright lights with the rest of the environment.
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Nov 14, 2013 22:49
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Sagebrush posted:BMW SUV drivers are the loving worst. Today, a woman in an X5 tried to share the highway acceleration lane with me I feel your pain. I too hate bmw SUV drivers. Last close call I had was with an X5.
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Nov 29, 2013 01:35
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The acceleration lane is fed from two onramps that merge just as the lane starts; I was in the left one, ahead of her by about two car lengths, and she was in the right and behind. I kept to the left of the lane in order to prevent people merging into me from the highway. I passed the merge point, and just as I was just reaching freeway speed about halfway up the lane, I saw the nose of her car appear immediately to my right in my peripheral vision. She was literally beside me in the single acceleration lane, and going way beyond matching the highway speed -- she was still speeding up.
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Xovaan posted:Surburbanites are the worst. Living with a stay-at-home mom makes you realize that the phenomenon of "having nothing better to do than create this absolutely absurd scenarios in one's head to the detriment of others" is very, very real. Either ban idleness or legalize Valium, because if we don't act soon I'll have to change my stance to legalizing murder first. All ready to soak up the latest hype on the weather channel. Crossing my fingers to maybe actually ride on Sunday. It' been seriously cold and snowy around here and I am missing being on two.
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Jan 9, 2014 21:29
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I'm not really complaining, but it's 9 deg. F right now. I miss riding a lot. After shoveling snow this morning I sat on my bike in the garage. 
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Jan 22, 2014 17:34
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Snowdens Secret posted:It has gotten to where I don't even notice the new snow falling, it's so far above the ceilings of the tunnels I've dug within the old snow, so I can visit the ruins of a town that functioned before eternal everwinter Where's that from?
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Jan 22, 2014 21:59
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Snowdens Secret posted:I just made it up, man It's sounds like George R.R. Martin or something.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:19
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I was reading the Letters to the Editor in an issue of Motorcycle Consumer News this morning that it took me awhile to get to and it talked about the opening doors, especially in completely stopped traffic in CA.
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Feb 7, 2014 18:08
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nsaP posted:TBH I get a new helmet every 3 years or so anyway so it's that time! Motorcyclegear.com has had some decent deals with the new models coming out but I haven't checked recently. Good reminder, I have an 8 year old HJC which needs to be replaced.
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Mar 6, 2014 16:57
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Snowdens Secret posted:I got a bicycle because my commute is short and I thought, hey, I'll pedalbike it and get some exercise I had similar visions a couple of years back, but chickened out due to traffic and not wanting to show up all sweaty.
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Mar 7, 2014 16:52
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Slavvy posted:Honestly, when I was 20 and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, I didn't picture being 26 and still living pay to pay, getting financially steamrolled by the slightest setback and just being a massive failure in pretty much every way. My friends have all surpassed me enormously by now and I've basically never felt worse about myself and my situation. I don't know how many more times I can keep bouncing back (which I've been doing continuously for half a decade) before I just run out of energy and peg the speedo off a bridge. I feel like there was a manual on succeeding at life that got handed out around age 17 and I was sick on the day, and everyone around me knows something I don't. I don't have kids, don't smoke, barely ever do drugs, barely drink, don't have any real debt, but I still feel like I'm drowning. Gotta keep getting back up I guess Apologies for continuing a derail, but at 26, I was largely dead broke too, even having a decent job and doing all the right things money-wise. Taxes, expenses, whatever ate into any potential savings and unlike you I had about ten grand in credit card debt. At 38, things have gotten a bunch better, but realize that savings are fragile thing. Just hang in there.  nsaP posted:What was that quote I've heard...."If hard work was a valid measure of success every woman in Africa would be a millionaire"? I've lived in Africa and while hard work isn't automatically going to make anyone a millionaire or even provide the comforts and conveniences any American is used to, thrift and industry provides a for relative wealth. The difference in living conditions between the industrious and the lazy was obvious. I think it's good to count one's successes as a blessing and understand that illness or injury can wipe someone out very quickly.
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Apr 2, 2014 16:00
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Slavvy posted:The easy way to prove this is ask them if they would ride a bike if they were 100% as safe as a car. The answer is always no, and always for the next-best reason why motorbikes are bad for you. This is awesome. I've never thought about using this line before. Also, scratched my cornea Tuesday night so no riding for me for a few days. Count me in with believing people are mostly ok. Some are a little too self-absorbed and there are some real assholes out there, but they're mostly in the minority. I chalk up a lot of bad behaviour to carelessness over malice. When I was waiting in line at the pharmacy yesterday to get my eye meds, this lady was typing out an email or text on her phone while she was checking out. So she would make the clerk and everyone else wait while she typed a sentence. Then she'd hand over her credit card, type another sentence, and so on and so forth. Probably took three times as long as necessary. I don't really think this woman was malicious, but she bought into the "I MUST RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL RIGHT NOW!!!!" mentality that infects way too many people and forgot about or didn't care about the clerk and other patrons. Normally, I politely ask people to just move along and attend to their communication when they're done, but yesterday I was in too much pain to care.
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Apr 10, 2014 18:14
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My 04 R1150R Rockster has both hydraulic (servo) assist and partially linked brakes. BMW's partially linked system, in my opinion, is great. The front brake puts 100% on both front discs and 30% of the braking force on the rear disc. The rear brake controls just the rear so it can be used in slow speeds, off pavement etc. My only complaint about the linked system is that it fosters bad habits, i.e. not using the rear regularly. Personally, it's because my first crash involved too much rear on a wet and slippery down slope. The hydraulic assist is horrible.  Normally, it's very powerful, but with this hideous whine when the brakes are engaged. But if the system fails I have what's called "residual braking force" which means it stops like a VLCC with a following current. Add to that, the amount of brake squeeze needed is extremely different than normal. With hydraulic assist, one finger stops are the norm. With "residual braking force" four finger, grab to the stops are necessary just to stop from normal speeds. The servo assist is a prime example of BMW's fetish for technology for its own sake and my understanding is it was done away with for the 2007 model years and later.
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Apr 23, 2014 20:42
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HotCanadianChick posted:The best is that the state legislature passed a law authorizing the speed limits to be raised to 70mph like a civilized place, the governor signed it into law, but the Oregon DOT refuses to actually change the speed limits and update the signs because 'there's not enough information available on the impact of raising the speed limit on safety'. Probably because the genius lawyers in the state legislature forgot to MANDATE a 70 mph vs. merely authorize one. And gently caress me I hate when a government passes a law and then the government bureaucracy says, "No gently caress you, we're not going to follow your stupid law."
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Apr 24, 2014 19:07
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And here I thought NZ was a beautiful section of Middle Earth. A buddy of mine got pulled over once because the cop wanted to check out his bike. Same guy got pulled over by a nice cop who had heard there were a group of sportbikers who were riding recklessly, i.e. over 100mph on a crowded highway + stunting. The cops had blocked the road half a mile up and my friend comes through the toll booth and the cop pulls him over. Cop tells him that he doesn't want my friend to get caught up in the road block and the stunters come through a few minutes later doing their thing (and blowing through the toll) and after they were all pulled over up ahead, the cop let my buddy go.
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Apr 29, 2014 21:35
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Tube strikes in London mean it's loving amateur hour on my commute. Not sure what annoys me the most - car drivers who think that if they can see the front of the mile-long jam they're in it'll make it shorter so they pull out and block the filter lane, cyclists who think their freebie high-vis vest obviates the need to look behind them before changing lines, or weekend bikers paddling their midlife crisis money sinks 20 yards then stopping because the gap is less than six feet wide. I saw the tube strike in the news. I go to London for work and the traffic is a mess when everything is running. That has to suck.
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Apr 30, 2014 13:59
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Subscription paid, right here. Besides, if Peter Jackson has his way, the Nazgul would be riding all black Tuono V4R's. At risk of derailing into more gun chat, I had a humorous "argument" with my wife about buying a gun safe a few years ago. Her father is a hunter / sport shooter and just leaves his weapons lying around the house and my wife is very comfortable around firearms, having accompanied her dad while hunting as a kid. Since military drilled safe storage into my head, I was telling her that I was getting a gun safe because although my firearms are unloaded and cased, I wanted something more secure. The discussion devolved into her asking me what the big deal was and me arguing for more security. Finally after 20 minutes or so of going around, I asked her, "Wait a minute, shouldn't we be having this argument in reverse?" On somewhat sadder note, an ex-girlfriend, years after we broke up, had someone attempt to rape her in her house. (Neighbors intervened and thankfully stopped it). Before the incident, she was like the people mentioned in earlier posts, couldn't get her head around firearms ownership and therefore was against it entirely. After the incident, she did a 180 on firearms ownership and was looking to get her CCW, etc. etc. Z3n posted:Post moments from today's commute! There's no way my R bike could fit in that tight space. Wow. And ditto on the free GT750.
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May 1, 2014 16:22
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Brodozers aren't a thing in lower Fairfield, Connecticut. Waspy soccer moms in an Audi S8. That's a thing.
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May 15, 2014 21:31
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For me two wheels and a motor gets a wave. Bicyclists get waved at from time to time. Sypder drivers generally don't, though I'll return one if I'm able. Re steel grates; the Tappan Zee bridge in New York didn't have grate plates, but it did have steel plates in the road that were bolted to the road surface with the bolts sticking up a few inches. Not fun to hit.
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May 19, 2014 21:33
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Anti-rant time : Commuting to work today, I'm sitting at a red light and the left turn arrow goes green. The car in front of me is just sitting there, so I'm thinking typical distracted driver. Then after a few seconds of green arrow some utter douchebag runs the red light. I don't know if the guy in front of me saw the red light runner or was distracted, but thanks anyway car driver.
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May 30, 2014 14:38
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Ripoff posted:I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of Obama or the US Congress right now, but if they put in a nation-wide ban on cellphone use in cars (unless used with a legitimate hands-free setup) I'd call Obama the greatest president since FDR and happily stick up for congress in any debate. I live in true blue liberal Connecticut and we have a state-wide cell phone and texting ban. It's a joke. Nobody obeys the law, even the cops. Can't tell you how many of the local po po I've seen yakking away into a phone while behind the wheel. Although its expensive, being in Greenwich, CT, and independent shop near me is pretty good. Marxalot posted:This is literally the single most important skill I have developed in life. It makes that year I spent delivering pizzas entirely worth it. It's amazing how it works too. I had a lady cut across three lanes of traffic to make a left turn from the right most lane on a one way, three lane street. It wasn't even a big deal, because ~something~ told me she was going to do something stupid. I was off the throttle and on the brakes before she even started her maneuver.
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Jun 5, 2014 13:53
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Lynza posted:I had my first experience with a "BACK IN MY DAY" guy yesterday. We'd stopped at a place for donuts, and he came in behind us. And not bothering to mention that he rode to the bar, all of 10 minutes, in the evening.
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Jun 10, 2014 00:29
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Leaving my office this evening and I see this teenager on a scooter, riding like a complete jackass; aggressively weaving his way down the road for no aparrent reason. My guess is he just got the thing and was having fun. The corner near my office still has a poo poo ton of gravel from the 2014 Polar Vortex and the kid on the scooter hits that gravel and goes right down. I'm glad he wasn't hurt and I'm glad nobody hit him since it was in an intersection (and he was turning right on red). He looked a bit embarrassed so I hope he learned something before he hurts himself. 
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Jun 10, 2014 23:50
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