# Bicycles on Country Roads



## 32-0-0

Just interested if other parts of the country have to contend with the city folk riding their bikes out in the country, mostly on 2 lane, non-shouldered, winding, hilly roads? They seem to show up here on the weekends once the weather turns warm. They can be a real pita at times.


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## Bishop

Sunday mornings on the way to church I have to dodge large gaggles of cyclists.


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## hillside hay

Yeah they are everywhere. Think they own the road.


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## Farmerbrown2

Yup pain in the duppa . We have bike trails but they gotta run the road .


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## NewBerlinBaler

Cyclists & joggers. Nearby town is home to a university. The "academics" like to run two abreast on the narrow two-lane roads with no shoulders that surround this town. Two runners take up half the travel lane and they don't like to move out of the way when a car comes along.


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## JD3430

Not only do we have a lot of them, but they are very angry and have no problem keeping you from passing them!

IMO, many of them are people with a lot of hostility and think its funny to force drivers to be stuck behind them.

I know the local cops and they have problems with them kicking cars, peeing along roads, trespassing and being a general pain in the ass.


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## slowzuki

I will never complain about cyclists while I drive tractors and piss people off the same way.


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## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> I will never complain about cyclists while I drive tractors and piss people off the same way.


Big difference between slowing up traffic for legitimate agriculture income reasons and riding a bike for recreation.


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## Smoothy

When I'm in a tractor or the discbine that goes 11.2 mph I try to be respectful and when I see a car coming I'll try to veer into the edge of a driveway or slow down and pull way over. Not the peddle heads two side by side don't even look don't care how many cars are behind them. I do like sneaking up on them with the combine that usually gets there undivided attention


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## RockmartGA

Yep. The Silver Comet Trail runs through my hometown. Runs from one of the suburbs of Atlanta to Alabama, where it ties into the Chief Ladiga Trail. One hundred miles of paved trails, much of it through pristine forests. But that is still not enough. Many of them decide to get out on the roads and make a general nuisance of themselves.

http://www.silvercometga.com/


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## glasswrongsize

You guys are showing me another silver lining to my clouds. 

My rock roads that are filled with potholes are not conducive to chuckle-heads in speedos. The last mile to my house is 2" white rock.  

'course we ain't got too many of them bookworm or "academic" sorts neither. Little piece of history for my little area: the toothbrush was invented here. I don't have solid proof of that, but it MUST have been...if it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a TEETHbrush. 

Skip A Rope, Mark


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## 32-0-0

Had a group of them having a "rally" in our area. They decided to just set up camp on a friend of mines property...set up tables, tents and outhouses in the corner of his place...guess they thought that since it wasn't fenced then it must be public property...they didn't seem
to notice his house about 200 yards from their camp...he actually had to call the sheriff to get them to move.

I've always thought it would be Funny to get a convoy of tractors running through their neighborhoods during their rush hour.


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## 32-0-0

slowzuki said:


> I will never complain about cyclists while I drive tractors and piss people off the same way.


Can't agree with you...do the drivers that you slow down ever fear that they may run you over? That's one of my biggest fears - not seeing one of them until it's too late...and who's fault will it be?


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## ozarkian

32-0-0, You had to go there. I call them the *Two Wheel Aliens*. Sadly they do not know or care they are supposed to follow the same rules of the road as motorist. I cannot remember last time I saw them come to a complete stop at stop signs. I have nearly taken a few out pulling a 13 foot diskbine. It's tempting to swerve the diskbine. Many of my fellow motorcyclist have been hit by cars. However, you never hear about bicyclist being hit. They are a pissed off indignant lot. I would love to know where these people live where I could drive my tractor up and down their street and be a general nuisance. I have seen some of the local high school boys smoke them out with their diesel trucks.

Good times, Good times.


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## JD3430

glasswrongsize said:


> You guys are showing me another silver lining to my clouds.
> 
> My rock roads that are filled with potholes are not conducive to chuckle-heads in speedos. The last mile to my house is 2" white rock.
> 
> 'course we ain't got too many of them bookworm or "academic" sorts neither. Little piece of history for my little area: the toothbrush was invented here. I don't have solid proof of that, but it MUST have been...if it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a TEETHbrush.
> 
> Skip A Rope, Mark


LMAO!


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## slowzuki

What if they are riding the bike to get between places? How about if it's being used to earn income? I throw the mountain bike in the bucket when I need to get two tractors to the next farm. Beats walking.



JD3430 said:


> Big difference between slowing up traffic for legitimate agriculture income reasons and riding a bike for recreation.


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## slowzuki

Hey I've got a set of those shorts somewhere. The padding is a blessing if you spend more than 5 min on a bike. Takes some nerve to wear them in public at first.

There's a few farmers that ride recreationally here. The rock bucket I'm using is borrowed from a 50 year old triathlete who is a full time beef farmer.


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## IH 1586

slowzuki said:


> What if they are riding the bike to get between places? How about if it's being used to earn income? I throw the mountain bike in the bucket when I need to get two tractors to the next farm. Beats walking.


I've done that. Found out how out of shape I really was.


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## somedevildawg

It's a safety issue, pure and simple....no hazards, no smv, ride on designated bike trails, that's why we built them, if there were designated tractor roads, you can bet that's what I would travel, idiots abound out on the blacktop


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## slowzuki

We also have atvs, horse riders and people walking to share the road with here too. There's no trails for anyone and no shoulders to be on so we all get grumble at each other sharing the 18-20 ft strip of asphalt. They love me coming with the baler and a basket at 12 ft wide or so.


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## hillside hay

slowzuki said:


> We also have atvs, horse riders and people walking to share the road with here too. There's no trails for anyone and no shoulders to be on so we all get grumble at each other sharing the 18-20 ft strip of asphalt. They love me coming with the baler and a basket at 12 ft wide or so.


There is the big difference in our areas. We have spent millions on trail after trail that go largely unused. They threw a hissy fit till they got them and now they don't use them.


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## slowzuki

Where did they build the trails? Old rail beds? They converted a bunch of those to walking trails here but atv's won't stay off them and nearly hit people all the time. Don't have any in my immediate area as they flooded 110 miles of track with a hydro power project.


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## swmnhay

Here every town over 10,000 pop has bike trails around it.They built a $300,000 bicycle bridge to cross the highway north of here.

The county commissioners fought the DOT and shot down a bicycle path across the county.They would of had to make the ROW wider and condem farm ground to do that.The DOT penalized the amount of funding the county got from the state for not doing as they wanted.


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## mlappin

somedevildawg said:


> It's a safety issue, pure and simple....no hazards, no smv, ride on designated bike trails, that's why we built them, if there were designated tractor roads, you can bet that's what I would travel, idiots abound out on the blacktop


They actually have em in England. Not sure why, width is severely restricted on all ag equipment. I had a european two basket tedder that you could fold the outside arms, one forward and one back to get it under 8 1/2 feet for transport.


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## mlappin

I recall when I was a kid and rode a ten speed everywhere, when a car came up behind us we moved to the gravel shoulder till they passed. Simple math or physics if you prefer, me on a ten speed bike versus 3000-4000 lbs of steel moving at 55mph guarantees I give the right of way. Guess people these days don't understand math or the fragility of the human body versus a chunk of steel moving much faster than them.


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## slowzuki

Gravel shoulder? I guess we have those in some places, it's only intermittent. Can't ride a 10 speed on it that's for sure.


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## rjmoses

*Don't get me started on bicycles! They are rude, ignorant and ARROGANT!*

Now back to my regularly scheduled rant.

Ralph

*And proud of it!*

Thanks--I needed that.


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## Teslan

Just don't tell these wanna be professional bikers that they would get a better work out if they wore normal clothes while riding bikes. They tend to get upset at that kind of suggestion. I rode my bike 2 miles today for the first time in awhile. Had to go get my pickup from another farm.


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## SCtrailrider

Here they do as they do everywhere else... last summer there was a pack of them on a narrow road and they saw me behind them with my 4 basket tedder, wouldn't move and let me pass them for a while, I decided to make a show and throttled the old deere up and forced my way around them, then about a mile down the road I kinda had to stop, let the 4 baskets down and have a walk around and check stuff mind you I blocked the entire road and then some.... they got to me and started mouthing off about me blocking their road... needless to say I just sat and laughed at them, told them to call someone that cared and I sat there and watched them walk there bikes through the ditch... loved it....


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## slowzuki

Pointlessly rude. Both parties.



SCtrailrider said:


> Here they do as they do everywhere else... last summer there was a pack of them on a narrow road and they saw me behind them with my 4 basket tedder, wouldn't move and let me pass them for a while, I decided to make a show and throttled the old deere up and forced my way around them, then about a mile down the road I kinda had to stop, let the 4 baskets down and have a walk around and check stuff mind you I blocked the entire road and then some.... they got to me and started mouthing off about me blocking their road... needless to say I just sat and laughed at them, told them to call someone that cared and I sat there and watched them walk there bikes through the ditch... loved it....


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## mlappin

Now for what I find funny, they claim by riding their bicycles they are saving the environut. Fine and dandy, what is it's doing to everybody's gas mileage when they have to slow down, follow your happy ass's for awhile, pass then accelerate back to their previous speed? Wanna know what happens to the mileage in our fully loaded semi when I have to slow to a crawl until I can pass then accelerate 80,000lbs back to 55?


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## SCtrailrider

slowzuki said:


> Pointlessly rude. Both parties.


Yea maybe but I still enjoyed it....


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## CowboyRam

I hate coming up on those dang bicyclist. They always have to hug that white line even when there is a nice wide paved shoulder. I have come to the conclusion that the reason they hug that white line is that without it they would get lost. They are just a hazard on the road. At least with farm equipment you can see it a long ways off, but I bike not until you are almost on top of it.

On another note, I remember walking down the sidewalk at Colorado State University and them bicycles would come flying by. I surprised that more people have not been run down by one. During my time in college I only had one let me know what side they going by me on.


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## glasswrongsize

SCtrailrider said:


> Here they do as they do everywhere else... last summer there was a pack of them on a narrow road and they saw me behind them with my 4 basket tedder, wouldn't move and let me pass them for a while, I decided to make a show and throttled the old deere up and forced my way around them, then about a mile down the road I kinda had to stop, let the 4 baskets down and have a walk around and check stuff mind you I blocked the entire road and then some.... they got to me and started mouthing off about me blocking their road... needless to say I just sat and laughed at them, told them to call someone that cared and I sat there and watched them walk there bikes through the ditch... loved it....





slowzuki said:


> Pointlessly rude. Both parties.


Read it again, Ken. THERE WAS a point to his "rudeness". 

...that's what made it so funny. 

Mark


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## somedevildawg

And I'm sure they had a "point to prove" as well....it's really a simple safety issue.

Just about a week ago, I Topped a hill with a trailer full of rounds (27) and met a gaggle of them just on the other side of the hill in my lane. Thankfully the Powerstroke brakes are purty good in tow mode, although the trailer brakes leave a bit to be desired, and no one was coming in the other lane....or it most certainly could have been very ugly very fast, whose fault would it have been? Would I have gone to jail for vehicular manslaughter....or had to spend my life savings defending myself from having to go to prison or fighting civil suits for a lifetime...

Again, no smv.....no hazards....what makes them different than every other slow moving vehicle


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## slowzuki

Boys good thing there wasn't a car or something stopped on the road instead of something moving at 20 mph! You wouldn't have had a chance!

Edit I shouldn't really joke about that, these people who slam on their brakes to pull over everytime they get a phone call are driving me nuts. They won't wait 10 secs to pull over in a lot or driveway and we don't really have shoulders here.


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## PaMike

The other day a group of kids were walking in my lane of travel but in the same direction as me (their backs to me). The kids were three wide in the road. I just gave a little toot toot on the horn to let them know I was coming. Most people would realize they were in the way and get over, but no the kids whipped around and gave me a dirty look...I couldn't believe it. Even if they hadn't been in the wrong dead is still dead, no matter who is at fault.


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## mlappin

PaMike said:


> Most people would realize they were in the way and get over, but no the kids whipped around and gave me a dirty look...I couldn't believe it.


Thats because their parents raised em to believe not only are they the center of the universe but are the most special little shits ever conceived on the planet. Lots of participation trophies also contribute to this by adding to a bloated sense of self worth.


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## somedevildawg

slowzuki said:


> Boys good thing there wasn't a car or something stopped on the road instead of something moving at 20 mph! You wouldn't have had a chance!
> Edit I shouldn't really joke about that, these people who slam on their brakes to pull over everytime they get a phone call are driving me nuts. They won't wait 10 secs to pull over in a lot or driveway and we don't really have shoulders here.


I'm purty sure drivers around here, as stupid as we are, have enuf sense to get to the shoulder of the road when they have car issues.....not ride three abreast in my lane, note that I said MY lane because as motor vehicle operators, we pay taxes that enable the roads to be maintained....the bicyclist doesn't, they are a safety problem....do people really pull off the road to talk on their phone?


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## 32-0-0

Here's a point to ponder...from what I've read and heard, if you are a farmer or rancher in Texas you can buy a permit for for your atv or utv to drive on public roads IF you are driving from farm to farm. The rational for not allowing all atv and utv on roads is they pose a danger to vehicle motorist.

However, a permit is not required if you're riding a bicycle on public roads no matter what the reason is.

So why are bikes less dangerous to vehicle motorist than a 4 wheeler or Kawasaki mule?


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## BWfarms

somedevildawg said:


> ....do people really pull off the road to talk on their phone?


If Canada is like North Dakota, if somebody is able to ring through to you, that means that's the best spot you might have.


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## JD3430

32-0-0 said:


> Here's a point to ponder...from what I've read and heard, if you are a farmer or rancher in Texas you can buy a permit for for your atv or utv to drive on public roads IF you are driving from farm to farm. The rational for not allowing all atv and utv on roads is they pose a danger to vehicle motorist.
> However, a permit is not required if you're riding a bicycle on public roads no matter what the reason is.
> So why are bikes less dangerous to vehicle motorist than a 4 wheeler or Kawasaki mule?


My guess is that a bicycle is not a "motor vehicle", so it's much more difficult to register, license and regulate.


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## rjmoses

JD3430 said:


> My guess is that a bicycle is not a "motor vehicle", so it's much more difficult to register, license and regulate.


When I lived in Cook County, I had to have a rider's license and a license for my horse, And they checked at least twice a year.

Ralph


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## FarmerCline

I rarely see any bicycles on the roads around here. What we have in adubance here are mopeds.....or as I call them drunkmobiles. A license is not required to drive one so all the drunks and druggies have one that they use as there means of transportation.....there are a ton of them on the roads around here. It is a real safety hazard as they only go about 25 mph max and have almost no lights to see them at night.....usually a few get killed every year from getting run over because you can't hardly see them when it's dark.


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## mlappin

FarmerCline said:


> I rarely see any bicycles on the roads around here. What we have in adubance here are mopeds.....or as I call them drunkmobiles. A license is not required to drive one so all the drunks and druggies have one that they use as there means of transportation.....there are a ton of them on the roads around here. It is a real safety hazard as they only go about 25 mph max and have almost no lights to see them at night.....usually a few get killed every year from getting run over because you can't hardly see them when it's dark.


LOL, yup. When it's cold and trying to snow you'll still see a adult on a moped, just a sure bet they lost their license to DUI's.


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## swmnhay

mlappin said:


> LOL, yup. When it's cold and trying to snow you'll still see a adult on a moped, just a sure bet they lost their license to DUI's.


There was a couple old drunks in town that drove their lawn mowers to the bar every day.One day they decided to go bar hopping 15 miles away,lol.


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## somedevildawg

swmnhay said:


> There was a couple old drunks in town that drove their lawn mowers to the bar every day.One day they decided to go bar hopping 15 miles away,lol.


Isn't that a bitch....live your whole life to be ultimately described as an "old drunk"....wish I had a dollar for everytime I've used that expression, next generation it'll be "ole pill head"....something to think about


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## somedevildawg

Golf carts here too....but, at least they have to have turn/brake/strobe to be operated on the blacktop here, not that they obey that law


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## swmnhay

somedevildawg said:


> Isn't that a bitch....live your whole life to be ultimately described as an "old drunk"....wish I had a dollar for everytime I've used that expression, next generation it'll be "ole pill head"....something to think about


Well if you sit in front of the liquor store door every morning 15 min before it opens at 9AM I guess that would earn them the title of being a Old Drunk.

Some of them old guys would get drunk and go home and sleep it off then come back at night and get drunk again.

Is it time for a beer yet?Nope a load of hay to deliver yet and then a pallet of twine to another guy then maybe I'll have time for a cold one.


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## PaMike

somedevildawg said:


> Isn't that a bitch....live your whole life to be ultimately described as an "old drunk"....wish I had a dollar for everytime I've used that expression, next generation it'll be "ole pill head"....something to think about


Nope, those people usually die off before they get too old...Pills must be more potent than alcohole..

Just arrested a 40 year old lady in our town for trying 4 times to get pills on a forged script...


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## somedevildawg

PaMike said:


> Nope, those people usually die off before they get too old...Pills must be more potent than alcohole..
> Just arrested a 40 year old lady in our town for trying 4 times to get pills on a forged script...


Yep, yesterday's alcoholics are today's junkie....


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## JD3430

Haven't seen lawn tractors or golf carts used by multiple DUI offenders around here. Thaats pretty funny. There was one guy with a couple horses in the area who after multiple DUIs started riding his horse to local stores and to work


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## swmnhay

Was a guy here lost his drivers lisence after multiple DUI's.One day he drove his tractor 30 miles to McDonalds and took it threw the drive threw.He got another DUI,lol.

Know a guy got a DUI on a lawnmower and another on a moped.Both were during parades and they were so drunk they crashed into bystanders.


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## stack em up

swmnhay said:


> Was a guy here lost his drivers lisence after multiple DUI's.One day he drove his tractor 30 miles to McDonalds and took it threw the drive threw.He got another DUI,lol.
> Know a guy got a DUI on a lawnmower and another on a moped.Both were during parades and they were so drunk they crashed into bystanders.


Can't remember if it was out in Spicer MN or where exactly but there was a guy got s DUI on a motorized barstool.


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## slowzuki

Golf cart on the road? Here you aren't allowed to use cells while driving has to be parked. But we don't have shoulders in many areas. So they slam on brakes to take call and get two tires on dirt, 7 feet of 10 foot lane blocked by their truck and you don't know if they are gonna throw open their door to run to the woods to get their pants down or what. If there is any traffic the other way you have to stop as hard as they did and wait for a break to get around them.

I lump them in as the same folks that turn off in a hurry but then leave arse end out on highway blocking lane while they decide if they really wanted to turn in there.


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## luke strawwalker

JD3430 said:


> I can tell the difference between those kinds of riders. The ones riding bikes for recreation generally dress like queers and have their *** compression shorts and their lance Armstrong bike shirtts, ride in packs and take the roads over.
> If there ever was a farmer or some other type of worker using a bike for transport, I think I'd be able to tell.


Hahahaha... spot on and too funny...

Absolutely true!!! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker

slowzuki said:


> Pointlessly rude. Both parties.


Sometimes you just have to teach a lesson...

Personally I don't have a problem with flattening the f***ers out...

Later! OL J R : )


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## luke strawwalker

Here we're getting more and more of the stupid bicyclists all the time... we've already had too many of these damn idgit trail riders and other bullshit like that... Friggin' half-mile long pack of fat women and half-drunk men on horses moving like dead lice are falling off em taking up most of the road, with an idiot out front and out back taking up the other half of the road with an orange flag to "warn you around them."

I hate those sumb!tches with a passion... Hope they all get flattened out...

I pay too much [email protected] road tax and registration taxes and all the other BS you have to have to use the road-- they're not paying anything to plug it up...

Stupid [email protected]

OL J R


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## slowzuki

Some passing cyclists in Spain helping very hands on with breech calf, made me think of this thread.


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## JD3430

All this crap- transgender, cyclists blocking commerce, minority religions observed in schools for 1 child, women in combat, prisoners getting sympathy treatment, small foreign countries put ahead of the US, etc. all circles back to Obama. He was the champion of the minority- no matter who that minority is, he was going to give them more attention and some kind of tangible or intangible advantage over the majority, like whites, men, straight people, people who are secure in their sexual orientation, taxpayers, etc.
That's one of, if not the biggest reasons why Trump got elected. The forgotten, overtaxed, put-down, law abiding people in this country who were tired of carrying all the weight, only to see them have their jobs taken away, their kids pay more for college all the while being mocked and ridiculed. I swear I get up in the morning and watch the news and it's like I don't recognize this country anymore- parades in NYC with murderers in cars waving to the crowd, people arrested for defending themselves with a gun, taxpayers funding military personnel sex changes, sharia law courts coming. I could go on and on. 
We haven't seen the end of this.
I think there's a good chance we see another revolution in this country. And it ain't gonna be female liberal college professors smashing windows kind of revolution.
I'm not condoning any of this. Just making some random observations based on what I see in the news.


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## Grateful11

JD3430 said:


> I can tell the difference between those kinds of riders. The ones riding bikes for recreation generally dress like queers and have their *** compression shorts and their lance Armstrong bike shirtts, ride in packs and take the roads over.
> If there ever was a farmer or some other type of worker using a bike for transport, I think I'd be able to tell.


I'm going to retract what I said because you're really not the effort to explain it to.


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## JD3430

So ignoring the personal attacks, here we go. Today I'm driving my truck and trailer down one of my neighborhood roads, and I've got a whole contingent of democrats in front of me. You'll notice in the pictures, there's no room to pass them and they have no intention of letting me do so. This is an everyday occurrence, sometimes on multiple roads! Sorry for the sideways pictures. Just can't figure out why this happens. 
The fa...I mean guy in the back was waving me on, as if to say "pass us".....yeahhhh like I'm going to pass you when the road to the left could have a car hit me head on....


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## 32-0-0

[quote name="JD3430" post="755778" timestamp="1502233098"]

So ignoring the personal attacks, here we go. Today I'm driving my truck and trailer down one of my neighborhood roads, and I've got a whole contingent of democrats in front of me. You'll notice in the pictures, there's no room to pass them and they have no intention of letting me do so. This is an everyday occurrence, sometimes on multiple roads! Sorry for the sideways pictures. Just can't figure out why this happens. 
The fa...I mean guy in the back was waving me on, as if to say "pass us".....yeahhhh like I'm going to pass you when the road to the left could have a car hit me head on....[/quote

Looking at those pictures makes my blood pressure rise...


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## weatherman

Sure glad these bikers let me know they will be in my neighborhood.


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## JD3430

weatherman said:


> Sure glad these bikers let me know they will be in my neighborhood.


Don't be surprised if you get attitude from them while you're driving your farm tractor or truck on the road.
Them bicyclists are what cha call "entitled" to the road just as much as you!


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## weatherman

JD3430 said:


> Don't be surprised if you get attitude from them while you're driving your farm tractor or truck on the road.
> Them bicyclists are what cha call "entitled" to the road just as much as you!


I'll be talking with a law enforcement friend to see if he can get one of his sheriff buddies to sit by the stop sign to hand out tickets as these "entitled" bikers blows through the intersection.

Probably won't happen but just thinking out loud. Hope and a prayer.


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