I commute by bike. I do so because it is the fastest, easiest way to get to and from work and because it means I don’t have to interact with anyone else when I do it (because people are dumb and I don’t need to be exposed to them any more than I already am). I am lucky to live in a city where this is an option, and I chose to live in a location that allows me to do this. I biked all through last winter (and I live in a cold, Canadian city) and I plan on doing it again this winter. Biking rules.

What does not rule, you ask? I will tell you. It is when people in cars yell at people on bikes. They are dumb. I am a generally respectful biker, and as a car owner myself, I do know that bikes can be very annoying when you are driving. The ones that ride way out in the middle of the lane, the ones that swerve at you, the ones do not have appropriate lighting on them so that you almost run into them at night…all of those bikers are dumb too. But I am not dumb. I do my best to ride in a safe, predictable manner (I admit to running stop signs and occasional lights, but I argue that I do so safely (you can disagree with me, but I won’t care)). So when some guy (so far, it has always been a guy) feels the need to pull up beside me and yell at me when I am riding, I am understandably irate.

I have been yelled at maybe three times, but one time in particular showed me how people are dumb. I was at a red light and started pedaling a second before the light turned green (I don’t know if cars know this, but you can tell, in advance, when the lights are going to change by watching the little flashing hand on the crosswalk signals). By the time I was in the intersection, the light was fully green. I am rolling along, minding my business, when, seconds later, some jackass in a white Cutlass decides to swerve his big damn car at me and verbally abuse me about “following rules of traffic”. Meanwhile in his attempt to teach me a lesson (I guess?), he has stopped traffic so that he can yell at me, he has caused a very dangerous situation by attempting to drive, yell and swerve at the same time (dangerous for me, a tiny human next to his huge gas-guzzling and ugly car), and failed to make any sort of logical case with me. He is dumb.

Unless I do something that actually affects you, I do not wish to hear your opinions on how I ride my bike. I think what provokes this angered outburst from these people is that they see that I am way faster then them (I ride through a city and it is much quicker to bike than to drive) and they have to account for the fact that they are burning up fossil fuels, looking stupid in an ugly car, AND getting to their destination after me. Their only means of purging this guilt is to (unfairly) yell at me. This is why people are dumb.

-Sister L