A brief thought, since I’m about to leave the house and bus on in to Westwood (the 920, for anyone who’s never taken it in the mornings, is a dream from Koreatown to points west). Will Campbell posted a couple of thoughts linking the pleasure of commuting to the price of gas, and I wanted to cite a couple in particular:
Now we’re back to the bad kinda spooky. I had my first “Get offa the fuckin’ road!” yelled at me from a car last weekend. Such verbal abuse disappeared when gas sailed past $4 a gallon. Before those astronomical prices, a snark-laden “Get a car!” was something I could count on from passing motorists or their passengers on a pretty regular basis. But with a gallon of regular coming in at $4.50-plus shut those insulters up and all of a sudden it was my turn to gloriously yell “Get a bike!”A victory of sorts, but not a very satisfying one. I’m not one to kick anyone when they’re down.
By all accounts, the surprise plunge in gas prices should have brought the haters back out, but it didn’t really. It certainly put a lot of people forced to explore alternate transit methods back in their cars, but maybe the sudden savings brought relief mixed with a smug but chastened satisfaction and that kept their yaps shut.
He wonders that the slow uptick in gas prices might be raising the general bad-attitude-ness of drivers. It’s a interesting argument and one for which I don’t have an answer. I’m just thankful that I haven’t really had to deal with insulters on the road. It might have something to do with the fact that when traffic is densest, I’m usually beating it. Making fun of a bike when you’re stuck in your car doesn’t seem to make as much sense.
But with all of the crazies out there, ride safe and ride well.
los angeles rides 