The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

about time this topic get atleast one reply.
if you're talking cycling as a sport i couldn't care less, but i do like it as a means of transportation.
whenever possible i prefer to take the bike rather than car or bus, even in winter although the snow does make it a bit unsteady.

Thanks for replying, ROB_88. I'm afraid I'm the opposite to you: I love cycling as a sport, but would rather not ride. It's just too dangerous in the car-crazy USA. Here in San Francisco, they hold a big group ride on one Friday evening of every month. It's astonishing how car drivers foam at the mouth in rage and complain to the police - because cyclists want to use the roads one day of the month! Unbelievable.

The one time I rode Lance Armstrong's Ride for the Roses, there were people protesting it - and it's only one day a year! Insanity.

But, happy riding to you. You're making the world a better place.

No kidding Lisa about dangerous. I used to ride every day to work when living in the Bay Area and it was life and death. I even had an orange thrown at me. (And I was on the bike path!) If it had went in my spokes, I would not be here today. I rode a mt. bike (and still do when I have time) as transportation but the US is not "bike friendly" even with the 'safety precautions' in place. You have a better chance of surviving in India on a bike then the US.

I'm sorry but I fucking hate cyclists. They take up the whole road during the weekends and want to be treated as cars but then don't obey traffic laws and signals. It's ridiculous. One of these days I'm just going to plow through the lot of them.

I respect cyclists as long as they follow the rules of the road or the rules of the sidewalk. You're either a car or a pedestrian. Pick one set of rules and stick with them. I'm impressed with cyclists who can ride in traffic and keep up with the cars. What I don't like is the cyclist who holds up traffic (even though there's a perfectly good bike lane), gets to a red light and turns into the crosswalk because pedestrians have the green light.

Wow, FLAE. Got an opinion?

i used to cycle A LOT (several hundred miles per week). i would say "if you want to be treated like a car, you gotta act like one." that means going an appropriate speed on the road so you dont hold up traffic, stopping at lights, not passing stopped cars at red lights, etc. if i wanted to use a crosswalk or sidewalk, i would get off my bike and walk to do so.

unfortunately, overwhelmingly most US cyclists dont follow this simple principle, which is too bad because it makes drivers bitter toward them. i think the once per month "critical mass" protest in SF is ridiculous. you dont get sympathy by acting like a jerk. "critical manners" is a much better approach.

ok, i have to say i don't understand that.
here it's very bike-friendly. but of course we use the sidewalk. it's very rare to see a bike among the cars.

i do have one unrelated problem with the bike though. when i'm riding i for a long time at once my balls start to hurt, am i doing something wrong or what?
and yes, now you're thinking about my balls

I used to cycle to school, god its stressful, cars overtaking you, pulling out suddenly in front of you, I prefer the bus to be honest, I can relax there.

I guess we can assume that Ian is in/from San Francisco. We'll find out who you are one day!

I just like to think of him as a mysterious figure who has "wicked skills" at AC. Ian, if your reading this, I still remember that convo on chat when I first joined acmaps though

haha! thx. there are only a handful of non-family members who know who IanXO4 is, and id like to keep it that way.

Well, Ian could have heard about some dust-ups at Critical Mass a few years ago when the former mayor of S.F. (an attention hog if there ever was one) inserted himself in a silly way and everything blew out of proportion. He wouldn't need to be in San Francisco to hear about that.

He can keep his secrets!

And Ian is right about many cyclists having bad manners, but a lot of car drivers do too.

Sorry, ROB_88, but I can't help you with your problem.

Sig quoted Rob

haha, that's pretty funny when taken out of context.
secon time total i've been sig quoted

EDIT: stabby, what did i do? why is this post separete?

Man up and have one of them surgically removed. That's the secret to Lance Armstrong's success.

You're evil and I love you for it, stabguy.

Exactly, I'm learning to drive at the moment and I get fustrated at cyclists that pedal 2 a breast and don't keep up with the flow of traffic. If the cyclist is obeying the law, I have no problem. Also some do swerve around a bit, mostly for potholes which are in desperate need of constant maintainance here in the UK. I am taking my Theory/Hazard perception test tomorrow and I just want to pass so bad. I am very committed to revising it

Maybe replying to this will bring Lisa back from the depths...

I love road cycling as a sport, hate riding myself, hate cyclists that don't follow the rules of the road and respect those that do.

That said, I only follow the TdF, Tour of California, cycling in the Olympics (but that's different, I love the olympics in general and follow nearly everything) and, depending on the year, the other two grand tours.

*reads thread title*

I'm Dutch. We're born on bikes.

Nah seriously, because I live in a rural and remote area, I'm used to cycling long distances every day. When I have the energy for it, I like to go as fast as I can on a 2km stretch on my route. I sometimes watch cycling on TV, only Tour de France. I never really got into it. I know there's probably no other way, but the fact that it's a team-based sport is somehow weird to me. I'm more into football.

+1 for thread necromancy!

One of the many things I love about the Netherlands is the bicycles everywhere. (I'll be honest; I love *everything* about the Netherlands.) I would even get on a bike and ride it myself if I was in Amsterdam right now.

Only the Netherlands could have that effect.

It's so weird to hear people talk about bicycling in the Netherlands and how it's awesome. For us it's like just kinda there and it's the most normal thing in the world to go somewhere by bike.

Ha ha, yeah, I know what you mean. I do envy you that, though.

I think it's because in the Netherlands (and in Europe generally) you have a much older culture that is better able to withstand assaults on its traditions. Perhaps "assaults" is too strong a word. Here in the U.S., our culture is still so new - and a strong aspect of our young culture that we do have is to discard the old and traditional in favor of the new and shiny. The result is that long historical traditions don't really have much of a chance to take root.

This can have advantages, but on the other hand there is a major disadvantage that I see: in the U.S. we are much more prone to manipulation by giant corporations, which don't have to compete with historical memory and strong traditions of behaviour to win us over.

The prevalence of bicycles in Europe and the lack of bicycles in the U.S. are to me a good illustration of what I mean. If you are Standard Oil, or the Ford Motor Company, you will certainly wish to discourage bicycles which are an easy, cheap and healthy method of transportation. In fact, any kind of public transportation which accommodates large numbers of people is to be discouraged by companies such as these. The oil companies and the car companies were the major players in dismantling the rail and subway networks which used to exist, and bribing the U.S. government into building roads and housing developments far away from job centers (cities), so that private car transportation became ever more necessary. They are still major opponents of any attempt to re-create a viable public-transportation system anywhere in the country.

Even though the Dutch were historically at the forefront in Europe in creating market capitalist economies, you also had at the same time a long historical common culture with traditions that acted as a counter-balance to the market forces which attempt to manipulate people's behaviour to their own profit. We don't have that counter-balance in the U.S., and since we are the most capitalist country in the world, the net result is that market capitalism itself has become the dominant element of our public culture.

So, enjoy those bicycles! You're striking a blow for freedom when you ride! (Only half-joking.)

Since you brought it up...

I just moved back to the Best Coast (... err... West Coast... okay, not really a typo).

Has there been ANY progress on the proposed high speed rail from the Bay Area to SoCal? And has East Bay BART made it to San Jose yet?

The only BART coverage I heard was the movie "Fruitvale Station."

One time I mentioned bicycling in the Netherlands to LadyVe and she basically said that was a myth about the Dutch. I had already seen it firsthand in Amsterdam. There's a parking lot near the train station that must have had 5,000 bikes. The streets have three types of lanes: automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian. I kept forgetting about the bike lane and stepping into it. One time a scooter honked at me.

LadyVe lives in a rural town. Maybe bikes aren't as commonplace there.

I don't know what part of the Netherlands she's in, but comparatively to other countries we bike a lot. Like, my mother goes grocery shopping on her bike, which has saddle bags for that purpose (I believe they're called that). For the stuff that comes in large quantities (beer, milk, etc.) we take the car. If you live in a more rural area (read: further away from the store), you typically don't have much use for the bike as it takes ages to get anywhere.
Lot's of kids from rural areas go to high school on their bikes though. So there's that.

I'd probably comment on this thread if I ever learned how to ride a bike. My parents tried teaching me with one try and, after falling and scraping my elbow slightly, decided not to try again. I'm a bit annoyed they did that. Having a bike would've helped me a lot in the past.

Hooray, the best coast is better now!

Sadly, no BART to San Jose yet and almost no progress on high-speed rail. *shakes fist at Standard Oil and Ford Motor Company*
*also shakes fist at politicians* *also shakes fist at voters, just for some equal-opportunity fist-shaking* *collapses into inertia*

whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa ... whoa whoa whoa ... whoa ... whoa whoa whoa whoa ... whoa whoa ... whoa

there are people old enough to play AC games that don't know how to ride a bike!?

Sad! I figured high speed rail was a long shot... but no BART to SJ progress really annoys me. They should just go down both sides of the bay to get to SJC... follow CalTrain or whatever it is on the west: San Mateo, Foster City, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose... with an off-shoot to the new 49ers Stadium to ease traffic and parking there... (they really didn't think that through, did they?)