HOT.

And she kept right on riding, one-handed, with no helmet, past cars and buses headed downtown on Pine Street.

Not that she was headed downtown... but the vehicles were.

And every time I see a middle-aged, skinny, white, gay dude do something stupid, I'll be sure to assume that he represents Dan and his "community".

As for middle-aged gay men, well, I guess they'll make me look idjiotic when, you know, I get all middle-aged and stuff.

I've seen drivers get pulled over for blowing through a crosswalk or a red light far, far, FAR more than a biker doing the same thing. Shit... I've seen pedestrians get ticketed for jaywalking far more than cyclists getting tickets for cutting through traffic or bowling over people on the sidewalk.

So if you can propose a way that the "bad cyclist" will get as many tickets as the "bad driver", I'll quit my bitchin'.

Which is why bicyclists so desperately need more women in white skirts billowing around their lithe, taut legs, rising and falling in a hypnotic rhythm. Especially if the harsh winter morning light falls on her alabaster skin in a way that accentuates every contour, or backlights her legs in the skirt's translucent fabric. Yes... yes, that would definitely win people over. Definitely.

So, do black people who commit crimes make all black people look bad? Does Israel make all Jews look bad? Do the actions of Seung-Hui Cho reflect on all Korean Americans? I'm just trying to figure out where you're drawing your lines here.

Yes, yes, and yes.

Maybe she'll be back tomorrow. Maybe it will warm up to 30 or 35 degrees and she'll be wearing something really special.

(DOUG: I know bicyclists pay more in taxes than they use up in road damage. My point is, what are the going to do about it? Become an anti-car voting bloc? Woo, that should send tremors of fear through the body politic!)

lithe, taut legs, rising and falling in a hypnotic rhythm.

That did it for me.

Roads existed in cities for thousands of years before cars came along, and everyone used to have equal access to them. The idea that roadways are the exclusive domain of motorized vehicles is new and, in the long run, poorly conceived. Drivers don't own the roads, and the unquestioned dominance of motorized vehicles in public rights of way is ultimately contrary to the public interest.

But nevermind all that. Trying to convince an American that cars haven't ruled the earth since the age of dinosaurs is like trying to pound a copper nail into a piece of oak. Carry on.

The most annoying thing was the bike rally after the kid got ran over by a truck on Eastlake (while not wearing a helmet), his surviving 19 year-old friend friend rode in the rally helmetless.

WTF?

BTW most cyclists also use products brought to market by trucks and they use transit which are the causes of most road damage.

Now that the MVET fees have been scaled way back in this state, drivers pay no more for pothole repair on Pine Street than cyclists do.

The "your bike was shipped on a big ol' truck" argument is so, so very weak -- a one-time delivery of dozens (or hundreds) of bikes is a drop in the freaking road-damage bucket.

The "your bike was shipped on a big ol' truck" argument is so, so very weak -- a one-time delivery of dozens (or hundreds) of bikes is a drop in the freaking road-damage bucket.

But it's not just your bike that was shipped on a truck - it's also the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and most of the consumer goods you buy. To pretend you've liberated yourself from the petro-industrial complex with your fixie, and have therefore earned the moral high ground, is laughable.

I'm not taking any sort of moral high ground, just trying to educate. If more people understood how roads are paid for in Seattle, they might stop making the "bikes get a free ride" argument.

My argument is that bicyclists are no more the two percent of the commuting population, and if we moved heaven and earth to cater to the demands of bicyclists, as Portland has done, we'd be lucky to push that number to 4%. Which is pathetic.

Even if 4% of commuters biked, all the taxes of that 4% would not pay for all the things they are asking for.

Bikes get a free ride. Granted, the ones not wearing marble bags look fairly good while getting that free ride, and I'm happy to express my appreciation for the way their skirts flap and snap against their thighs, riding up like a rising curtain, falling down with a flutter. That's the good part there.

So yeah, that huge f'ing truck that brought in the bike is doing more road damange than 8 cars.

@45: I guess I'm unclear as to what you mean by "all the things they are asking for". A can of paint to stripe Stone Way doesn't cost very much.

HERE'S more info. In case you actually care.

Except for the tale they were trying to sell about how traffic would actually be better off with 3 lanes instead of 4. That's nice of the bicyclists to be so concerned with improving car traffic. They're so selfless. In fact, they are too good for us. Seattle doesn't deserve such humanitarians. Really: we're not worthy. Ascend to a higher plane. Leave us in our wretchedness, because the pearls bicyclists offer are too good for us swine.

I hear Portland is bike friendly. I'm just saying.