Your current annoyance

[AxelFendersson]

My current annoyance is that this snow couldn't have waited another day. I was supposed to be going to a jive workshop this afternoon; one that by the sound of it would have been both interesting and useful. And then I was going to a concert in the evening. But getting into Oxford was just impossible.

Tomorrow it would have been fine. Today it's a colossal pain in the arse.

I just hope it's a bit clearer by Wednesday.

[Abbesson]

My current annoyance is that I live in a town maintained by incompetent fools. There's snow everywhere! Everywhere! No one in this place seems to have even heard of a snowplough (okay, I exaggerate a little, but just a little). I could seriously manage the snow clearing for this town better than the ones in charge now, and clearing snow isn't exactly one of my greatest skills. I regret moving to this stupid place. I moved southward half a year ago, and the stupid people around here are all delusional, thinking that they're living in some tropical paradise, just because they haven't had that much snow in a decade or so. Well, it's still Sweden we're talking about, and last time I checked, Sweden doesn't have tropical climate! Don't act so surprised that it's actually snowing! Argh!

[FreakyBoy]

My current annoyance is that we're regularly having temperatures in the teens, but it's so darn dry, we don't even get frost.

[Kajin]

My car has leather seats. You can imagine how joyful that is when the temperature gets as lows as its been getting.

[weatherwax]

People don't shovel their sidewalks here. The snow hasn't melted from Sunday and Monday's storm, and snow still rests on most sidewalks that aren't downtown.

I ride my bike from work. The snow is a pain in the ass. (Note: it is legal to ride your bike on the sidewalks in Wichita outside of the downtown area. So no comments about how I should stay on the road, as there's really no space to ride on the road during peak times here, and pedestrians are RARE in this city.)

[Galaxy Hunter]

I just had my wisdom teeth removed, the annoying part is no working out for the next week and a half.

[Kajin]

Funny, I'd have figured having a bleeding hole in my head where a tooth used to be would have been the annoying part.

[Galaxy Hunter]

Not at all, the oral surgeon I went to was very good. I was lucid by the time I got home and haven't needed any painkillers. (except Ibuprofen for the swelling)

[quantumcat42]

So no comments about how I should stay on the road, as there's really no space to ride on the road during peak times here, and pedestrians are RARE in this city.

No, I hear you... it's legal here (except for a couple of places), but the whole area is very un-friendly towards bicyclists (road, sidewalk, or even the occasional bike path...)

[LobosSolos]

So no comments about how I should stay on the road, as there's really no space to ride on the road during peak times here, and pedestrians are RARE in this city.

No, I hear you... it's legal here (except for a couple of places), but the whole area is very un-friendly towards bicyclists (road, sidewalk, or even the occasional bike path...)

What is this bicyclist that you speak of? *goes to Wikipedia* Oh, you mean speed bumps. I'm kidding, but where I live bicycling to work would be impractical at best. I live about a mile from the closest town which has a population of a little over 100 people and no major businesses to speak of. Where I work is actually about 15-20 minutes away by highway/interstate speeds. Which translates to a very long ride by bicycle.

[Kajin]

My internet has been cut off and I'm not sure when I'll be getting it back. My access to it is unpredictable at best, and a lot of classes I'm taking right now are online.

[weatherwax]

I'm kidding, but where I live bicycling to work would be impractical at best. I live about a mile from the closest town which has a population of a little over 100 people and no major businesses to speak of. Where I work is actually about 15-20 minutes away by highway/interstate speeds. Which translates to a very long ride by bicycle.

Biking here isn't actually that much of a hassle. Wichita is a sprawl, but the planners obviously try to make all sorts of transportation (feet, cars, bikes) easy. Cars, of course, have the best lot in this southern midwest state. But there are sidewalks on nearly every major and many minor streets, there are a few bike paths that cut through the city, and on the west side of town (not my side) they've been painting bike lanes on the busier streets.

As for time, I bike home most days to save on bus fare, and it's about 9 miles uphill with many, many stoplights on the way. So, I get home in about an hour. I think it's worth it, particularly since I get some exercise in the process.

I guess my pet peeve would be people NOT on bikes in this city. If I ride in the street (which is legal), the drivers honk, or curse at me. If I ride on the sidewalk (also legal) I've had pedestrians yell at me, even though I either stop my bike and wait for them to pass, or ride in the grass to pass them. And in both cases, I've had people scream things at me out their windows or blare their horn at me in an attempt to rattle me. Which blows my mind! What kind of person thinks it's HI-larious to make me jump and potentially cause an accident?? I'm a cautious biker, I yield to people on foot or in cars, but there is just no winning the transportation game on a bike.

[Stan Cold]

In my old town, I rode my bike everywhere. I never really got used to bike lanes downtown since I have the irrational fear of getting hit by cars. Also, while riding a bike lane, I some how ended up on the very narrow shoulder of a very busy highway. So though I am an avid biker, I'm usually walking it downtown (or illegally riding it on the sidewalk, which it seems only old farts and people from New Jersey verbally protest).

[arcosh]

Bikes tend to have pretty bad speed/stealth ratios. If a sidewalk is for pedestrians only, i don't have to take any concious precautions if i make an unannounced sidestep, because of dog poop, an interesting shopwindow, a coin lying on the street, a whim or whatever. Other pedestrians are either slow enough that they will not be hindered by it, or they are loud enough, that i know about them anyway. Where i have to share it with cyclists i have to conciously think about where i am going or my movements might bring even a cyclist with moderate speed in a situation, where he can't avoid hitting me, for reasons of physics.

This gets even worse if i walk a dog.

So i am not fond of shared pedestrian and cyclist spaces.

Many car drivers i know are annoyed by cyclists being suddenly there out of nowhere, pariculary when they pass between cars that stand infront of a traffic light, or move only slowly due to traffic jams.

So i guess you just get a social stigma for being a ninja, when cycling.

[Kea]

When I used to ride my bike on roads without painted bike lanes in Boston, I kept to the far right hand side and basically rode in the gutter. The driving manuals that claim that bikes should occupy the middle of a lane just like a car are crazy, I can't ride as fast as a car! And I don't want to be swerved around constantly by people fed up of being "stuck" behind me. I'm surprised that people are so rude to you, weatherwax. If you're not weaving in and out of traffic, drivers shouldn't be so bothered by you that they honk and yell for no reason.

The only time people honked at me was when I was slow getting started after a traffic light at scary roundabouts. (My bike was marginally too high for me, even with the seat lowered as far as possible, so I was a bit wobbly getting started.) There was one intersection near Harvard Square that I loathed because there was a stoplight followed immediately by a curved arc of doom in which you had to merge with other traffic, which meant pedal-like-mad-and-hope-I-don't-get-run-over.