Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for January 13, 2013

Guess I’m a scum

SNERK!!

You mean Pig, of all “people”, doesn’t know that some “people” are more equal than others?

Four legs good, two wheels better?

OK, what did Mallett do now?

Or…. what will he do as payback for this?

You know what goes above cyclists on that pyramid? My Jeep tires. :)

If I remember correctly, Jef the Cyclist’s pet nickname for Pig is “Fatty McFat Fat”.

Let the Rahmfather read this! Sometimes The Chicago Way is just a primrose bike path to perdition….

Those who think that they are better than everyone else annoy those of us who really are.

The difference between the importance of traffic laws for cyclists and car drivers is the difference between being run over by a cat or a rhinoceros. (And if that principle means that tanks have to wait forever to get anywhere, I don’t really see the problem.)

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”George Orwell, Animal Farm

In Ohio, the cyclists have the same rights as the motorists, and are bound by the same laws. They have the same rights, but even though you have the same rights, does it make any sense to be riding a flimsy piece of metal in 45 MPH traffic during rush hour traffic in the dark? Any conflict between a steel object and human flesh can only have one result. Ask my poor dead 11 year brother. It was NOT the motorist’s fault, but he’s still not with us. Cyclists, use some common sense!!! That’s what the bike trails are for!!! Same thing for joggers who like to run in the roads.

cyclists are really annoying when they won’t use the sidewalk, but use the middle of the street, thinking they are winning the tour de france. even if the city spends money to make bike path lanes, they don’t use them.

I noticed that, too. I once knew a woman named Jeffrey.

Jeff’s too much like Rat.

So that is why that happens! It is all so clear now.

This is why I refuse to “share the road” and make a point of forcing those Lance Armstrong wannabes to the shoulder whenever I can.

The bicyclists aren’t polluting. The Democrats should all be on bikes. And unlike slow cars, you Can get past a bike.

I can deal with the cyclists on the road, but I have a lot of trouble with car drivers who apparently don’t know how to pass one and just slog along at their speed.

Jef has quite a set of breasts. He needs to lay off either the bourbon or the steroids – or both.

The irony here, of course, is that this comic makes lots of reader who are car drivers feel superior to all those scum cyclists…

LOL LOL… Don’t feel bad, Pig.

I’ve got no opinion on this since I don’t have a vehicle of my own.

xxx

It should be cyclist = scum

Why does Jeff have such huge boobs?

Helping my wife get out of backseat (with walker after hip surgery) on a Chicago street with bikelane..Oncoming cyclist: “Hey a**hole…close your door”.Me: “#^&#@!…this walker in your spokes and up your **”….He swerved into traffic to escape wrath of the Geezer. My wife scolded me; “Use my cane…..walker costs too much to replace”..Most problems come from trying to retrofit 150 year old streets without changing traffic patterns and using common sense. Chicago is prime example.

This would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that’s how most cyclists really feel.

I really doubt that!

APMPCISDF!!!

(Almost Peeing My Pants Cause It’s So Darn Funny!)

the sport of wimps and juicers

There are idiots and good rule-followers in all forms of transportation, I think we can all agree on that. As a pedestrian I have an equal amount of experience narrowly avoiding getting hit by cars AND people on bikes.

If your cycling in the city at least there ARE sidewalks and curbs. I live 20+ miles out in the country. Cyclists seem to have no sense of self preservation when they ride out here. It’s country, the roads are narrow, with tight hairpins and no shoulders let alone curbs. Speed limit is 55 on most of them.Yet the cyclists will ride 5 abreast, weave all over the road, scream that we can “go around” even when there is no passing allowed and ignore all common sense about corners.Hey, if your doing 15 miles an hour on a winding country road and just came around a blind corner it only makes sense to think the next car coming around behind you on that 45 mph corner is probably going to be going a minimum of 35 if not more and will not be able to stop in time to avoid you.

I used to bike to-and-from school from Jr. High until I was about 20. I didn’t get a car until then, so I biked pretty much anywhere I wanted to go. I never wore spandex, and I always obeyed traffic signals and signs. I’ve met my fare-share of lousy drivers, so I am sympathetic to the biker’s cause.

That said, most bikers are idiots. Your spandex suits are the official uniforms for team idiot. It goes like this: when gathering with other bicyclists, you need to have brush-with-death traffic stories to assert your badassness and manhood. It’s a rite-of-passage to almost get hit by a car or to force automobiles into dangerous situations. If you have to run traffic lights, run stop signs, ride the wrong way down a street, or stay in 4-abrest configuration to make that happen, so-be-it. There are a number of places around here with wide, clearly marked bike lanes that exist solely for the purpose of riding. Apparently bike lanes are for pansies, as no one uses them and they insist on using the street, usually in formation so that no one can pass…sometimes even riding on the wrong side of the street. Driving in LA, I’m only surprised when a biker doesn’t do something stupid.

man boobs

We need to substitute “BMW/Mercedes/Lexus drivers” for “Cyclists” on the pyramid.

I recently saw an old episode of Adam-12 where someone riding a bike was pulled over by the police for being reckless. Why don’t the police do that today?

I too am tired of seeing cyclist blow through stop signs and stop lights. But if get in an accident, look out.

Riding on sidewalks is not only illegal, it is dangerous. The driver coming out of that Wendy’s drive through is preoccupied with his order and is only trying to see what’s in the road. The driver turning left across the five-lane shoots across in front of oncoming traffic, only to have to stop while still broadside to that traffic because she just now noticed the cyclist on the sidewalk.

There are no bike paths that will take me to the store or to church.

No, I’m not a spandex wearing “bike nut”. (I don’t even wear a helmet.) If there is traffic I obey traffic laws, with one exception. I don’t like to come to a complete stop. I try to time myself so that I almost stop. Or stop for just a second, but keep my balance and start moving again without a “dismount”. On a properly adjusted bike one cannot really stop without a partial dismount. This just slows everybody down.

Any group thinks it’s at the top of the pyramid. It’s true that some cyclists, vegans, Scientologists/evangelical Christians/Mormons/athiests, ex-smokers, and people who’ve been on some weird diet for 5 days or more can be particularly annoying about it.

At least they wear silly costumes so you can recognize them.

For the record, I’m a Jef-like cyclist and I ALWAYS obey traffic laws. There are many more like me on the road than Stephan cares to depict.

I live in Seattle where we have tons of cyclists demanding that they get preferential treatment. Personally, I don;t mind cyclists when they agree to share the road, as they demand motorists do. But these elitist snobs, while demanding cars watch out for them, will run over pedestrians on walkways. Heed the words of Star Wars. Bicycles don;t rip people arms aout of their sockets whern they lose. Cars and Trucks are known to do that. I suggest a new strategy, LET THE WOOKIE WIN!

At last I understand! I hope that cyclist I nearly ran over when he was making an illegal left turn at a stop sign he blew forgives me for not recognizing his lordliness.

No, I hadn’t heard. Thanks for the heads up! (IMDB won’t let non-pros see any info.) (I wish I had phrased my post more carefully… more like “Pig… hasn’t heard” instead of “doesn’t know.” )

Jef sounds like every cyclist I’ve ever met. They should be exterminated.

I don’t care a whit if you “drive irresponsibly”. I care when you try to run over me.

Bravo

I have a simpler answer though it’s a bit harsh. I ride a power assisted recumbent trike and have the ability to ride rings around those lycra wearing Lance wanna-be’s . I’ve been known to chase them down after they blow through a stop sigh or light, run them off the road and state to the pointedly to the jerks that they are giving the rest of us a bad name and I won’t have any trouble next time doing something much worse to them that simply running them off the road. I’ve broke a couple of them from running signs that way. They don’t do it anymore.

What a coincidence that Lance is being interviewed on OWN this week.

I’m not in the habit of running stop signs or lights. But consider this: There are occasions where doing so (while still yielding right of way, of course) keeps the flow of traffic moving. Would you really rather have to wait for me to get going from a standing start? Believe it or not, I am concerned about my presence impeding traffic.

Those darn cyclists!

We have bike lanes here, but the spandex wearing bike gods insist on riding on the white line next to traffic. We have a give bikes 5 feet law. In my book, that 5 feet starts to the right of that white line, cars should not have to change lanes to get that distance when a bike lane exists.

This sounds like something Calvin’s dad would say.

I would not call cyclists “scum” since that is really too harsh. However, I have observed the same disregard for traffic control signs. In fact, I have noticed many cyclists want to ride on the sidewalk then go to the street whenever one is more convenient. I worked with a large group of cyclists at an event as a volunteer and most came off with a superior attitude and demeanor. Of course, this is soley my personal opinion based on my interactions. I cannot label all cyclists as being this way.There are quite a lot of automobile drivers who have similar habits.

When I do stop at a light, someone will almost always pull up beside me. Only once have I had someone realize that this is wrong, and pull back.

And I can’t count the times that someone has passed me only to cut me off by turning right in front of me.

I’ve run into this too many times — trying not to run into it on the road — for this to be funny. Case in point: On a winding road I used to take to work, there were almost always two bicyclists who could never bring themselves to ride single file so that traffic could pass. Their comfort, their fear, their attitude, whatever, endangered anyone and everyone driving on that road. One day two cars will collide because of the way these bicyclists ride that road. On the day that happens, I suspect these bicyclists will just ride on as though nothing happened, unless they should happen to be injured or their bikes damaged by the wreck they caused. They give bicyclists a bad name. Is it a deserved bad name? Depends on whether their attitude is the prevalent one among bicyclists.

I’ve heard we have some cyclists around here that do that, but I’m not one. I’m sure they do it because riding single file is a lot like riding alone (aka, not as much fun), but it’s just stupid

Funny thing, with all the cyclist strips done, I don’t remember seeing any cyclists dispute the depiction in the comments.

The drivers in my family are notoriously good.

I’ve been a huge fan for years and am even reading one of the Pearls books right now, but this strip is just really disappointing. Pastis has fallen into the sad logical error of assuming that because he saw a cyclist run a light that one time, all cyclists should be blamed. It’s as if every single car driver should be blamed because I saw one run a light—it just doesn’t make sense. This just adds to the disinformation and ill will already out there.

I’ll still try to be a fan because I don’t expect everyone to think like I do, but I have lost a bit of respect, and if these types of strips were to become a regular thing, I don’t think I could continue to enjoy the strip.

I wear spandex with a bike jersey when biking on longer rides, but for everyday commuting, wear regular clothes. I stop at every stop sign and red light, and wear a helmet and lights.

The dynamics of group riding seems different than individual riding, but, for example, on an organized ride, I may choose a group to start with, and if they ride too dangerously, I will immediately dissociate and try to find another group.

I do notice, however, on organized rides, even when the group obeys red lights, they usually ignore stop signs.

Unfortunately, the bad apples spoil the whole cart in most people’s opinions.

Com-on I’m a cyclist too but not this aragont. Poor scum pig!

LOL thats right

guy seems like an ass

Jeff has moobs.

I thought I was the only one who noticed.

jef is rat in human form

To heck with rude cyclists!

Pretty nervy for someone who can be taken out with a car door.