Comments on: Biker Down Update: Matthew Manger-Lynch

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:07:44 +0000

hey Joe Im Joe.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:04:21 +0000

Look, we understand the issues with motorists being negligent. This was not a negligent motorist. This was willful flouting of laws … it is almost asking to be hit. There is just no sympathy there for that. You do the crime, be prepared to do the time …

There is simply a vast difference between what happened here and any of the negligent motorists in the past. I’m sorry that the folks in Chicago raising a stink about this can’t see that.

By: sumadis

sumadis — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:09:55 +0000

sc, I have no illusions about why the advocates want distance, but I’m calling bullshit on folks who want it both ways. I grew up in Chicago. This death has resonance – years of riding those same streets, getting hit, getting chased up the sidewalk for blocks by cars, etc. make it all the more painful to read this story.

By: dd

dd — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:13:45 +0000

I guess on average just as many people on bikes make mistakes, but there are more in cars. It does not have to be “alley cat ” for a person to roll cluelessly and crash. I do not stop and wait behind cars nor expect to impeded. Racing thru city streets on fixed gears is down right nuts. But some can do it like a taxi. City is a dangerous place any way you go so you better respect it.

By: ChicagoBiker

ChicagoBiker — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:21:32 +0000

Your fellow cyclists aren’t aren’t claiming to be model citizens. Believe it or not there are many cyclists who have been silently/casually against alleycating, but haven’t felt it necessary to speak out until now.

The reason you are hearing so many people speak out is because there hasn’t been any form of real admission that this racing is stupid. You can only deflect thoughts to cars suck/life is dangerous, as you did again in your last post.

I ride in Chicago, I’ve gotten doored, yelled at, etc. It can be a bitch. So what? Still, if I run a red and get hit, I am to blame.

What is your real argument here?

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:15:33 +0000

No sympathy is needed for me.

Like I said, the amount of trolling is astounding. As soon as the shit hits the fan, everybody is the perfect model of a bicycle rider. Everybody stops at red lights and stop signs (’cept those of you who live in places where stops for cyclists can be treated as yield). Well, I’m calling bullshit. Hell, cars in Chicago don’t even stop for stop signs.

And all of you playing the blame game? Stop. Seriously. You want to assign blame for this? Ride. Ride your ass to Chicago, around Chicago, get doored, get hit, get cussed at, yelled at, intimidated. But don’t go around assigning blame until you’re there right in the middle of it all.

By: bikesgonewild

bikesgonewild — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:57:31 +0000

…this is literally a case of the old comedic saw “it’s all fun & games until somebody gets hurt”…& ain’t nobody’s got anything humorous to share now…

…someone died & the only person w/ a right to complain is the poor soul driving the vehicle…take the time to read the report…the driver apparently took evasive enough maneuvers to avoid five other cyclists…

…so, one guy paid w/ his life for the ‘fun’ of the others & while that is one death too many, what the fuck are the objections on that side about…

…i have objections…i object to the ‘race’ organizers, participants & clowns like alex wilson for not having the intelligence or the gumption , after the fact, to apologize to the driver, the para-meds who had to be involved, any concerned cyclist’s & the general public for their selfish myopic response…while we all like to have fun in this inherently dangerous activity of cycling, if you fuck up, then man up…
…the reality is, everyone involved is affected…

…& mathew manger-lynch…rip, dude…i hate that you died, especially out enjoying your life on a bike…hopefully your friends will learn something & share their frustration in a future positive manner…

By: sc

sc — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:00:31 +0000

he’s wondering why an advocacy group,which is motivated by more than just ‘fun’ ,wants to distance themselves from shit like this when it effects their(and our)cause negatively?grow up

By: sumadis

sumadis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:07:35 +0000

Sounds like the Chicago locals are polarizing – cyclo-advocates who may otherwise enjoy an alleycat or two now stepping to the highhorse and decrying the activity. Ya either run with the criminally minded or you stop at the signal, there’s no gray here. Can’t be a hypocrite on this one; there’s too much at stake. When it comes to pickin’ sides, most folks are like the sticky dough that clings to both parts of the waffle iron. Claiming that by some weird twist of common sense this tragedy is comparable to any of the legit motorist-in-the-wrong cases of the past few years is absurd and insulting. The only similarity is death, and that’s a heavy tax. Takin’ risks in the name of freedom on two wheels one thing, taking huge risks in traffic for fun is a risk to us all – ’specially when ‘Biker Down’ is an all too frequent blog header for this site. More ranting here –

http://www.humanpoweredtransport.net/hpt/2008/03/rant-n-roll.html

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:24:31 +0000

“….a concept that is unfathomable to them…”

Help me out here, and explain to me what I cannot seem to fathom?

As if it weren’t bad enough we have to listen to the crocodile tears of victimised self-righteous anarchists. Apparently the concept of an alley cat is beyond us?

By: pete

pete — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:04:11 +0000

Sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of the dead biker- and moreso to the innocent victim here: the driver of the car.

Many have said it already, so I guess I’m just adding to a chorus. Blowing through red lights, in traffic and at speed, is not fun. It’s goddamn stupid and reckless, and it endangers the lives of others as much as it does your own. In 33 years of riding, I’ve never done it, and I completely fail to understand people who do. Especially when they’re all radical and shit about how the *cars* should be obeying the law and respecting other people. You want respect? Show some. You want the roads to be safe for cyclists? Ride safely.

Andy, you are wrong. There’s a tragedy here, and it is that your boy caused a fatal accident through willful ignorance of both the law and of simple, basic safety. You’re all damn lucky that the driver didn’t swerve off through the sidewalk.

All car-bike accidents are tragic. Some of them are the rider’s fault.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:46 +0000

It isn’t a tragedy that he died … he died doing something that apparently he loved to do and he knew the risks of going through with that type of race. That said, my condolences to his family and friends.

Still, sorry, but I have no sympathy for the people trying to defend this action. It gives cyclists a bad name all around … and as for the organizers, what did you expect? This isn’t something that you can look objectively at and defend. That type of racing involves serious known risks and is inherently dangerous.

Again, sorry, but neither society nor the cars are to blame here.