Today on the Internet: So What Are The “Rules” For Urban Cyclists

A single tweet on Tuesday by longtime outdoors writer Peter Flax has set off a debate about what it means to be a cyclist who bikes and plays well with others. Or doesn’t.

And it’s the subject of today’s installment of “How We Talk About Ourselves When We Think No One Else Is Listening.” First, the tweet heard ’round the world:

Do we all have such “rules” in our head? And are there only two, as Flax suggested? Fortunately, the Internet was on top of it.

“3rd rule is don’t be a jerk?” added @VannevarB, but that didn’t satisfy Flax.

Something about “being a jerk” and pissing off others didn’t make everyone in the cycling community feel completely comfortable.

Which Peter Krupa dubbed the “don’t be an asshole” rule.

But even “safety” is subjective. Flax suggested that should we “assert” ourselves in traffic, but others weren’t so sure.

And then, inevitably, the entire debate got derailed by a driver who just had to toss a stink bomb into the whole thing.

Which started its own debate…

…Which gets us back where Flax started: Yield to pedestrians and do what you need to do to get home safely. Obviously, drivers don’t care about us.