In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> I was first in line at a red light. A serious pedalcyclist (i.e. not
> some overweight, out-of-shape couch potato out for a joyride, but a
> serious athlete), complete with skin-tight spandex pants and a yellow
> shirt with sponsors' logos all over it, came up in the bike lane next
> to me. He stopped his bike completely inside the intersection, with
> his back tire in front of the crosswalk (pedalcyclists often do this
> as a courtesy, as it allows automobile drivers to use the bike lane to
> turn right on red).

Said outfit means nothing. I don't wear such clothing. Some years back
when I still rode a POS, heavy bike I rutinely had guys dressed like
that decide to race me. They never won.

> When the light turned green, I accelerated as I normally do - no
> dumping the clutch, no wheelspin, just my standard, non-Slothful
> launch - and beat him across the intersection by at least two
> carlengths.

I've had corvette drivers accelerate hard, reving engine, a little wheel
spin, etc to prove their car was faster than my bicycle.

That aside, normal acceleration with a motor vehicle should beat a
bicyclist... However many people are sloths and actually slow me down
while biking.