"To Shoal"

[S. Arlington Observer]

After using and benefiting from this forum for a year I have been able to pick up the meaning of most acronyms and terms by context. (“Slicks”, “CaBi”, “MUT”, etc.) There is one that I seem to understand but would appreciate a clear definition.

Can somebody define the verb “to shoal”? People report being shoaled a lot and I think it means to be cut off or diverted unnecessarily. But I thought I’d ask to be sure.

[Tim Kelley]

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/2010/04/20/bike-snob-lingo-book-tour/

http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2014/08/cyclists-lets-talk-about-shoaling/379232/

[jrenaut]

There are also degrees of shoaling. Doing it at a red light when no one is moving is bad. Doing it as the light turns green is not only spectacularly rude but also dangerous. But perhaps the worst is when you shoal someone faster than you. I’ve had people do it to me three straight lights on 15th NW. My favorite thing to do to shoalers is to draft them up hills on the cargo bike because that’s more satisfying than whacking them with my water bottle.

[baiskeli]

@Tim Kelley 129510 wrote:

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/2010/04/20/bike-snob-lingo-book-tour/

http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2014/08/cyclists-lets-talk-about-shoaling/379232/

Too bad we don’t have a forum dictionary….

[baiskeli]

@S. Arlington Observer 129509 wrote:

After using and benefiting from this forum for a year I have been able to pick up the meaning of most acronyms and terms by context. (“Slicks”, “CaBi”, “MUT”, etc.) There is one that I seem to understand but would appreciate a clear definition.

Can somebody define the verb “to shoal”? People report being shoaled a lot and I think it means to be cut off or diverted unnecessarily. But I thought I’d ask to be sure.

Shoaling is what you’ve been doing for years and never knew other people didn’t like it. Now you know and you can be annoyed by it even though you didn’t know it was annoying.

[Tania]

@jrenaut 129515 wrote:

There are also degrees of shoaling. Doing it at a red light when no one is moving is bad. Doing it as the light turns green is not only spectacularly rude but also dangerous. But perhaps the worst is when you shoal someone faster than you. I’ve had people do it to me three straight lights on 15th NW. My favorite thing to do to shoalers is to draft them up hills on the cargo bike because that’s more satisfying than whacking them with my water bottle.

Had a guy (full kit that matched his bike) do this to me (cotton tee shirt, baggy shorts and a camelbak) at a light on Williamsburg and so I drafted him on every uphill. He’d lose me on the downs but I could easily catch up to him on the ups. He got a big smile at each stop light too.

[jrenaut]

It’s not the kit that makes you fast.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@jrenaut 129515 wrote:

My favorite thing to do to shoalers is to draft them up hills on the cargo bike because that’s more satisfying than whacking them with my water bottle.

Are you sure? It might require more study of both options.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@jrenaut 129534 wrote:

It’s not the kit that makes you fast.

Unless it’s red. Or yellow.

[Crickey7]

There is an unwritten rule that a shoaler must also be a wobbly newbie whose circuitous path across the intersection and into the bike lane precludes any effort to go around them.

[Bill Hole]

This summer a guy on an e-bike shoaled me during several evening commutes in the northbound 14th St. bike lane north of Arkansas. He would get in front at the light, then leisurely motor up the hill while I waited for a chance to pass. Of course as soon as I passed he sped up to get in front again. Being shoaled by a slow-moving e-bike is much more aggravating than being shoaled by a regular bike because it offends my sensibilities.

[OneEighth]

@ShawnoftheDread 129540 wrote:

Unless it’s red. Or yellow.

Or red next to yellow like dcv’s

[ShawnoftheDread]

Yeah, that jersey has infinite cadence, too.

[S. Arlington Observer]

I must be a natural non shoaler. At intersections I usually invite people whom I think will be faster to go on ahead of me. I’m not as slow as I used to be (new bike is much faster) but I am not the fastest either, so that make sense. Why make them pass me a few hundred yards down the road? I don’t mind being passed but it isn’t an experience I necessarily want to invite – and I’m not sure what being in the lead does for anybody.

And yes, a dictionary would be helpful. The links don’t seem to pick up all the lingo used in this area. Perhaps a project for the venerated senior folk?

[consularrider]

@S. Arlington Observer 129555 wrote:

I must be a natural non shoaler. At intersections I usually invite people whom I think will be faster to go on ahead of me. I’m not as slow as I used to be (new bike is much faster) but I am not the fastest either, so that make sense. Why make them pass me a few hundred yards down the road? I don’t mind being passed but it isn’t an experience I necessarily want to invite – and I’m not sure what being in the lead does for anybody.

And yes, a dictionary would be helpful. The links don’t seem to pick up all the lingo used in this area. Perhaps a project for the venerated senior folk?

There’s a sticky in this category at top of the list that is the Forum Dictionary. Not always easy to wade through, but …

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