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Comment by mkoryak | Hacker News Reader

I found a "simple trick that makes all drivers around me nice".

I put a pigeon on my helmet 8 years ago[1]. Everywhere I go I see smiles. I really makes every ride fun. One of my friends recently started also doing it, so its starting to catch on.

Pigeonriding transforms me from an awkward software engineer into an interesting person who people want to talk to. I have only had a handful of bad experiences[2] with drivers and other bikers in 8+ years that I have been riding (a few of those years I commuted on a bike year-round).

[1]:http://www.pictureboston.com/blog/2011/08/14/a-leica-camera-...

[2]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=1&v=2hJ_hzjlQsw

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This is brilliant!! It's such a fun, friendly, subversive way of communicating "I'm a person and not a roadblock/obstacle." I started bike commuting 3-4x per week and I may consider doing this.

I haven't needed it in the city I'm at now, but I used to wear a USA flag as a cape when riding in less biking friendly areas. It was night and day how drivers treated me.

OMG DID I JUST SEE YOU IN UNION SQUARE, SOMERVILLE? (Or was it your friend?) I noticed the pigeon.

(File under: it's a small world, I probably shouldn't act so surprised.)

That was my friend. He bikes in cambridge every day while I moved to the burbs and only commute when biking for an hour wont make me cold/wet.

5 years ago after a princess tea party I ended up with some tall silver tiaras full of sparkly gems, and I started wearing them on my bike helmets. A tiara fits perfectly into the spot for roadies to park their sunglasses.

The constant feeling of "hey my eyes are down here buddy" in public proves that it works!

For those less outgoing, anything that differentiates you, or stands out (from both the environment and other cyclists) seems to help. A sea of loud colors is just a din, and all spandex looks the same to a cager.

For those less outgoing, pigeonriding will probably work even better for you. You can just ignore people who try to talk to you which will make the pigeon seem much more real.

"oh that person really has no idea that bird is on their head".

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