You must become one with your inner being to be at peace with your decision to ride a bike on the roads with idiots...
Strike 1 (actually 2, but I omitted another moron motorist story that happened a few weeks ago) was last week when I watched a cyclists get harassed by a driver for no apparent reason other than the over weight driver of a very ugly old Honda accord was just having a bad hair day.
He thought it appropriate to stop, yell and flip off the cyclists for making him wait an extra 5 seconds to pass. The nerve...
Inner peace...
Strike 2 was yesterday over lunch riding hill repeats on a nasty little 8% incline 4 miles from my house. Nice quiet little road that's in decent condition and a small connector road to major streets, but not as well known.
As I rode up the hill for the 5th time, an older retired looking gentlemen slowed down to pass, matching my speed to roll down his window and inform me, "that's what sidewalks are for", and sped off.
Putz.
Inner peace...
Dude, sidewalks are for pedestrians. It was a sidewalk, not a bike path. It was in a sad state of repair and there were people walking on it. Get a clue. I'm sorry if I disrupted your day by forcing you to slow down and inform me of the existence of the sidewalk, but that's life.
Inner peace...
Really people? Are we a society in that much of a hurry or that adverse to others getting some exercise in that we feel the need to police the roads from cyclists that actually obey the traffic rules?
Am I alone in the expectation that we could all get along out there?
Inner peace...
2 comments:
A few weeks back, a good friend of mine reluctantly informed me that she does not like cyclist on the road. She didn't like how it slowed her down when they rode in the street to the point where it blocked traffic. Honestly, I understand her issue with it; however, there is no other place for cyclist to get their training in effectively.
I mentioned that we don't ride on sidewalks because we then have to obey "sidewalk" rules. When she asked what those were, I lost my train of thought... and also lost the opportunity to educate her on the dangers of riding on a sidewalk. It triggered a future blog post. Initially, really, I think it all comes down to the fact that I have a higher chance of getting injured riding on a sideWALK than on the street. Feel free to beat me to the post, if you have some thoughts on it.
Scotty, I was looking up Kansas laws regarding bikes on sidewalks. It does not say anything about NOT riding on them, but it does say if a bike path is provided, cyclists must use the bike path.
At one point in life, I thought I saw a law that said a cyclist cannot ride the sidewalk moving 8mph or faster for danger posed to pedestrians. I couldn't find it.
Plus, you have dog walkers with extended leashes on sidewalks and what's to stop their dog from darting in front of you and wrecking you, hurting the dog and maybe the owner...
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