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A Left Coast Thang: Yes, We Can All Just Get Along
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a car person. But if you’re like me, your interests are broader and may even include bicycling. At the risk of placing myself way outside the demographic of AR’s readership, I’ve been driving cars for 39 years (hey, I started really young–OK?).
Many of the last thirty of those years have been blissfully spent behind the wheel of one sports car or another, flirting with the ability that skill–combined with superior engineering– can enable one to exert over the laws of physics. California is full of winding mountain roads where one can practice this process endlessly. It’s no secret the best collection of sports car roads anywhere on Earth exists right here by the Pacific. It’s sports car heaven y’all. In fact, an entire website has been dedicated to California’s gloriously sinuous ribbons of asphalt: http://www.pashnit.com/motoroads.htm
But over the years, I’ve noticed a critical change on many of my favorite back roads.
Bicyclists.
Having ridden a bike for a number of years myself, I am speaking firsthand when I say there’s nothing like biking along a peaceful country lane. On a bike, you interact with the environment in a way you can never do in a car–not even a convertible.
Also because I’ve ridden extensively, I know that when a car blows past you under heavy acceleration, clouds of emissions make respiration difficult–if not impossible. In the past, I used to feel sorry for bike riders. I’d slow down and go lightly on the throttle as I went past them. I say in the past, because I’ve also noticed a change in the attitude of many cyclists. Like so many Americans do about so many things, there now exudes a overriding sense of entitlement from bicyclists.
The bicyclers I’m seeing these days roll as if they have no responsibility for ensuring their own personal safety, or for sharing the road. I’ve come off the apex of many a turn to find two or more cyclists riding side by side on a twisty canyon road, with no regard whatsoever for the fact that they are in the middle of a blind curve, sitting squarely on the line. Similarly, I’ve sat behind packs of cyclists puffing along at eight miles per hour, who’ve made no effort at all to let me pass.
I’ve tried lightly tooting my horn from a quarter of a mile back to warn them of my imminent approach, only to be rebuffed with the long-fingered salute. And recently, exhibiting the most egregiously antagonistic behavior I’ve ever seen, one of two bicyclists on the side of a road (not even riding, mind you), upon seeing me and a bright yellow Audi RS4 come smartly off of one turn and accelerate briskly toward the next one, actually picked up a rock and flung it at the $66,000 performance car.
That time, I stopped and went back to ask how they felt justified perpetrating such hostile behavior. (After all, the individual had just committed assault.) I was met with a gushing tirade of emotionally fed righteous indignation easily rivaling the tone of the epithets hurled at the first African-American students attempting to integrate ‘Ole Miss.
Their entire argument was based around the fact that this was “a popular road with cyclists,” and that by enjoying my sports car there (the way it was designed to be used and the way I’ve been doing on that very road for over 30 years–by the way), I was, “way out of line!” After being called everything from a menace to society to a potential homicidal maniac, I drove away from that experience with considerably less concern for the two-wheelers inhaling my noxiously potent emissions.
And that ain’t right.
Because the fact is the bicyclists were right.
What I was doing was potentially dangerous.
And were it not for my years of experience on that particular road, combined with my hours and hours of high-performance driving school training, as well as my conscious decision to attack roads like that one only in cars with superior braking and cornering abilities, I’d feel my position that day was rather indefensible. However, taking all of those factors into consideration, I know I was safer by far than the vast majority of drivers they encountered on that road that day–even those traveling at a fraction of my pace.
Problem is, they had no way of knowing all of that.
So they reacted violently.
Clearly, with the popularity of bicycling on the rise, and with more and more cyclists deciding to take on roads traditionally enjoyed by drivers of performance cars and motorcycles, without some understanding, something ugly is bound to happen one day.
Thing is, we can all get along.
Motorists: Use common sense. Be very vigilant when you’re on those roads. They aren’t always as empty as they seem.
Cyclists: Use common sense. If you’re on a winding two-lane road with no shoulder and you’re going into a curve you can’t see out of, stay as far to the right as you can. Those roads aren’t as empty as they seem.
Motorists: Slow as you pass bikes.
Cyclists: Ride single file, move over, and let cars pass.
Motorists: Wave thanks when bikes let you pass.
Bottom line, nobody’s completely wrong and nobody’s completely right. But the fact is, while you can’t force people to change their behavior, you might very possibly change the way they act. Unfortunately though, that change may not necessarily be for the best.
Cyclists: People in cars should not be yelled at and/or assaulted.
If you’re on a bicycle, you’re physically vulnerable to whatever happens out on the road. And obviously, that’s where a lot of your concern lies. But how smart is it to piss off somebody passing by in a car who could potentially come back and bump you and your bike off into the weeds? Or worse, stop and come after you with a weapon that could injure you permanently or fatally?
Along with enjoyment comes responsibility–on everyone’s part.
If you like ripping along in your sports car on a winding road, do it responsibly, stay vigilant for cyclists and give them some room. If you like riding your bike in places where there is little room for error, you’ll have to accept the probability that one day, a car is going to come out of nowhere. Be responsible for doing all you can to ensure your personal safety.
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