Complaint of Bicyclists

mlb929

I enjoy riding my bike to work - and try to it regularly but never really feel safe. My kids head back to school this week, and we will ride daily while the weather holds up. I run - they ride. It's 2 miles there - I run back home, then ride to my office, 2 miles - they ride the 2 miles to my office and we ride home together.

I did complain enough (as well as other too) to get a crosswalk across where my kids can cross to go to school safely. Yeah!

However, I'm just amazed at the drivers - and other bicyclists that give those riders like me a bad rep. Yesterday - major country road - busy for country road. Speed limit is 55 - I run this road 7-15 miles once a week and never have any problems when I run. There is virtually no shoulder, and we all need to share the road together. So last night, two bicyclists, side by side - not even front to back - IN the middle of the lane. Refusing to move over or fall in a line of front to back. There was an oncoming car - I had to stop for and wait before I could go around these people. My husband was behind me on his motorcycle, he didn't, but was tempted to split between them. AND, NO he would never really do that.

So, these two individuals have a local business on their jersey's. I called that business today - basically to tell them, with that type of advertising, I wouldn't be using them ever. It's the PREVIOUS owners! I suggested he call them and tell them to quit wearing their jerseys. But I found out who these people were - HERE is the clincher of the whole thing - last year, when my kids and I were riding to school, they were almost hit by a woman pulling out of a driveway. My kids were riding legally and following all the rules - this woman basically looked, and pulled out anyway into them. One fell off his bike the other stopped before crashing into the front of the car. The woman refused to get out of her vehicle as I stopped in front of her, got off my bike and made certain nothing was broken anywhere. This is the WIFE/MOTHER of the idiots riding in the middle of the road yesterday.

It's this type of rider that makes things harder on the rest of us. When you are making another rider angry because of your actions, imagine what it's doing to those that don't ride. I'll stick to my tennis shoes and running, I feel safer and believe that people are way more courteous to runners. But really, I don't blame other drivers when I see riders like this. YIKES.

dandur

There is virtually no shoulder, and we all need to share the road together. So last night, two bicyclists, side by side - not even front to back - IN the middle of the lane. Refusing to move over or fall in a line of front to back. There was an oncoming car - I had to stop for and wait before I could go around these people. My husband was behind me on his motorcycle, he didn't, but was tempted to split between them. AND, NO he would never really do that.

Sorry, but what they did makes sense. It forces people behind them to actually have to change lanes instead of trying to squeeze between them and an oncoming car. (And it's what I do, too. I was knocked off my bike when some moron in a pickup tried to squeeze between me and an oncoming car.) You said yourself that there's hardly any shoulder. For a couple seconds of your inconvenience, they were a lot safer.

Azdak

Don't know where you live. In many states, cyclists have legal right to at least 3 feet from the side of the road. Riding two abreast is wrong also, however, if a single cyclist is in the appropriate position on the road, you should not be able to pass the cyclist within the lane--it's not safe for you or the cyclist.