I have not aired it out in a while so now is the time. If you don't like it...eat shit. This is one person's opinion of how the local road cyclists are behaving. One person who logged alot of miles with the same group a few years ago.
Predictably, the group has officially become a danger to themselves without even realizing it due to the way they are behaving on the road.
Let us begin.
The local yocal/elite/ hippity hop/shaved leg/holier-than-thou/roadie/tri group has experienced another near fatality recently. Actually almost multiple fatalities. The event happened in Baldwin County but close enough.
The details are sketchy and I haven't taken the time to seek out all of the details but some dude slams into 3 roadies a few days ago.
UNOFFICIAL LIST OF ACCUSATIONS AND INFORMATION
(taken from local roadie yahoo message boards)
dude was drunk
incident occurred at 8 or 9 in the morning
dude buzzed other cyclists before smashing into the 3 he actually hit.
dude refused roadside sobriety tests
some of the cyclists are airlifted from scene
dude is a Iraqi war vet
dude claims he fell asleep
word is the cyclist are doing o.k. now(that's good)
dude was arrested recently for public drunk
---------I HOPE YOU CAN SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING------------
The masses begin to form on the yahoo site. I can visualize it now. Like a small storm jetting across the late summer warm waters of the Atlantic.....building....building.....building....getting warmer....warmer...warmer....and BOOM!!!!!!!
1st post..."3 cyclist hit in baldwin co."
2nd post....we "hear alcohol is involved"(4 minutes later)
and then this nugget taken from the sound off section of the local paper
"this was taken from the press register blog after the 3 cyclist were hit by the dumb ass in the BMW:"
posted by heyitisme on 08/23/09 at 1:44PM
"I live on scenic 98 and I for one am gald (glad?) we have 3 less cyclists for awhile. These cyclists are a major annoyance, they ride down the middle of the road, they slow down traffic and are a general nuisance. There is a perfectly good bike path there for them, get off the road."
ouch
While I don't agree with the sound off, I think there is a message there.
I didn't count the number of responses and/or additional posts on this subject but i'd venture that close to 100 "authorities" had some sort of witty post on how the situation should be dealt with. With one guy giving the honest assessment that more could be done within the group to help themselves by following the rules of the road.
***********gasp************
Of course the response to that was predictable. Yeah, he was labeled as a sympathiser. How dare you take the side of the evil motorist. You bastard!
My point to all of this nonsense is as follows.
When I leave my house on the way to the gym, I get to experience the other side of this equation. I am the one that can't see the oncoming cyclists because they dont have any lights (front or rear) at 5 a.m. in the morning.(I am not kidding about this) I am the one that sits behind the dullards as they ride 3 abreast on a narrow two lane road. I am the one that gets the evil eye from the cyclists as I try to pass them on the narrow road exposing myself to danger while waiting patiently for them to decide if they want to get single file or not. I am the one that chuckles to myself when they blow thru every stop sign they run across.
So I figure it is up to the group themselves to figure out for the 10th year in a row if this is the year they are going to continue to break almost every rule of the book concerning bicycle laws. I mean, a little mutual respect goes a long way in these situations. How about a wave instead of flipping someone off. How about a smile instead of a yell when some poor smuck is trying to go around the group and has to hug the centerline because roadie boy won't peel off and get in a single file line for a few seconds to give motorists a chance to safely get around you.
What can it hurt?.....is it worth a try?.......
Statistically speaking, it is just a matter of time before a bunch of people get wiped out by a car.
The front of a group blows thru a stop sign and the people behind them follow because that is the way they have always done it. Dude in car is coming down the same road he has been coming down for years on the way to work, only today his phone rings, he looks down to answer it. He does not see the first six guys shoot thru the stop sign. He does see the next 5 but he cant stop....you know what happens next...........
THERE, I SAID IT
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