all things cycling, an if you're a fan of snob there's
an interview). As I was typing I realised, hell I may
as well just repost this.
The start was how a roadie had pulled up along someone
commuting by mountain bike and without any small talk,
started giving pointers on how to 'get more power' by
adjusting seat height. Then pulled away and started
passing stopped cars on the left.
Now I'm not sure where I sit with this, except as usual,
somehow I'll always end up being a hypocritical judgemental
asshole, that's just a given. I honestly tried to be a roadie.
Drive to some spot out in the country, clean expensive bikes,
drooling over the latest Colorado Cyclist catalog, counting
my miles like an accountant doing numbers. But, alas, my
tattoos exceded the allowable quantity, and I looked like
a defective sausage squished into a jersey & shorts. Italian
sizing is not flattering on fat guys. So I just ride to work,
and everywhere else I need to go, then I just 'fell' into this
lifestyle of a commuter.
Anyways, it's funny how as set of the community or population,
cyclists are a very small minority, 6% down to under 1%
depending where you live. And within that micro percent are all
these subsets, roadies, fixed gears, commuters, mountain bikers,
triathles, recreational,etc... And how we all interact has got
make you wonder what the noncycling public thinks.
As I thought about it, I rarely give advice to anyone cycling,
unless it's asked for. I mean who really wants to hear what I
have to say. Then I remember the kid by my work, that I
constantly give him shit for the way he locks his bike, and one
day when it's gone, he should find me first- since I probably
hid it from him. He probably hates seeing me pull up. But I don't
say anything about him not wearing a helmet. Shit, for years I
would commute by mountain bike, gas was $1.20 so I rode for fun.
But I wouldn't wear a helmet, obey the rules of the road, I
pushed meaty knobbies everyday- screw slicks, and I'm not wearing
lycra spandex crap, just baggies. I enjoyed my right to be a
little intellectually stunted, as cool as I thought I was.
The second part of the act was the guy passing stopped cars on
the left. I blow stop signs, daily. But I don't pass on the left,
and I try not to be to agressive unless someone else is. My fear
isn't that the angry driver will hurt me, but that they'll take out
their juvenile rage on some other unsuspecting cyclist later.
So is that guy who rides against traffic & cuts off cars responsible
for creating the angry driver I encounter later? Are the guys in
Critical Mass that block traffic responsible for creating the
"I hate cyclists" attitude I encounter daily?
That's one of my biggest hang ups, sitting around trying to
"connect the dots". I realised I live the life I live now because
one specific person didn't hire me, and another guy did - sixteen
years ago. Sometimes you can trace things back to one simple event,
so am I responsible for the asshole who runs you down? I don't
want to know.
The post followed up with the amount of complaining we as cyclists
do involving the treatment we get. Well, it's hard when all day you
get treated like shit because you're not in a car. And that other
person you go home to doesn't want to hear it, because it's like
listening to people bitch about work - we all hate work! And if you
make it sound too dangerous, well then you just created a new
problem, the unsupportive "other". They already don't understand
the stacks of magazines, torn apart bikes, dirty parts, and charges
at the local shop.
Well, I guess the conclusion is:
- I'll really try to bitch less about bad drivers - they'll always
exist, and it'll never get better.
- I WON'T offer any unsolicited advice, unless we're on a first name
basis, or I want to intentionally piss you off.
- But, if I wave or nod in passing, you better acknowledge back,
or I'll draft you all the way home (even if I'm not going that way).
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