how to cope with unbelievers...

crosspost, actually cross-rant, with bikejournal today, I'm miffed today.

Came into work in a great mood after a brilliant commute (well, everything is relative, right?) driving right through all the wet snow instead of skating around on top, and finally maintaining some semblance of speed. Whee!

In to a meeting, glowing and with wet hair, where the conversation rapidly turns to how winter biking is dangerous, difficult, and downright irresponsible putting oneself and other drivers at risk...

I hate that! Why do I always have to jump at the bait, and end up defending winter biking as though it were no problem at all? It's just impossible to explain to the ones who really don't want to understand.

"No, it's not dangerous!" (Yes, it is, it's just not anywhere as dangerous as you think)
"I ride on bare asphalt almost all winter!" (Not quite true, but those totally snow-covered roads you all moan about only occur about 5 mornings in the course of a winter)
"Riding in traffic is not irresponsible, I'm in full control" (Which means - because I have studded tires, bike fast, watch the traffic at all times and am, if I say so myself, pretty darn good at this, I'm no less responsible than those of you sitting in metal boxes spewing out fumes into our common air)
"No, I'm not just going to fall over in the middle of the road" (Just because you might, if you tried.)

And the hardest thing of all to explain is how, just because they saw some cyclist having trouble down an impossibly snowed-down and slippery road one morning, winter bikers aren't irresponsible idiots. Sometimes we make bad choices too. Every now and then we get stuck on a road thinking "Right. Today I should have taken the bus. Too late to turn around, better just make the best of it." Cars get stuck in snow all the time, nobody mutters at them for having the gall to try driving in winter? Then it's the fault of the snow plow, because DRIVING is a human right!

Sorry, just one of those mornings... :(

Just let it out! I know exactly what you're getting at. :D

I've come to the conclusion that drivers don't like cyclists (or motorcyclists) on the road not so much that they add precious seconds onto their journeys by holding them up but because it means they have to pay attention more and the consequences of shocking driving are more severe. A prang at 20 or 30 mph into another car is probably going to result in some damage to the cars only, a similar speed bump into a cyclist or motorcyclist could potentially cause a hell of a lot more damage, possibly fatal or severely disabling. I don't believe most drivers want to cause that kind of accident but rather than change their driving style and become more aware of other road users or whatever they would rather the risk was removed.

(We won't mention the ninja stealth cyclists who ride without lights or the pavement hoppers and red light jumpers that make things difficult for sensible cyclists).

In my ideal world I would make it law that drivers have to spend an amount of time on the roads on two wheels (pedal power or engine) prior to passing their driving tests and annually thereafter. They'd soon become aware!


I agree that people think its their right to drive, no matter what the conditions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lph

crosspost, actually cross-rant, with bikejournal today, I'm miffed today.

Came into work in a great mood after a brilliant commute (well, everything is relative, right?) driving right through all the wet snow instead of skating around on top, and finally maintaining some semblance of speed. Whee!

In to a meeting, glowing and with wet hair, where the conversation rapidly turns to how winter biking is dangerous, difficult, and downright irresponsible putting oneself and other drivers at risk...

I hate that! Why do I always have to jump at the bait, and end up defending winter biking as though it were no problem at all? It's just impossible to explain to the ones who really don't want to understand.

"No, it's not dangerous!" (Yes, it is, it's just not anywhere as dangerous as you think)
"I ride on bare asphalt almost all winter!" (Not quite true, but those totally snow-covered roads you all moan about only occur about 5 mornings in the course of a winter)
"Riding in traffic is not irresponsible, I'm in full control" (Which means - because I have studded tires, bike fast, watch the traffic at all times and am, if I say so myself, pretty darn good at this, I'm no less responsible than those of you sitting in metal boxes spewing out fumes into our common air)
"No, I'm not just going to fall over in the middle of the road" (Just because you might, if you tried.)

And the hardest thing of all to explain is how, just because they saw some cyclist having trouble down an impossibly snowed-down and slippery road one morning, winter bikers aren't irresponsible idiots. Sometimes we make bad choices too. Every now and then we get stuck on a road thinking "Right. Today I should have taken the bus. Too late to turn around, better just make the best of it." Cars get stuck in snow all the time, nobody mutters at them for having the gall to try driving in winter? Then it's the fault of the snow plow, because DRIVING is a human right!

Sorry, just one of those mornings... :(

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Dont let them spoil your day. Enjoy your rides and just let it go in one ear and out the other.

LOL - sometimes even non cycling friends that I have (that I think are smart) say some really dumb stuff about cycling. One friend was horrified when she learned I ride up a hilly road near her house. Her comment was that it had no bike lane so was I really suppose to be there. Hmm well I told her that bikes were actually allowed on roads that had no bike lane and she said it would be a lot better for drivers if I stayed on roads that did. Well considering only a couple of roads around here have bike lanes I think that would make for pretty boring backward and forward riding.

The obvious answer to that is that it would be better for the bikers if the drivers took some other road. Oh, but gosh, we all have to get where we're going.

You might remind some of these people that a lot of the roads we drive our cars on were built for bikes with funds that bicyclists lobbied to get earmarked for said roads long before cars were being taken seriously. Further, where the heck did they get the idea that only cars had the right to be on these roads? (there's horses, heavy equipment, pedestrians, etc.)

Mimitabby, its the same in the UK, cyclists campaigned for the surfacing of the roads here too before cars were prevalent.

It does annoy me when drivers think cyclists shouldn't be on the roads as in the UK both pedestrians and cyclists have a right to use the road whereas drivers are there under licence and can have said licence taken away.