I guess they win.

[Batbike]

Telegirl ... I hope you were able to report this to the media, police, or SOMEbody that can draw attention to the situation -- how AWFUL!! Glad you are OK. Can't blame you for wanting to stay off road bike, but sounds like it is more the roads than the bike, so maybe can find some better roads (in time). Heal ... ride your mountain bike and enjoy the ride!

[DebW]

Telegirl, I just read your story and so thankful you lived through this, and so upset that it would happen. To me, the beauty of biking has always been that I don't have to get out my car in order to enjoy a ride on my bike. My other sports require that I drive somewhere to do them, but biking means I can leave the car at home, save gas, not pollute, not add to global warming. If I had to drive to somewhere I considered safe for riding, then riding would lose alot of its appeal. So upsetting that certain drivers force us into this position. But your safety is most important.

[telegirl]

Share the Road –

In my last road ride, I had a truck pulling a trailer run me off the road, a pickup almost take me out with his side mirror (it actually went over my head only because I ducked), and a car pass me honking while its passenger screamed and threw trash at me. For two states which want to promote bicycling, I’m amazed at the negative attitude of the residents toward cyclists.

I am sure that a large number of my own close calls result from drivers who do not understand how fast a cyclist can travel, resulting in cutting in too quickly, those who follow too closely to the car in front of them, which does not allow them to see cyclists or pedestrians along the roadside, or even those drivers who don’t really understand how much room to give a bicycle when passing. There are also those who are in such a hurry that the average 3-5 seconds wait to pass a cyclist safely seems like an eternity that they just can’t accept. There have been many times I have been passed on a blind curve, only to have the driver cut back in due to unseen oncoming traffic, resulting in my being run off the road or having to slam on my brakes to prevent an accident.

What I have trouble understanding is the anger and animosity directed at a large number of us riding our bikes, as well as the carelessness with which people operate a vehicle. While I know there are cyclists out there who may not obey traffic laws, there are a large number of car and truck operators that are not stellar drivers. Rarely does one see drivers trying to force cars off roads for going too slowly, or passing a car on a blind curve, or running them off the road with their trailers. Is it because of the fact that I am on a bicycle, vulnerable and unable to fight back, that drivers feel empowered to bully me?

Please, share the road and remember that if you hit and injure or kill a cyclist, your day is going to be ruined as well.

[7rider]

Share the Road –

In my last road ride, I had a truck pulling a trailer run me off the road, a pickup almost take me out with his side mirror (it actually went over my head only because I ducked), and a car pass me honking while its passenger screamed and threw trash at me. For two states which want to promote bicycling, I’m amazed at the negative attitude of the residents toward cyclists.

Please, share the road and remember that if you hit and injure or kill a cyclist, your day is going to be ruined as well.

Looks good.
I'd recommend that you start out with the fact that you were on a bicycle - something like "On my most recent bicycle ride on local roads, a pickup truck pulliing a trailer nearly hit me with a sideview mirror. Only by ducking at the right moment, did I avoid being hit in the back of the head. This latest incident, coupled with events where motorists would honk, yell, and throw trash at me while I was on my bike, has led me to sadly re-evaluate my standing as a vehicle on local roads. For tow states which promote bicycling..."

[mimitabby]

I took the liberty to edit. Your ending is very strong. I like it.


Share the Road –

The last time I rode my bike, a truck pulling a trailer tried run me off the road, a pickup almost took me out with his side mirror (it actually went over my head only because I ducked), and a car passed me honking while its passenger screamed and threw trash at me. For two states that want to promote bicycling, I’m amazed at the negative attitude of their residents toward cyclists.

I am sure that a large number of these close calls resulted from drivers who do not understand how fast a cyclist can travel; so they cut in too quickly, drivers following too closely to the car in front of them; so they don’t see cyclists or pedestrians along the roadside. There are even those drivers who don’t really understand how much room to give a bicycle when passing. There are also those who are in such a hurry that the average 3-5 seconds wait to pass a cyclist safely seems like an eternity that they just can’t seem to accept. There have been many times I have been passed on a blind curve, only to have the driver cut back in due to unseen oncoming traffic, resulting in my being run off the road or having to slam on my brakes to prevent an accident.

What I have trouble understanding is the anger and animosity directed at a large number of us riding our bikes, as well as the carelessness with which people operate a vehicle. While I know there are cyclists out there who may not obey traffic laws, there are a large number of car and truck operators that are not stellar drivers. Rarely does one see drivers trying to force cars off roads for going too slowly, or passing a car on a blind curve, or running them off the road with their trailers. Is it because of the fact that I am on a bicycle, vulnerable and unable to fight back, that drivers feel empowered to bully me?

Please, share the road and remember that if you hit and injure or kill a cyclist, your day is going to be ruined as well.


an alternate sentence: While I know there are cyclists out there who do not obey all the traffic laws, we all know that there is an equal number of motorists who also break traffic laws, sometimes with fatal results. But I loved your use of the word stellar!

[telegirl]

Thank you for taking the time to read it and give input. .....I forget that not everyone is versed in cycle-speak....oops. I am going to modify and send it off to at least two (if not three) of the local papers and see what sticks.....

Thanks for your support, kind words, and anger on my behalf!

[mimitabby]

good luck and keep us posted!

[smilingcat]

Your horrible ride story really leaves me wondering about the horrid drivers out there. Things like this really make me angry. And like Road Raven says, how many of the bike riders are children riding after school or commuting to school. Just horrible horrible horrible.

Next time you are in coffee shop and some arse says about wanting to harm the cyclist or just scare them, maybe you should remind them that it could be a child. I wonder how he would feel if he killed an innocent child or someone killed his child. People just don't think about the consequences of their action. GRRR!!!

And one way of getting attention for a newspaper story is put it in a context of children riding bikes. People who hate bicyclist don't care about adults but if its a child riding they tend to soften up and think a bit.

Thank goodness for your cycling skill and attentiveness.
and do stay on Mtn bike for a while.

[pooks]

Next time you are in coffee shop and some arse says about wanting to harm the cyclist or just scare them, maybe you should remind them that it could be a child. I wonder how he would feel if he killed an innocent child or someone killed his child. People just don't think about the consequences of their action. GRRR!!!

Something else comes to mind. I recently read about an incident where protesters were throwing rolls of toilet paper at a group of people that included the Queen Mum. She calmly picked one of the rolls up and carried it to the man who had thrown it and asked quite "innocently" and "helpfully," if it was his...? That she thought he'd want it back.

He was so startled that he took it and everybody stopped throwing them.

I have a friend who occasionally pulls something similar when somebody says something outrageously ugly as a joke. She will play innocent and wide-eyed and "not understand," forcing them to explain, and perhaps explain again, until they shut up in embarrassment.

I wonder how somebody who made comments about running cyclists off the road to scare them would respond to a wide-eyed, "Really! You would do that? Do you know one of them? They must have done something horrible to you! Wait, you would run a stranger off the road? Why?"

Etc., until they realize what asses they're making of themselves!

Pooks

[Aint Doody]

Pooks, I really like that idea. If they have to explain, they might finally understand just how outrageous their idea to run somebody off the road is.