SERIOUS emotional advice needed - What would you do???

[silver]

SR500, I agree that the bike club is not at fault. I'm not a member, but have participated in some of their activities. I don't know all the details. I do know some of them. I do think that they will be dropped from the suit. I dont' know what the legal reasoning is, but I'm just assuming that there may be some legal reason that they were named that I do not know.

I've thought it through and the only thing that I fault them for is that they didn't notify/remind the law enforcement that they were having the event. That seems pretty careless to me. One of the deputies that came, told me, that they didn't know that the bike ride was going on that day. He said that he thought when he first heard the accident on his radio that it must have been a motorcycle. But in saying that, I still don't think that they should be included in the suit because of it.

Now I will go on to say, that the Bike club here is.........well, how do I say it......different. The day of the accident, I was sitting on the curb crying, trying to figure out how that we could get in touch with Sam's wife when i bike club guy came over to us to get our names and information. I asked him, "are you with the race? Can't you get his contact info off his registration form to call his wife?" He proceeded to lecture me that this wasn't a race it was a ride, a tour, etc.

I was looking at him, with a you must be crazy look. True enough, it wasn't a race. I should have know better. I come from a running background, organized runs are called races. I've only participated in few bike events and oops, in my emotional state of watching a man be given CPR, I slipped up and called it a race. Sorry.

The bike club here is known for being somewhat exclusive and stand offish. I'm feel sure that this attitude may have contributed towards the widow's decision to include them.

I went to a Share the Road meeting recently. Another aside to say that the bike club has been very slow to do anything to help with this initiative, even seemed against it, until Jim, got the ball rolling and then they seemed to want to jump on since the initiative was actually going well.

Anyway, at the meeting, Sam's widow acked if anyone was there from the Bike Club, she said that they had mailed Sam a registration form for the ride and that the timing hit her particularly hard and could they PLEASE, make sure that they didn't mail her deceased husband another registration form in the future. there was silence......the bike club president made a note on her papers and said "I'll tell Mike(not his real name) he just merges all those files." It was just so callous.

Anyway, they did put on a great ride yesterday, truly, I don't fault them. I've ridden with them, and a lot of them are great!

[quint41]

Local paper? This is the kind of thing that John Stossel (ABC - "Give me a Break") loves, isn't it?

I read the articles and a bunch of the comments posted on the newspaper website following the article.

I ride almost entirely in groups. Nothing fires me up like seeing people riding 2 and 3 abreast on busy roads, or riding through red lights. Our bikes are vehicles, and we are supposed to FOLLOW THE RULES OF THE ROAD. Those same cyclists would be screaming if cars were driving side-by-side or running red lights! (And I'm NOT saying BY ANY MEANS that is what happened in this accident! Don't get me wrong!) What I am saying is that until all cyclists behave properly and follow the rules, our ranting is going to fall on deaf ears. Yesterday, I had a car pass me as we approached a stop sign. He passed, and pulled right into the breakdown lane to prepare to turn right. Pulled right into my path. Another driver coming in the opposite direction almost broadsided me as he began to turn into a gas station on my side of the road. I am the visi-yellow queen! I am cautious. I use a mirror, keep my head up, eyes open, and always let the monster death machines have the right of way. But because drivers are so sick and tired of having to deal with pacelines blowing through intersections, and riders taking up the travel lane, I could be the one who takes the brunt of their fury, leaving two kids without a mother.

As for dedicated bike lanes and the like ... I don't know how the rest of the country works it out, but the Connecticut bike paths that I've been on leave MUCH to be desired! Cracks, frost heaves, sand, broken glass, much more hazardous for a road bike than riding the breakdown lane of a busy thoroughfare. Plus the obstacles of runners, walkers, bladers and kids with training wheels. I'm not saying they don't deserve a place to exercise as well, but most road bike riders around here find our "bike paths" more frustrating than useful.

There is strength in numbers. All cyclists need to follow the rules. Only then can we have any kind of strength.

This is kind of disjointed, but I just felt the need to say it.