Tacks On Road

[Nanci]

I'm kind of horrified to find out they do that in Georgia, too. I hope Six Gap isn't a usual target...

Nanci

[Bike Goddess]

Nanci- aside from the tacks, I trust you did fine. 9600 ft is no small feat (no pun intended)!

Re tacks- This seems to be a regular occurence on the Seattle to Portland ride near the one big hill we all do about 20 miles out. No one has ever been caught. Since there are 8500 riders, ample opportunity to get a flat in that stretch if you don't know about it. The 2 times I have done the ride, there has been support staff in the area warning us to keep an eye out for tacks.

This kind of behavior reminds me of arsonists- the people who deliberately set fires for the drama of it. How sick and how sad.

[Nanci]

Can you even see tacks???

You know what, after doing a 600k, everything else will always seem easier. Unless I do a longer ride!! I got _such_ great conditioning from the brevet series. I'm not even sore at all today, can run up and down stairs, my _knees_ don't even hurt!! When I was at the SAG _before_ the last big climb, everyone is all whining and scared and whatever, and I was thinking, oh you guys don't even know what hard is...Yeah, it's steep, but it's only 2.25 miles! Try staying on a bike for 374 miles!!

[skibum]

I'm kind of horrified to find out they do that in Georgia, too. I hope Six Gap isn't a usual target...

Nanci

I've never heard of any tacks on the Six Gap route. I ride in that area all the time and find it to be pretty cycling friendly. No need to worry...

[Bike Goddess]

That's right Nanci! Between you, Sarah, Veronica, and ..... we have quite a crew of strong riders here!!!!!

[annie]

Mean, nasty, sadistic people throw tacks on the road to purposely annoy/hassle/ irritate and even injure cyclists. I cannot comprehend it, either, but it definitely happens. It's happened on RAGBRAI numerous years. They try to sweep the road, but by then, it's too late and there are tons of people with flats. I remember one year a stretch of road was so bad that they made people get off their bikes and walk. Even then, it was hard to avoid the tacks! How do you see the tacks, Nanci asks? You don't usually, until they are in your tire and you are removing them. If it were not such an awful thing to do, I would almost feel sorry for someone who found pleasure in such an act. What kind of a person must they be and what kind of a life must they lead to either not realize or, worse, not care what mischief and damage they cause? I cannot understand it.

annie

[KnottedYet]

Happens almost every year on the DALMAC, too. I was lucky, people around me on one stretch were all getting tacks. They were little black carpet-style tacks, so there was no way you could see them on the black road surface.

I don't know if I just managed to miss them, or if the heavy tires I was using saved me some trouble.

That stretch of road had been clear a couple hours before, so someone driving during the ride (and amongst the riders) must've thrown them out a window along several hundred yards.

[Pedal Wench]

I'm kind of horrified to find out they do that in Georgia, too. I hope Six Gap isn't a usual target...

Nanci

I agree with SKibum -- I've never heard of it being an issue in the Six Gap area. I think people are very supportive of the cycling people who pour money into the economy all summer long.

[Tuckervill]

The idea that someone would throw tacks for cyclists to hit brings up a very painful memory for me. If this were to happen to me, it could cause me to stop riding all together.

When I was about 6, my parents took me with them on some errand somewhere. It was a summer night and I had already had my bath and was in my pajamas and sponge rollers. When we got home, I ran up the stairs, sprinted across the living room and leapt onto the sofa, as I always did. As I hit the sofa I felt terrible pain and looked to see that there were straight pins sticking out of the soles of my feet.

Of course I started screaming and my Daddy grabbed me up and took me into the bathroom and pulled them out and washed my feet. Meanwhile, my mother berated my older brother for putting the straight pins there. Through my tears and the yelling I heard him say, "You don't want her to jump on the couch! I was trying to teach her a lesson!"

I can't even describe how profoundly angry that made my 6-year-old mind (and this 44-year-old mind, too). This story about the tacks brings up the same kind of feeling.

Karen

[DirtDiva]

Ain't big brothers grand... Glad mine never did anything that bad to me - he was more into psychological torture.