Sircrashalot
New Member
First, I dont want to pick a fight. Second, I ride road (very little & very slowly) too. Third, I tried really hard to see the other point of view and thought about it for a couple days before posting this, but hte more I think about it the more ticked off I get.
I hope this post is seen by any of the lime green shirt & black short wearing road bikers that I had the displeasure of encountering this past Sunday morning on Fresh Ponds Rd.
This is about manners, sharing the road, and not giving bicyclists a bad name.
The first half of the encounter on this 40 Mph road with no shoulders was coming around a bend to see a bunch of bikes splayed out on both lanes of the road, and green shirts walking around aimlessly everywhere on the road. A couple of the shirts looked at my car coming, yet made no effort to let the other folks know a vehicle was approaching, or to make any haste in removing their equipment from the roadway. They did not signal to me that there was some emergency that I should stop for, nothing. They ignored the 4,000 Lbs. of steel coming completely. I slowed to a near stop way back, already beginnng to think that this kind of stuff is why motorists in Austrailia speed bump cyclists. Ever so slowly the bikes were moved, and I was able to pass. no wave, no nod for my patience, no nothing. Looked like one of the crew had a flat. For comparison, imagine heading through your favorite single track, only to come on 8 bikes laying in the middle of the trail, with people walking everywhere and one bike upside down off to the side. You say hi, get no response, nobody sdoes anything, and you have to dismount and walk through the woods around the mess. Same feeling, same vibe. Ridiculous.
I drove on, thinking about how important it is that us MTB'ers yield the trail and wave and give friendly hellos to hikers, etc. in the trail to prevent others from having the poor opinion of us that I, a fellow cyclist, formed after the way the green shirts acted.
Not 30 seconds down the road and what comes into view but 4 more green shirts, riding, decent pace, maybe 20Mph in the 40 road, spread out taking up the entire lane of the solid double yellow line back road. I saw no mirrors on helmets or bars, so from way back I gave two very short, friendly toots, to let them know a car was coming. heads turned around, saw me, and the buggers stayed right where they were blocking the whole road. SO, I braked, slowed, and had to cross the double yellow line to go around. All they had to do was form up a second or two so I could pass more safely without having to go into the other lane with a bend approaching. I resisted my temptation to lay on the horn as I went by. Really ticked me off. Same game...I tried to be respectful and kindly share the road, and got shown their backsides.
Frankly, it pissed me off. Here I am, somebody who rides too, and I went out of my way TWICE to be extra cyclist friendly, and basically got the finger back twice. Here I was, a motorist perfectly willing to share the road, happily. The response I got was the green shirts communicating "this is our damn road, how dare you have the nerve to drive on it".
Actions like these do no good for cyclists of any kind. It was also dangerous, and just plain stupid of them.
Heres hoping one of them sees this post.
I hope this post is seen by any of the lime green shirt & black short wearing road bikers that I had the displeasure of encountering this past Sunday morning on Fresh Ponds Rd.
This is about manners, sharing the road, and not giving bicyclists a bad name.
The first half of the encounter on this 40 Mph road with no shoulders was coming around a bend to see a bunch of bikes splayed out on both lanes of the road, and green shirts walking around aimlessly everywhere on the road. A couple of the shirts looked at my car coming, yet made no effort to let the other folks know a vehicle was approaching, or to make any haste in removing their equipment from the roadway. They did not signal to me that there was some emergency that I should stop for, nothing. They ignored the 4,000 Lbs. of steel coming completely. I slowed to a near stop way back, already beginnng to think that this kind of stuff is why motorists in Austrailia speed bump cyclists. Ever so slowly the bikes were moved, and I was able to pass. no wave, no nod for my patience, no nothing. Looked like one of the crew had a flat. For comparison, imagine heading through your favorite single track, only to come on 8 bikes laying in the middle of the trail, with people walking everywhere and one bike upside down off to the side. You say hi, get no response, nobody sdoes anything, and you have to dismount and walk through the woods around the mess. Same feeling, same vibe. Ridiculous.
I drove on, thinking about how important it is that us MTB'ers yield the trail and wave and give friendly hellos to hikers, etc. in the trail to prevent others from having the poor opinion of us that I, a fellow cyclist, formed after the way the green shirts acted.
Not 30 seconds down the road and what comes into view but 4 more green shirts, riding, decent pace, maybe 20Mph in the 40 road, spread out taking up the entire lane of the solid double yellow line back road. I saw no mirrors on helmets or bars, so from way back I gave two very short, friendly toots, to let them know a car was coming. heads turned around, saw me, and the buggers stayed right where they were blocking the whole road. SO, I braked, slowed, and had to cross the double yellow line to go around. All they had to do was form up a second or two so I could pass more safely without having to go into the other lane with a bend approaching. I resisted my temptation to lay on the horn as I went by. Really ticked me off. Same game...I tried to be respectful and kindly share the road, and got shown their backsides.
Frankly, it pissed me off. Here I am, somebody who rides too, and I went out of my way TWICE to be extra cyclist friendly, and basically got the finger back twice. Here I was, a motorist perfectly willing to share the road, happily. The response I got was the green shirts communicating "this is our damn road, how dare you have the nerve to drive on it".
Actions like these do no good for cyclists of any kind. It was also dangerous, and just plain stupid of them.
Heres hoping one of them sees this post.