Monday, June 20, 2011

Juneathon Day 20 - Biking Reality

Tired today. Should be fine by tomorrow.

I've had this song in my head for two full days.


It's OK. Because is there anything more beautiful than the sweet voice of Bruno Mars juxtaposed with the anger and aggression of Eminem? No, there is not.

Hit the gym in the AM for a varied-stroke swim workout.
Backstroke continues to kick my ass due to its high frequency kicking.

In the evening, I decided that I am done with the bike training for Sunday's Philly Tri.
I've hit the point of diminishing returns. I might just go out for a couple easy miles on Wednesday.

Abandoning my biking, what better way to fill the evening than teaching the kids to ride without training wheels?
Training wheels. That's a 4-letter word in our household. Poor kids.

After announcing our cold turkey training wheel cessation and dealing with the rivers of tears, we went to our gently downhill-sloped back yard.
As a young lad, I was taught to ride my bike by being pushed down a hill.
Time to pass that along.

Goodles was up first, hating every moment of it.
But after 10 pushes down, 10 crashes, 10 climbs back up, and 13 seconds of unassisted biking, he was hooked.

HoneyBunny would typically be the harder sell, but she also has seriously good balance.
She did great.

And then I wrapped up my Juneathon Day 20 with a 1.5 mile run. My legs/body feel fine after yesterday's long run.

Back to a post from a few days ago. My friend Matt had asked for Biking Rules of the Road.
Matt has since responded to those rules with his personal experiences living in a hot bed of cyclists.

We here at Failure to Detect Sarcasm proudly present our first Guest Blog Post.
Please give Matt some love and give any feedback on his awesome post.

Take it away, Matt.

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Sorry I'm late, busy week (which I am sure we can all relate to) 

couple of points 

1 – I had a friend in High School (23 years ago! OMG) who was an avid bicyclist. After High School he and his father rode across the United States over the summer before he went to College. Anyway, for many reasons his example always stuck in my head about the cooperation between cars and bicycles. I always kept that in mind when encountering bicycles on the road and tired to give them the respect they deserve. 

2 – I’ve been a motorcyclist since I was 17 (24 years ago! OMG) and I can relate to bicyclist from that perspective. And YES it ticks me off when I see some idiot doing a wheelie or a stopie in the middle of traffic, because it REALLY does give bikers a bad name! (However, I love watching guys and gals do it in the relative safety of a parking lot or back road, THAT is at least trying to be responsible) 

3 – Hard life lessons, experience, and knowledge have taught me to try and see things from as many perspectives before passing judgment (don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect, I’m still Human and get upset from time to time) 

However, when I moved to the house I am in now in 2004, I started to become increasingly frustrated with the bicyclists in my area. Thankfully I was able to remind myself that HEY!, one of these bicyclists could be Mike! And maybe more importantly there might be some “understandable” reasons for some of the behavior I observed. 

I wanted to understand the difference between, as Mike said, the RULES of the road and the REALITY of the road. As with all conflict in life, obtaining a better understanding helps people with opposing views better cooperate. 

You’ll have to trust me when I say I fully understand the difference between the RULES and REALITY. For example, when I come to a stop sign I DO NOT stop fully if I am able to determine there is no one around. Now, I assure I don’t take that decision lightly if there is any doubt in my mind that I can’t determine that, I will stop (and stop completely). 

I break this type of rule because I am indignant and stubborn about WHY a rule was created. Rules are often created to “mandate” something obvious, something that most people do naturally but others willingly screw up and mess up life for all the rest of us. So, I feel if the condition doesn’t exist which requires the rule (some obstruction or right of way issue at a stop sign for example) I don’t follow it. Yes, I’ve gotten nailed by that and that’s the consequence. I am NOT indignant about the consequence, I broke the rule and I have to pay the price. 

That is all very logical and works for me, action and reaction, balance, etc. 

You also have to understand that the road I live on is wonderfully windy, tree lined and shady, has some banking that makes an amateur racer like me drool, and was recently repaved. It’s hard to resist myself even when I’m driving my truck! (it did break me a few times early in the morning and late at night when I still had my Miata) But I do resist because I’m not the only one who lives on that road (although it is somewhat sparsely populated). All of this makes it VERY tempting to treat it like a private road for everyone from motorcyclist to pedestrians. 

It also bears mentioning that this road is barely 2 lanes. There is a steep uphill bank on one side and a guardrail in most places on the other side which prevents you from sliding down the bank into the creek! There are also several bridges along the way. One that is a single lane and another that should be! And lastly many commuters treat it like a shortcut from one major road to another which causes all kinds of ridiculous traffic at various times. 

So when I passed a group of bicyclists on my road who were driving 3 abreast (one literally riding on the double yellow line) I was careful to wait behind them for quite a distance until I could see beyond them far enough to safely pass. When I did so, as quickly as I could because that window of safety was quickly dwindling as we approached the next curve, and the bikers “indicated that they didn’t approve of my methodology”. I became… let’s say… disappointed with their behavior… yeah let’s leave it at that! However, don’t be too concerned I was in no mood for conflict that day and I eventually was able to calm down. 

Yes, that was an extreme example, I admit! I could site many other less extreme but no less annoying examples (not taking your feet out of your toes clips at a stop light and ending up 1/4 of the way out into the intersection for example OR cutting across a busy intersection as a GROUP… ok gotta stop!) 

So back to the issue, my desire to better understand bicyclists. Before I simply write it off as simply a situation of a few giving a bad name to the many, I would like to know if there is a “logic” that I am missing. What is the mindset of a bicyclist, I ride bikes every so often, but I head off to a park as a recreational rider not as part of a “rigorous” pursuit. I also acknowledge that when I see someone biking or running it reminds me how inadequate I have been to the task of improving my health (I’m working on that). 

The basic human psychology of THAT guilt is well demonstrated by groups like the KKK, the Nazi’s, etc. ad naseum! And I like to think  I’ve been successful at recognizing it before it causes me a problem. All the more reason I want to understand if there is more there than I might realize. 

I’ve really tried to whittle the issue down to the ultimate frustration and I think I’ve found it. 
It’s the fact that there seems to be no consequence to this behavior! I’m not saying we should begin a “Judge Dread” style of rule enforcement, but If I have to bear the consequences of breaking the rules, so should bicyclists. 

So there you go, that’s a summary of my thinking on the subject. 

Please feel free to comment on any aspect. 

In the meantime, I’m going to do the best I can to safely avoid bicyclists… AND pedestrians, joggers, runners, kids playing “ball”, turtles, frogs, squirrels, dogs, cats, ferrets, guinea pigs, furniture, tire treads, deer, garbage, road-kill (because bones can give you a flat, it happened to me, I know!), potholes, nails, oil slicks from spies, smoke screens, people on their cell phone, drunks, cops :-), construction workers, trees, road signs, lawns, puddles that you don’t know how deep they are, etc. 

Whilst simultaneously maintaining a safe distance, braking early, coming to a complete stop, using caution at a yellow light, using my turn signals, looking for an “out” at all times, wearing my seatbelt, holding the wheel with both hands (at 10 and 2), obeying the speed limit, yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk, making way for emergency vehicles, passing with caution on a single white line, compensating for weather conditions, avoiding stray cones or barrels, assessing traffic behind me, not letting my mind drift to the stresses of my day, not playing the radio too loud or obstructing my hearing with ear-buds, changing the radio station or CD, resisting the need to pee desperately, etc. 

God help us all 

M
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Thanks Matt!

3 comments:

ihaverun said...

Love it Matt! Great first guest post. I could feel your frustration coming through my computer screen. Glad you'll do your best =)

Lindsay said...

i don't understand the mentality of bikers/runners who don't think they should get out of the way. i'll ride as close to the shoulder as possible when there is a car behind me and i move over for cars when running too. i've seen plenty of others who think they can just continue to run down the middle of the road.

matthewreinsmith said...

Thanks! Always feels good to "get it out" :-) It's good to hear there are more respsonsible riders out there then there are irresponsible ones. (Guess I always knew that's how it was)