Another day another scare!

Riding to work this morning, a guy on a motorcycle yelled obscenities at me for being on the road. Dude, motorcyclists and bicyclists can share the road, there is literally room for both! The fact that he buzzed me real close as he yelled at me had my adrenaline going and I hit 33mph lickety-split. Scared the crap out of the guy when I was on him that quick.

I asked him what the problem was. He just said f-you - you shouldn't be on the road. I smiled and told him the law says otherwise and I was as far to the side as I could get safely. I also told him there would be more and more bikes on the road. His wife who was sitting on the back of the notorcycle said "Shut up Dave", to which I replied "Yeah Dave, shut up, you don't know what you are talking about!" (Clever, I know) Needless to say, I regretted my verbal lob, but I can tell you one thing, that guy will think twice before starting something like that with the next cyclist which was exactly my intenet.

As I should state, I'm not your average commuting cyclist. Cars are constantly buzzing, honking cursing or throwing things at cyclists, thinking they are slow. As a racer, I can exceed 40mph when in a race or in cases like this that I'm scared and adrenalized. They usually can't believe their eyes when they see me. I usually give them a chance to backpedal, but sometimes when they really put me or others in danger, I'll make sure they know it. Some motorists need that reality check, because otherwise we are just speedbumps on their way to wherever.

I've had some good experiences with people who were initially hostile with their cars. More than once, after the verbal barrage they threw, I'll explain the law to them and they just didn't know. Thats what I'm after 9/10ths of the time. The exception to that is the guy out in the country near Henryville, IN that threw a Subway Cups full of soda and the remnants of his trash into my back. Pure redneck, driving a Poweder Blue 72 Chevy Nova that was totally rusted out. It hit me square in the back and helmet and nearly knocked the wind out of me as he was going at least 45mph. I of course, yelled at him and as I climbed the hill, was really hoping he'd be there, but no such luck...coward. I still keep my eyes peeled whenever I'm out that way and wish I could have seen his license plate number.

What has to happen is a fundamental change in the public's knowledge and attitude about pedestrians and cyclists. Most of the public has no idea that cyclists are a legal part of traffic and have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists. I rode up to and spoke to a gentleman who lives in my neighbrhood because he drives a vehicle that says Drivers Education. I asked him what the courses teach about motorist's and cyclists. He simply said that the course teaches that the motorist has to treat the cyclist as a vehicle. Thats good, but not good enough. The road rage problem is more along the ages of 30+ based on my experience, so drivers education misses the mark there. We need to start public service announcements on TV, have posters at the BMV, ads in the newspaper, signs on the streets and most importantly, stop letting motorists kill cyclists with no penalty. Too many exxamples of this even on a local level here around Louisville, KY.

Tell me what you think!