There are as many crappy cyclists as there are crappy drivers. It’s a human thing as much as an attitude thing. If you are an idiot behind the wheel then you may just be an idiot ON your wheels.
I will be cycling at the crack of dawn and outside of the city going forward. I have cycled through 2 entire bitter winters without any concern for safety from other riders because we, the people who are out there in the snow at 20 below, are usually seasoned, experienced and soundly out of our minds.
When the nice weather hits it’s a whole different situation and everyone at any skill level and competence, or lack thereof goes out. Then you have a parking lot on all the trails and people weave in and out of lanes and I sometimes think consciousness, as well as alternate realities.
Now, you add this situation with Covid and the congestion and incompetence hurtle into the stratosphere and now I do not feel safe at all.
If you are taking a selfie while driving, you are an idiot. If you take one on your bike, then you are an elevated and especially annoying idiot and you may have a gift in this area. You should run for office, you are destined for greatness.
LAST YEAR…
I was cycling back in from audition at about km 30 of a 56 km round trip. GORGEOUS DAY! I had stopped by the lakefront at our local Lavazza coffee shop
I got back on the trails which were congested. A guy looking into his cell phone laughing away stepped onto the trail and the cyclist coming towards him had no chance and he went over the handlebars.
I stopped to comfort the guy. Trust me, it’s traumatic to land on concrete like a slab of meat. After a while he was calmer and off I went.
GORGEOUS DAY! Suddenly, there he was, to my left, my “gift.” The miscreant narcissist with no helmet, his seat so low I thought it would rub against the tire. I could not make out which were wider; the crack of his butt or the ones on the sidewalk.
He had his mobile device on and wired earbuds, no, not wireless, which makes this VERY juicy and he had it up just a little higher than his head as he Face Timed…
… and then, it came time for him to face unadulterated, unabridged, absolute and ferocious stupidity as the phone slipped from his hand, the cable wrapped around the tire and the phone went flying and hit the ground like the cyclist I had seen just a few minutes earlier had.
He had to cycle back at least 15 feet to get his phone.
Of course, since I had stopped to help the other cyclist, I decided to laugh inside. It was a laugh of satisfaction, nay, of revenge in a way and yes, I admit it, I enjoyed it. Stupid is funny. You can’t fix stupid. Stupid at that level is a gift, a calling to excel at it like it’s a competitive sport.
I know. Save me a seat and tell Lucifer I said hi.
Obviously everyone has a right to be out there and it is beautiful to see people get out of their rolling metal coffins, but I have the right to protect my ass and get out of the way of those learning, God bless them and I really mean that.
Besides, history has proven that I generally fall in perfect weather and all by myself, I don’t need assistance from anyone in this regard 😜Ride safe.
