The Ghost Bike . . .

About 135+ cyclists in my home town gathered last evening to participate in The Ride of Silence, a 10 mile route along some of the busiest streets in town to remember all fellow cyclists that have been injured and killed by motor vehicles. It's a humbling ride. All you hear are the clicking of the gears and and humming of the tires on the road, no one speaks, we just ride silently with our hearts and minds heavy thinking that any one of these victims could have been us.

I found myself thinking of Mr. Lemus in El Paso, Texas who was recently struck and left for dead at the side of the road he commutes on every day. Mr. Lemus is a commuting cyclist. He was dressed to be visible, was wearing a helmet and had proper lights on his bike. He was found by a passing motorist and is now in critical condition with the Police looking for any info on who hit him.

I sure hope the person that struck Mr. Lemus does the right thing.

Ride safe out there . . . . we're all in this together

Kath

Learning the rules of the road . . .

I don't know what is was this week that had me thinking about where I learned the rules of the road. But as I rolled along on my way to and from work with the morning traffic on my 35lb Trek 520, navigating and sharing the road with several thousands of tons of vehicles - I thought of my dad, Howard.

Me and my dad on one of his many two wheelers - I'm all of 4 years old!

My dad had a great passion for the motorized mode of transportation. Although he never was a bicyclist, he raced stock cars, owned a small engine plane and had several BMW Motorcycles which he traveled thousands of miles on across our great country. I sometimes think he'd have made a great cowboy!

I was fortunate enough to share many, many of those miles with him on the back of his motorcycle. I think the annual event that sticks in my mind the most was the Octoberfest Motorcycle Rally that took place in Ruidoso, NM.

When it came to traveling on the highways and byways, it was all business with my dad. No stupid stuff when you where behind the wheel. And you had to pay attention to everyone around you "always know where they are" he'd say to me. He loved to teach you too. You'd be in the car, or the plane, or on the motorcycle and he'd always be teaching you some version of his "Road Safety 101".

There are some mornings when commuting by bike is nerve wracking. The traffic is heavy, the motorists are in a hurry and my legs feel like lead (too much sweet stuff before bed :) - and I have to rely on what I've learned about the Rules of the Road.

My dad has passed but he's with me every day as I recall all those lessons now that I'm a Commuting Cyclist. Thanks Dad

Ride safe out there . . . we're all in this together

Kath

On the shoulder of the road . . .

It was a beautiful, still morning as I rode to work. An Alfalfa field has just been mowed, you could smell it - and the Pecan groves are beautiful with their brand new leaves reaching out to the crystal blue sky. My thoughts today seemed to focus on "the shoulder". Obviously I spend a lot of time on the shoulder as a cyclist. A lot is revealed on the shoulder of the road. The stress of everyday use is evident as I roll across the shoulder's beat up and abused surface.

Once in awhile, as a touring cyclist, you'll come across what I call Highway Nirvana :) It's that stretch of road that has been newly resurfaced and the shoulder is wide, clean and smooth. There may be some rumble strips, but they too are new and easy to navigate as you ride down the highway fully loaded. The stresses of everyday use hasn't set in yet and the shoulder has a wonderful welcoming quality about it.

But as a commuting cyclist, the shoulders that I tend to travel are weary and worn. It's faithfully there to help me get to my destination, but it has a sad quality to it. You see the stress of life tossed upon it's surface, cast offs from passers by, items that are no longer desired, and sometimes the tragic evidence of life colliding with the traveler's on the highway.

I wonder, does a motorist really consider the shoulder? It's there when you need it, to pull over when your cell phone is ringing (right :), or to study a map (GPS? maybe not) or to experience the results of motion sickness (most definitely :). But beyond that, is the shoulder really a concern when you have the "main highway" to get you to your destination? And the highway allows the motorist to travel at a speed that makes the shoulder become a blur - so is there really anything to actually see? That is unless something flew out of the back of the vehicle and ended up on the shoulder, why would it even be a consideration?

So I guess the shoulder of the road is there to "shoulder the burden" of the traveler. I'm grateful for the weary shoulder I travel on. It's been neglected and abused, but it's there to offer me a little slice of the big highway so that I can get to and from my job. Maybe one day it will offer me a treasure that the busy travelers on the "main highway" can't see because they are traveling through life at a much faster pace than me and my Trek :)

Be safe out there . . . we're all in this together

Kath

When being in the right lane feels so wrong

I needed a 24 hour window of time to take in what happened to me yesterday before I could actually write about it. I needed to get out on the road this morning, roll along with the morning traffic and experience a pleasant ride to work.

During the 10+ mile ride in to work I come across several intersections until I hit a long stretch outside of town (this is where the headwind always greets me). My town is trying very hard to promote the "Share the Road" theme that many towns across our country are trying, hoping to get cyclists and motorists to co-exist together on our busy roads.

But the other day, even my humble triangle couldn't handle the situation that transpired at one of the busy intersections I pass through. Most of the intersections that I pass through have a separate lane for going straight through an intersection and then a separate turning lane for a right turn. But there is one intersection that has one lane for both. I always like it when I get behind a car that needs to go straight and thus has to wait for the light to turn green before moving forward - I figure that if the car is waiting, it looks normal for me to be behind the car waiting also to go straight.

This time I was the first vehicle waiting at the red light wanting to go straight through the intersection and the car behind me couldn't understand why I wouldn't get out of his way. It became a very uncomfortable situation as I ignored his constant horn blowing while he inched his car bumper within inches of my back tire as if trying to push me out of the way. Then he yelled out of his window "It's share the Road you idiot". When I simply pointed to the traffic sign that indicated the lane was for both going straight or turning right his rage set in and the obscenities that flowed from his mouth along with the hand signals (you can let your imagination figure that out) started to make me feel extremely vulnerable.

Fortunately the light turned green and he turned right. As I headed down the road I did notice that all the other motorists that had seen what happened carefully went by me as if to say "hey, we saw what happened". It took the rest of the ride to work to gather myself - it was upsetting!

I was thinking of that guy today and wondering what issues he's dealing with or not dealing with. Did he lose a job, did his wife leave him, was he terribly hurt in his life?

Oh well . . . I can't let it stop me since this is how I get to work. I believe in Share the Road - and I do my best to follow the rules of the road - but for some folks, no matter what you say or how you promote it, or how you ride the roads - they just have a hard time accepting that a bicycle is a viable means of transportation.

So as Red Green says - just remember I'm pullin' for ya - we're all in this together.

Ride safe out there!

Kath