Friday, September 28, 2007

Let Me Tell You

Let me tell you a couple of things that you might not know. One, it is the worst time of the year to ride East/West roads. Especially paved roads. The sun is at very low orientations to the road at prime riding times, early a.m., and early evening. This means that the average-to-low-attention spans of motorists will be further taxed by their inability to see us. There are enough distractions inside of cars these days that the fact that a motorist can't see is a minor inconvenience! No shit, I saw a lady texting in her car the other day! Both hands at the top of the wheel, both thumbs twitching out a message. "hlp me i m rtrdd cnt c wr im going 2 bad 4 evry1 lse" So, ride North/South on gravel but be aware of point number two! Two, farm machinery is everywhere and pisses off motorists like no other! You should allow plenty of sight distance on both sides of any tractor, combine, gravity box, hay rack, grain truck, or auger coming at you, from either direction. Like we were taught in driver's ed, IPDE! Identify potential problems (J.D at 12 o'clock, traffic behind) Predict what problems might come up (pissed off guy wants to get around J.D.) Decide what your actions will be (if he comes around while you're there, you may want to get on the shoulder) Execute your decision (get over to the shoulder, flip the bastard off, and live to ride home!) Now I know some people will say that getting over for someone in a car is caving in, but your head caves in easier than your pride, and the flipping of the bird buys your rights back with interest. Try it, you'll like it! Just my $.02 worth, take it or leave it. Do enjoy this primo weather though! Later!

2 comments:

Paul Varnum said...

Good advice, especially the part about east/west roads. It only takes one bad driver to mess up your whole day.

Travel Gravel said...

..or life, or former life. Looks like you had a fun weekend. I still have to find my way to one of the cross races this year. How to come up with a bike though, hmm... Later!