From janeth@u.washington.edu Thu Jul 18 18:22:41 2002 Received: from mailscan4.cac.washington.edu (mailscan4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.15]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g6J1MeNn095300 for ; Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:22:40 -0700 Received: FROM mxu4.u.washington.edu BY mailscan4.cac.washington.edu ; Thu Jul 18 18:22:39 2002 -0700 Received: from mxout4.cac.washington.edu (mxout4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.19]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.06) with ESMTP id g6J1Mdlr011327 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NO) for ; Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:22:39 -0700 Received: from mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu (mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.17]) by mxout4.cac.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.06) with SMTP id g6J1MdS4012638 for ; Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:22:39 -0700 Received: FROM homer11.u.washington.edu BY mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu ; Thu Jul 18 18:22:39 2002 -0700 Received: from localhost (janeth@localhost) by homer11.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with ESMTP id g6J1McPN025738 for ; Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:22:38 -0700 Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:22:38 -0700 (PDT) From: "J. Heineck" To: uwracing@u.washington.edu Subject: What Is It With Bicyclists? (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII My response to Ken Schram's article at http://www.komotv.com/kenschram/story.asp?ID=19408 ... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:10:05 -0700 From: My Full Name To: KenSchram@komo4news.com Cc: janeth@u.washington.edu Subject: What Is It With Bicyclists? Dear Mr. Schram: I have read your article and would like to comment. I speak as a year-round bicycle commuter of many years and as a recreational evening and weekend cyclist. I agree with you that cyclists who do what you describe are riding illegally. We are vehicles. The laws that apply to motorists apply to us. Most of us know that. It drives us all, motorists and cyclists, crazy to see people riding stupidly and dangerously. Police do ticket cyclists riding this way when they can. Not to stop at stop signs or red lights, not to signal lane changes and turns in traffic, to ride on sidewalks rather than on the road, to dodge in and out among parked cars rather than holding a straight line, is risky, annoying and confusing to motorists, and can lead to collisions and injury. Any serious cyclist knows that. Is it possible that what you see on your daily car commute is being done by just a couple of cyclists who are riding at the same time you are and making the same mistakes day after day? Whoever they are, they are not members of Cascade Bicycle Club, nor are they racers or seasoned bicycle commuters. Cascade devotes a great deal of staff time educating cyclists and the general public on bicycle safety. Take a look at http://www.cascade.org/ to see what they are doing in the way of education and advocacy. The League of American Bicyclists' excellent BikeEd course is taught locally by several qualified instructors. This course teaches cyclists how to handle their bicycles on the road and in traffic. You can read a fuller description of that course at http://www.bikeleague.org/educenter/courses.htm There is a rich racing, commuting, and recreational cyclist community here in Seattle that I wish you could see. People riding fast in colorful jerseys are not to be feared. Racers have superb bicycle handling skills on which they rely for their safety in field sprints and riding in tight, fast groups. They know how to ride in traffic, believe me. Bicycle messengers are also fine bike handlers, depending on those skills in a sometimes dangerous occupation on which urban commerce depends. You can read about that life in Travis Culley's "The Immortal Class" (New York : Villard Books, c2001). I am asking that you not tar all cyclists with the same brush. Go out some Thursday evening to Seward Park to watch the criteriums. Go out to the Marymoor velodrome some Friday evening to watch the track racing. Better, ride there on your bike. It's an exciting, exhilarating world. You may be surprised at the prickly response you have received from some cyclists. Remember that when we tax-paying, driver's license-bearing citizens are out on our bikes, we aren't in four-wheeled full metal jackets. We are on two wheeled spidery-framed bicycles, in lycra, Gore-Tex, polyester. Helmet. Gloves. Skin. Bone. That's it. While cycling peacefully along, I, a small woman, have had things thrown at me, obscenities shouted at me, and have been buzzed frighteningly closely, all by motorists. Lance Armstrong himself was run off the road on a training ride in Texas by a belligerent pickup truck driver. This is life on the road for even careful cyclists. Thus, I particularly regret the nastiness and name-calling in your piece. I *think* it is merely your style, your stance, meant to evoke responses. I hope so, because the idea of someone behind the wheel, feeling the emotions you describe, scares me. Don't let the stupid bicycle "antics" of others bother you. Drive carefully, share the road, and get out on your own bike before this beautiful summer ends. Sincerely, Janet Heineck .