The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good
So Cari and I just finished the Tour de Cure ride yesterday-an awesome event and a great time was had by all! We would really like to thank everyone that supported us both emotionally and financially through donations, we have surpassed our goal of $300 by close to triple!
Cari did her 50 miler in record time of 4 hours, and even waited to ride with me in the last 10 miles. I tried to catch up, but the best I could manage (which is a personal best so far) was finishing the 100 miler in about 6hr 15 minutes. I was stoked at my time, kept and average speed of about 16mph with 3000' feet of climbing and no one to draft off of or share responsibilities.
We are both pretty tired, but not too bad-can't wait for the next century!

We made it and we're happy-only 8 miles to go!

The Bad & The Ugly
One thing riding 100 miles by yourself does is allow a ton of time to think and observe. This brings me to "The Bad & The Ugly" section of this post.
First a disclaimer:
I am an avid cyclist. I love it more than pretty much anything. I try to stand up for biker's rights whenever I can, I don't think the roads are very well "shared" and I think we (cyclists) deserve more respect and attention.

However-some of the shit I saw on this ride really aggrevated me. Unfortunately, I had about 5.5 hours to stew on it with no one to vent to, and Cari got the full tirade upon our meeting and her simply asking "how you doing?"

Where to start? Hmmmm, let's see.

Single file
I ride in Napa pretty much every weekend, and countless others ride the roads everywhere. Our ride was pretty specific about riding single file, in the bike lane.
Why? Safety primarily.
Now bear in mind, the "bike lane" in many parts is a white line about 5" wide (if at all) and is a challenge to stay "within". But damn if I didn't see too many Mini-Lance's out there 2-3 abreast. The worse part? They either paid no attention to their position or didn't care enough to suck back in when cars where coming from behind. I know, I know-bikes are vehicles too. Blah, blah, blah. I also know my bike weighs about 18 lbs and a new Chevy Tahoe is ohhh, 6500lbs. Do the math, bikes WILL lose. To help those readers out there that are challenged by words, I have created the following:

Simple "Zone" break down of pretty much any road in America (give or take the actual presence of a bike lane)

Live? or Die? Depends on where you are...

Single file: Notice how the riders are riding? See how it limits your width and intrusion into the paths of cars? Also works to extend your ride and life.

Mini-Lance: 16lb bike, 160lb rider, all ti parts, trains 1-3 times a month

Tahoe: 6500 lbs empty, 5'1" Soccer mom on cell phone driving, 12 mpg

So what am I saying? Suck it up and stay in the friggin' bike lane people. What makes me so mad is that these tools give EVERY cyclist a bad name and this name seems to stick a lot more than those of us that do try to live alongside the stupid SUV's and drivers.

On your left*
*(or right as I saw this weekend)

So there I am trying to:
1. Not get hit by a car
2. Stay on my bike line/lane
3. Enjoy the views
4. Think

When out of the blue a pace line of "Bike clubbers" come screaming by. Scares the shit out of me and proceed to move on ahead. More than once, these "pros" had the common indecency to fly by unannounced and continue on without so much as a hello or simple "On your left". Bastards. My saving grace is bike handling skills and the fact I don't own a gun. On top of that, they usually have no idea on how a pace line works-the leader generally swinging out into traffic and slamming on his/her brakes while the "team" slows to allow them to drop onto the rear (this is best case scenerio). I also saw some sweet pack riding with people passing each other on the left AND the right...

And I wondered why I ride alone?

Generally I try to stay about 200 yards behind these accidents waiting to happen and hope for the best (that is no one getting hit by a car or half wheeling each other into the ditch).

My point?
If you wanna act like a pro it takes a lot more than a carbon Trek and a Discovery jersey. You need to know what to do and learn how to do it. Lance didn't wake up one day and win the tour. Things take time and require more effort than a Sunday morning group ride once a month to hone the skills.

Sorry for the rants-but I work hard to enjoy my time on the bike. Additionally, I look forward (dream) to the day cyclists can be more integrated and accepted in our auto-centric culture and on the roads. This will NOT happen if people do not learn the basics and help others do so as well-next time you are on a ride, be the bigger person and realize there is more to consider than yourself.

Nuff said.