I imagine that unless you’re a Cyclist, it is quite difficult to understand what it’s like to ride a bicycle on the open road amongst traffic. It is a vulnerable feeling to be riding along a road with limited or no escape routes, surrounded by vehicles who outweigh you by several orders of magnitude. Particularly when you take into consideration that the driver likely does not hold your safety in the same esteem that you yourself do, but that they in all likelihood consider their Instagram feed to be of equal or higher priority to the task at hand, which in this case hopefully involves not hitting cyclists.
For as many sketchy encounters I’ve experienced between myself and a motor vehicle, I have found that only in rare situations do the drivers have any real malice towards us as we pedal along; normally the problem with vehicles are those of inconsideration and a lack of appreciation for the plight of the Cyclist; using the bicycle lane as a turning or passing lane, for example, is an case of ignorance, not malice. The good thing about ignorance is that it is curable through education, assuming the afflicted party is willing. The bad news is both are equally deadly to the Cyclist.
In the spirit of communication and in the hope that communication might lead to education, I humbly submit the following observations:
- Observation #1: There is no Venn diagram that shows the intersection between human, car, and bicycle as a “win” for any involved party. Best to avoid this, irrespective of who is at fault.
- Observation #2: As we are move along together in traffic, the best practice is to move predictably and consistently; I will do my best to do the same.
- Observation #3: If we’re both at an intersection, chances are that I can’t see you inside your car window to notice you kindly waving me through; treat me like any other traffic and we’ll all wait our turns. No one likes a Seattle Standoff at the stop sign.
- Observation #4: We take much longer to stop than you do, even in dry conditions. If you pass us before slowing abruptly, we are going to be in a very bad situation very quickly. Leads to observation #1 above.
- Observation #5: At a stop light, I may turn to look you directly in the eye. This is simply to make sure you see me and to reassure myself that you know I’m there. It is not to intimidate you, although I do appreciate how badass I look in my super hero outfit and my dope-ass shades.
- Observation #6: The bicycle lane is not a turning/merging lane and neglecting this fact will lead to an impromptu empirical study of the legitimacy of Observation #1.
- Observation #7: If you are following (im)patiently behind me while you wait for the right time to pass me, give me enough room so I don’t have to listen to you rhythmically hitting the gas pedal every time you think there might be an opportunity to sneak by. When you do decide, move quickly and assertively; don’t hesitate. Most of us don’t carry toilet paper.
- Observation #8: If I’m riding in the middle of the lane, it means it isn’t safe to pass me, not that you should squeeze into the gap between me and oncoming traffic.
- Observation #9: If I look back at you while I’m riding and move to the side, then that means I know you’re there and you can pass as soon as you’re comfortable. If I then also wave you through, it means I feel it’s safe to pass if you also do.
- Observation #10: Yelling at me will not discourage me from riding my bike. Also, I do, in fact, pay taxes so don’t hold the fact that I’m not also burning fossil fuels against me. In return, I’ll only yell at you if you scared me to death, but I promise to feel bad about it later.
Share the road, and let’s all return home safely to start it all over again tomorrow. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
frankThe founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking.
As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it.
Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen.
Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.
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Bravo. On the same page as usual. This time about something slightly more substantial than the length of our socks. I particularly like the bit about the toilet paper, and have considered carrying it as a regular part of my cycling arsenal in the event of an emergency. Stay safe and don't let the bastards get you down. After all, they are bastards no matter what vehicle they choose to operate.
Nice piece. Funnily enough, I just need to see the lead pic to know it's a Frank article. Speaking of which, where is that? Cambodia? Vietnam? I see some French in the top right. Pretty sure it's not France though.
Luckily I live in WI where the vast majority of drivers I encounter are great. I tend to be overly polite to drivers and find most reciprocate. Maybe it's because on the roads I ride they don't see many so give me a wide berth.
Last night was the first ride in almost three weeks (vacation out of the country) and it went well with every bike/car encounter going well with a few hanging back to overtake before I wave them through being a very regular occurrence. Did have one lady honk at me for some unknown reason - I wasn't hogging the lane or holding her up. It surprised me as it rarely happens. I used to live in Indiana where the drivers were decidedly not so nice and friendly . . .
I generally don't feel bad about yelling at drivers. It's nothing I do habitually, but I look at it as essentially like a driver angrily using their horn - something that doesn't exist on a bike.
Recently, I was going down a hill at roughly 40 mph. Someone at the bottom decided that they just had to turn across my lane as I approached the intersection (at 40 mph). There aren't any signs or lights at this crossing, and as a car, I would have had the right of way and the other driver would have had to wait for me to clear the intersection. Had the same thing happened while I was driving, I don't think I could have resisted a vigorous press on the steering wheel. The key difference being, that in a car, my odds of survival would have improved dramatically.
I let out a loud "What the fuck?!" and I'm not going to feel bad about that.
I'm even willing to give the driver the benefit of the doubt - perhaps they misjudged the fact that I was actually going as fast a car. If I'm lucky, I taught them something, though maybe a little coarsely.
@SamV
Spot on Sam, this is what happened to me this morning (see previous post). The car should have given me priority, eventhough I was on a bike.
"The first was when coming down the hill fast and a car turning onto my road coming from the left (I live in a country where people drive on the correct=right side of the road, no offense) who did not notice or ignored to think that I might be going faster than the average cyclist, so I had to brake hard.
Hence Obs #4 could be extended to say that not only does it take us more time and distance to brake but some of us also go faster than other cyclists."
They don't outweigh us by "orders of magnitude."
The average car weighs about 4000 pounds, or 4x10^3.
The average bicycle and bicyclist probably weighs around 180 pounds, or 1.8x10^2.
This means a single order of magnitude separates us.
It's math. You can't just make shit up.
Thanks Frank for this post. But, regarding the behaviour between drivers themselves, being more and more dangerous and selfish, it could already be a lost battle.
It apears that sometimes I don't want to go cycling because I don't want to be beside all those cars. Damn it.
Few weeks ago a driver, passing me, shot my leg with his rear view mirror. Fortunately i didn't felt down. But I knew there was a roundabout a few hundred of meters away, so I sprinted like hell to catch him, thinking, "being sat in your car, you would fight with somebody whose arms and guns are already warm, would you ?"
And then what ? Well, nothing, except the fact that, I proved to myself that I could catch him and, one minute later, I told to my self : "I should be thankfull, I didn't sprinted like that since a longtime...". And, regarding that, the five star pavé sections I rode a bit later were very quiet.
But I'm still dreaming on cycling highways. The only way to fix the problem to my mind (even if, then, we'll be considered as dangerous fast cyclists by the others).
Thanks Frank for this post. But, regarding the behaviour between drivers themselves, being more and more dangerous and selfish, it could already be a lost battle.
It apears that sometimes I don't want to go cycling because I don't want to be beside all those cars. Damn it.
Few weeks ago a driver, passing me, shot my leg with his rear view mirror. Fortunately i didn't felt down. But I knew there was a roundabout a few hundred of meters away, so I sprinted like hell to catch him, thinking, "being sat in your car, you would fight with somebody whose arms and guns are already warm, would you ?"
And then what ? Well, nothing, except the fact that, I proved to myself that I could catch him and, one minute later, I told to my self : "I should be thankfull, I didn't sprinted like that since a longtime...". And, regarding that, the five star pavé sections I rode a bit later were very quiet.
But I'm still dreaming on cycling highways. The only way to fix the problem to my mind (even if, then, we'll be considered as dangerous fast cyclists by the others).
@pedro
That my friend is very good advice. And after some dude once buzzed our group at high speed I'd seen him come to a stop at a light up ahead. I jump forward wanting to catch up and do exactly as you suggest. Calmly point out what he'd done and to suggest maybe it wasn't so cool. When I got there and saw that not only had he just buzzed us but that he was busy txt'ing too I lost my composure in a big way and about reached in to the car to yank him and his phone out. It may have been a deserved righteous reaction on my part and maybe served purpose of ultimately getting this dude's attn but… I regret to this day some jackwagon having caused me to very much lose my cool. And I simply refuse to do it (lose my cool) again at every opportunity presented.
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Some people are just self-centered and/or horrible. For that, we need a purging of the gene pool (hopefully they don't reproduce.) Others just don't know or ever thought about this. I would love to see a PC version of this published everywhere. Two version. Open Letter to Drivers, then another... Open Letter to the cyclist.
I find myself telling cyclist more and more "and that is why drivers hate cyclist". I feel that so much of our work to get along with drivers is flushed down the toilet by a couple of jag-off riders. Can't tell you how many times I see my fellow cyclists riding 2 and 3 abreast yacking about whatever, not allowing cars to pass, running red lights and stop signs, jumping on the sidewalk if the traffic is inconvenient and being an overall jerk. I used to be a level 10 jerk. I would be the first to chase down a car and beat on their hood, voice a few choice words, give a little non-verbal communication. Then one day, a friend of mine says "I saw that guy again today. He tried to run me off the road." That is when I realized that it was probably my fault that there is a full-fledged hater now on the roads.
Sharing the road goes both ways. In any situation in which you have to deal with a horrible person, taking the high road is not a bad thing. You are better than them. Riding deliberately and predictably is not optional on busy roads. You are not only making sure you don't test #1, but you are also making sure that the frustration you caused is not being taken out on me...and for that...I thank you.
Great write up! Might want to add that although we are cyclists, we are also car drivers and have been for many years. We know what it's like to drive cars and being stuck behind and around cyclists. And also I call on any of the road raging drivers to get off their lazy asses and do any kind of exercise, even from the couch to the fridge, let alone haul their 20 pound steed many k's into the countryside, then maybe they'll show some appreciation for the art of riding a bike.