A couple of weeks
ago, I had the pleasure of riding with some friends up in the Lehigh
Valley. My friend Mike has been telling me how
great the riding is up by our buddy George’s house. So I thought, "what the
heck?" I haven’t needed to fend off some yahoo trying to kill me because they felt my
life wasn’t worth 2 seconds out of their day. So off to George's I went. George
lives in Macungie, A small town just south of Trexlertown, which happens
to be where the Lehigh Valley Velodrome is. I am primarily a mountain biker, so my
road riding as of late has consisted of heading to the store to grab a loaf of
bread or some other thing we needed for the house. I felt like a long spin was needed.
It was a beautiful September day at George's; cool enough to need knee warmers, but not arm warmers.
You know the type of day: blue skies, cool breeze, no humidity, and just perfect. We
started off by meandering through George’s development; past some people on bike
paths, some playing ball with the kids, and some just walking. We turned onto a side
road and I could feel the stress well up inside me. My fitness was off since I had hip
surgery, so I was worried about keeping up. Also, to be honest, the road just
scares me anymore. We have motorists texting, speeding, making bad decisions, and
just with the sheer volume of cars; its nuts. As we crested a hill, I heard a car coming up from
behind. I began to think, “He can’t see over the hill and there might be another car coming." We found him staying behind! "What is this,
respect??" Once we cleared the hill and it
was safe, he passed us on the other side of the road. "Nice," I thought, "Someone who gets it." Well,
that was just the start. All day we had the same experience. No one; and I mean, no one, passed us on a blind corner or on a hill. Most motorists gave us at least 6 to 7 feet of
space when passing. It was amazing, 35 miles and not a beep, toot, or a buzz; just wonderful.
I got to thinking
about why this was. The next week, I went back to the Lehigh Valley and did
another road ride. Same experience! Wow!! This time, I paid attention to the other riders. Trust me when I say
that there had to have been 150 or more on just our 40 mile jaunt. What I noticed was:
everyone was wearing a helmet, all riders stopped at stop signs, no one ran a red
light, and everyone rode on the right side of the road. The riders also used the left turn
lane, hand signals, and were as kind to the drivers as the drivers were to
them! It was utopia!
So why isn’t it
like this down here? We are only 30 miles from there. It just doesn’t make
sense. Then as I’m going to work one morning. I saw one of my customers,
someone who rides a lot, and what does he do? He rides down the right hand turn
lane, passing traffic waiting to turn, and when he gets to the red light; not
only does he go straight from the right turn lane, he runs right through the
red light! Why doesn’t this happen in the Lehigh Valley, but does down here? My
feeling is that up there the Bike Culture demands it! They demand it of the
riders, and of the drivers. Rules are put in for a reason; to keep everything
in order and safe. If we ALL follow the rules, we will all be happier.
I feel we all need
to do something about this. If you are on a ride with some friends, and you see
them do something that they shouldn’t… Tell them!! If you are with a driver,
and you see them do something unsafe, Tell them!! If we educate everyone on the
importance of following the rules, we could have the same thing down here as
they have in the Lehigh Valley. Cycling Utopia!
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