Are you part of the problem, or of the cure?

There's been more mentions, letters to the Editor and articles in our local paper about cyclists and car-bike conflicts and such than I can remember ever seeing before. The thing is..........the overall tone is more positive than negative and that's a Good Thing, eh? We've been bangin' the drum a little louder than usual here at the shop as well, 'cuz improving the relationship 'tween us and our fossil fuel obcessed brethren is on us, not them. The biggest problem that I see is that we riders are too busy pissin' on our own feet to make much headway. All it takes is one bozo runnin' a red light or riding up a one-way street in front of a buncha motorists to set us all back. You either are a vehicle or you are not, there is no in-between. If we want the rights and respect attributed to other vehicles then we have to behave just like they do! Simple as that. Otherwise it's anarchy and we're fair game. They're bigger and faster and quite often in a bigger hurry than we are and we need to claim our space and protect it. But that means giving up the convenience of cuttin' onto the sidewalk when there's traffic or a red light and that seems to be more than some of us can resist. So there they go.................lycra-clad and well-equipped, dodging cars, runnin' 4-way stops, cuttin' through parking lots and sending out the cyrstal-clear message that "it's all about me and you can go screw!". Big surprise when that attitude doesn' t fill the drivers w/ joy and eagerness to "share the road", eh? Same thing when a group of riders that oughta know better blocks a country 2-lane by bunching up and taking the whole damn lane. Michigan Vehicle Code, ( You know the one.......the same one that proclains that we are entitled to our share of the road?) states that two-abrest is the maximum number! Two! And here's something you oughta know....................10 people in a double paceline that's echeloned looks like 6-8 across from the back, (and probably is).

Look.................I've ridden the roads around here my entire adult life. Lots of miles. I also have fewer car-bike nightmare stories than pretty much everyone I know. I've blathered on and on about this before but the condensed version is that I hardly ever get hassled and I think that's 'cuz I act exactly as if I was driving a car. I really do. Always. I think it gives me a vibe that drivers get on a sub-concious level that I'm not to be messed with. Not that I'm all big and scary or anything, 'cuz I'm not. More that I belong there, I know that I belong there, that I'm not askin' them for permission and that I'm not gonna go away.

Until we all act like real-live grown-up members of the mobile society that we live in we're never gonna be accepted as a valid user group. We'll just keep getting marginalized, endured, tolerated and mis-treated 'cuz they'll be hoping that we'll just go away quietly.

That would blow.

Word on the street is that there was a Critical Mass Ride last week in Saugatuck. Buddy Andrew alerted us to it and asked us to spread the word. CM rides make me nervous as hell, the idea is great but all too often they seem to de-generate into silly bike-power displays that don't help or even address the problems of cyclists at all. I might be talkin'outta my arse here, 'cuz I wasn't there. If there's someone reading this who was.....................gimme the scoop.

So................Floyd's B sample was positive and he got dropped by his team. No surprise but a monumental drag all the same. I'm gonna stop caring as of right-damn-now.

There.

I do not care.

Not one bit.

Floyd who?

Okay.................maybe I still care a lttle. I'll hafta work on it.

Still full-tilt-boogie crazy at the shop. I spent 7 hours w/ Jason-the-Cannondale-man yesterday gettin' all the scoop on the '07 bikes and clothing. The line looks good, maybe even great. They keep it in the big ring there in Bedford PA, that's fer sure.
Lot's of travel comin' up for Mrs' Clark's favorite son................Montana JDRF ride in a couple weeks, then the Kokopelli Trail w/ Rach and Patrick, then JDRF Asheville and the bike show in Sept and then JDRF Death Valley in October. Lotsa cool rides happenin' at the shop too. Grattan is winding down and I think I managed to hold onto my podium spot despite a truly lousy race last Wed. The next "Fun-Raiser" is a week from tomorrow (8/13) and will be a road ride followed by a cook-out behind the shop. Details @ www.club-velo.com

Anyway....................bike life is grand even if my legs seem to have lost their snap. Lots of good stuff happening and more to come!

Ride on!