Men in Spandex Want What They Want
Here in California, the sides and centers of most surface streets and wooded trails are increasingly populated by men and women in Spandex, cycling their way to nowhere-in-particular. They have become an increasingly well-organized and influential lobby in Sacramento and in many of our Counties.
On weekend mornings, they are everywhere.
They demand more space for bicyclists, more dedicated lanes for them to ride in and the improved attention and respect of those of us revisionist enough to persist in getting where we are going in a motorized vehicle or on foot. The problem is, from the driver/pedestrian’s point of view, they are not much interested in obeying the laws of the road and often behave in a way that is far more suggestive of entitlement than it is of wheeled responsibility.
As most automobile drivers, I am sometimes guilty of what we call “Hollywood Stops.” This is unlike most of the bicyclists I see every day rolling, full speed, through stop signs and red lights without regard to other vehicles or to pedestrians. They behave in a way that suggests entitlement. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fat that they are usually sitting up higher than most car drivers.
Is there a possible correlation between height and arrogance? As most trail walkers will attest, similar disregard for others is often demonstrated by people on horseback on shared trails.
Whether it is, in fact, the attitude of these people in Spandex or the skewed perception of people who once rode fat-tire, single speed bikes as a form of simple transportation is probably a subject of insoluble disagreement. We had to license our bikes; Yes, in Massachusetts they even were issued small metal license plates! We were expected to obey all of the same laws that the cars were and, by-in-large, we did. To top it all off, no one on a bike in my neighborhood would be wearing Spandex – even if it had been available in those years.
It seems reasonable to expect that the world is big enough and that people are smart enough to accommodate to everyone’s needs. Bicyclists and pedestrians and car drivers SHOULD be able to share the roads without major conflicts. But, something is not working right; Not in my town and probably not in yours. Perhaps talks need be convened where all Spandex must be checked at the door.
On weekend mornings, they are everywhere.
They demand more space for bicyclists, more dedicated lanes for them to ride in and the improved attention and respect of those of us revisionist enough to persist in getting where we are going in a motorized vehicle or on foot. The problem is, from the driver/pedestrian’s point of view, they are not much interested in obeying the laws of the road and often behave in a way that is far more suggestive of entitlement than it is of wheeled responsibility.
As most automobile drivers, I am sometimes guilty of what we call “Hollywood Stops.” This is unlike most of the bicyclists I see every day rolling, full speed, through stop signs and red lights without regard to other vehicles or to pedestrians. They behave in a way that suggests entitlement. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fat that they are usually sitting up higher than most car drivers.
Is there a possible correlation between height and arrogance? As most trail walkers will attest, similar disregard for others is often demonstrated by people on horseback on shared trails.
Whether it is, in fact, the attitude of these people in Spandex or the skewed perception of people who once rode fat-tire, single speed bikes as a form of simple transportation is probably a subject of insoluble disagreement. We had to license our bikes; Yes, in Massachusetts they even were issued small metal license plates! We were expected to obey all of the same laws that the cars were and, by-in-large, we did. To top it all off, no one on a bike in my neighborhood would be wearing Spandex – even if it had been available in those years.
It seems reasonable to expect that the world is big enough and that people are smart enough to accommodate to everyone’s needs. Bicyclists and pedestrians and car drivers SHOULD be able to share the roads without major conflicts. But, something is not working right; Not in my town and probably not in yours. Perhaps talks need be convened where all Spandex must be checked at the door.
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