Thursday, September 17, 2009

Please, please - be nice to bikers!

Last night when my neighbors & I were riding our bikes home from the Denver Cruiser Ride (it was Pirates, Vikings & Seamen night) we had a little run-in with an angry driver.

Now listen up, drivers-frustrated-with-bikers-that-ride-on-the-street. If you had ever thought to ride your bike somewhere you'd realize a few things:

1.) riding on the sidewalk not only sucks (because of how uneven the concrete is), but it's also illegal in most states, and we can be ticketed for it.

2.) there aren't nearly enough bike lanes in Denver (or in a
lot of other places for that matter).
3.) we don't want to get hit by you, and will try to avoid it as much as possible.

Now of course, these three things exclude the douche-y people who think they own the road, but they are exceptions to the rule. Most of us are just trying to get from place to place while at the same time getting some exercise, saving money on gas, and guaranteeing ourselves a good parking space.

Last night, this horrible person in an SUV sped up behind one of our biker friends (we were all riding in the not-in-use bus lane on South Broadway) and blared on their horn. I thought they were going to hit her! There was absolutely no reason for them to do it, they were just being awful people. They were in this big honkin' SUV, and our poor friend was on her little dinky bike just trying to get home.

So I beg of you, drivers - please put yourselves in our shoes when you're drivin' around. In our case, these people were just being dicks to be dicks - and I truly believe that it will come back to bite them in the ass. However, there are other people that get impatient with us
just for taking up a little bit of space on the side of the road. There may be areas where you can't get by us right away, but please be patient. How would you feel if your friend / son / daughter was hit by an impatient driver? How would you feel if someone's rear-view mirror nearly whacked into you?

Pretty pretty please be nice to us, and we'll do the same for you!
See how much fun biking can be? (Yep - we were pirates for the ride!)

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