Smaller than a combine
Spokesman-Review Letter to the Editor
I ride a bicycle on “narrow winding country roads” because I like to. I go for the scenery of this beautiful region. I am not trying to make a point, improve my health, nor save on my fuel bill. I just like to ride. I do NOT ride a bicycle to get in the way or to purposefully irritate anyone.
Mr. Wright (Letters, June 19) said, “bicyclists insist on disregarding safety for themselves and others.” What does a bicyclist do that would disregard others’ safety? How much damage can I do? (me and my bike weigh less than 200 pounds). As far as my own safety, right or wrong, I get hurt in a collision. I don’t like that, so I try to avoid it.
Farm implements travel down these same roads at bicycle speeds. They are much larger and harder to pass than a bike. I wonder if that is a problem for Mr. Wright?
For some reason, Mr. Wright is simply inconvenienced by bicycles. Life is inconvenient, delays abound. I don’t mind sharing the road with him.
These are PUBLIC rights of way upon which I will ride until I am no longer part of the public.
Tomás Kelley Lynch
I have to agree most bicyclists in the rural areas are very thoughtful of other vehicles, it is the bicyclists in the urban areas wandering in and out of parked cars, and riding all over the street without a care in the world. I am amazed we don't have a bunch of accidents since few of the motorists ever slow down after leaving their driveways.
Yeah, a combination of bad bicyclists and bad drivers could be a lethal combination. I saw one bicyclist riding the wrong way down a one way street earlier this week, in the middle of the lane! But I also saw a car do that too. Can't believe either didn't cause an accident.
I grew up in farm country outside of Lewiston, Idaho. It was pretty standard to spend time waiting behind a combine or harvester or some other farm vehicle that took up more than one lane. On certain rural roads you wouldn't know whether it was safe to pass so you'd hang back behind and just wait until things opened up. Sometimes this went on for miles, and since combines and harvesters and the like are slower than a speedy cyclist, we waited and waited.
Know what? It was just part of life.
Just like these, all of which I have seen:
– waiting for the driver ahead of you to get a chance to turn left from Mission onto southbound Hamilton (good luck with that one);
– waiting for the pedestrian to cross BEFORE you turn right (an issue you cover on another post);
– waiting to exit a parking lot because a huge semi pulled over and parked for a minute to see if he could figure out how big the traffic backlog ahead of him was (I saw this today on Browne southbound between Main and Riverside–someone couldn't leave the Visitors' Center parking lot. Luckily I was on my bike so I just walked it up the sidewalk to get around him).
Oh well–such is life. Miraculously the sun still rises the next morning, the birds still chirp, and babies still smile. I can deal with that.
No one has any patience any more. Can't wait one minute behind a bicyclist if another car is coming from the opposite direction. Slow it down folks, safety is more important than getting where you're going one minute late.