. . Biker's Choice has received complaints from the residents along Douglas and Cages Bend about the FOGBEEs ride on Thursday October 2'nd. I don't have all the details but the comments referenced "big group" and safety. I am not going to try to hypothesize about the motivations of those complaining, but you can get more info from David Hardin.
. . However, keep in mind it is to our benefit not to block and to try to blend with traffic, and to pick routes/times where our rides do not unduly impede too many vehicles, especially when they are trying to get to/from work. The law requires any slow (10 miles under the speed limit) moving vehicle to pull off the road when five or more vehicles are being blocked. It is always in our best interests not to be a nuisance and to "blend" (think spread out to cars can safely pass) as best as possible.
. . However, keep in mind it is to our benefit not to block and to try to blend with traffic, and to pick routes/times where our rides do not unduly impede too many vehicles, especially when they are trying to get to/from work. The law requires any slow (10 miles under the speed limit) moving vehicle to pull off the road when five or more vehicles are being blocked. It is always in our best interests not to be a nuisance and to "blend" (think spread out to cars can safely pass) as best as possible.
6 comments:
Our ride encountered some traffic but never more than 4 cars back. We attempted to waive drivers as soon as we could see there was clear roads. We had one impatient driver that laid on his horn and endangered us and himself. This is the first ride we have routed on cages and Douglas. We may have inconvenienced drivers by a minute maximum. We had 9 or 10 riders so it wasn't a huge group. There were also riders we passed coming the other way. Don't know what we could have done differently other than not ride those roads.
I recall that we were on Cages Bend by way of Shutes. A driver passed several cars in front, came over the no pass lines, came into the opposite traffic lane and passed us, yelled and gave us the finger. I have a complaint about that driver but I didn't register it with Bikers Choice. We also got off Douglas on Rosebrook and came back out off Lora Lee. I dont recall any other incident with drivers as the rest were curtious and patient. We have a right to also ride on the streets of Hendersonville and some of our many rides have no shoulder. I agree that we should respect the road and drivers but they should do the same.
Sounds like a loud mouthed intolerant driver. Half a mile of Cages Bend lends itself to a conflict no matter what the cyclists do. Yes, we should accommodate motorists as much as possible but I personally will not take Cages Band off my route list.
I think the next time I get caught behind a tractor going down Hwy 25 when I'm trying to get to the movies I'm going to stop by the John Deere Dealer and the Tractor Supply store and complain!
Great comments, thanks for posting. To clarify how I got wind of the incident with the motorist that Gary was talking about. A personal friend of mine apparently was one of the cars that was illegally passed. He was not upset at the cyclists, but concerned about the safety for the cyclists knowing the danger that passing multiple cyclists can cause on narrow, busy, curvy roads.
Sorry if I came across as being a smart butt with the tractor analogy but; it's a good comparison. I could put myself, the farmer on the tractor, and oncoming traffic at risk if I wasn't patient in those situations. I'm in complete agreement with your friend David, and am concerned with my own safety! We have to be exceptionally careful because even when we do things 100% correctly we still encounter jerks in 3000lb missiles that don't think we should be on the road. Mike Knake nearly got t-boned on 25 this summer because a driver floored it to go around us when we were turning left off of 25; we were giving turn signals and half the group had already turned, but the idiot still came around and went right through our group! We were not riding irresponsibly that evening, or doing anything wrong. We just encountered someone who valued a few seconds more than property or life. David,I'm glad you clarified how you were informed of the incident; I couldn't believe that someone would actually stop in at a bike shop to complain about bike riders.
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