I went walking with the dogs this morning in the foothills. We had a good time and the girls were actually pretty good considering it was someplace they had never been and it was all new to them. We took the Kestrel trail and I swear it was mostly uphill, both ways. There were two different groups walking dogs, one dog on a leash and three dogs off leash. They were all very well behaved but I still believe all dogs should be on leash when in that environment. Then there were the mountain bikers. The ones going up hill were all fairly polite and courteous. The ones going downhill was another story.
At the trail head there is a sign that talks about trail etiquette. The sign advises that pedestrians have the right of way at all times and that bikers going downhill need to yield to all persons going uphill. It also mentions letting people know that you are coming up behind them either verbally or with a bell or horn. The verbal, bell or warnings were never used by any of the bikers but that was okay as I was keeping and eye on the trail and reeling in the dogs and moving off the trail as I saw bikers coming. As for yielding to people going uphill that never happened.
I was going uphill and there was another walker coming down and there was a spandex clad biker behind her. I moved off the trail and waited. The biker was moving really fast as he went by me and he blew by the lady walking without a word or sound of warning. Why is it if the biker is wearing spandex pants, a bike jersey, gloves and a helmet they always act as if the rules don't apply to them? Whether in the streets, on the greenbelt or the trails the spandex clad bikers ride as if the devil is chasing them. If there is a bike lane the spandex crowd never uses it, they are always in traffic. When in traffic they never follow the traffic rules, at least they rarely stop at stop signs.
Don't get me wrong here I know that not all spandex bikers disobey the rules, though I have never meet one, and not all non-spandex riders are law abiding. It just that to this casual observer spandex seems to bring the worst out in the bike rider.
Getting Old is a Pain
9 years ago
1 comment:
I agree, the spandexed bikers are often the worst. I think it has something to do with the fact that they feel they're "serious" about biking (or want to pretend they are even if they aren't) and have a chip on their shoulder to prove it by riding as insanely as possible and buying every biking accessory known.
It's not clear to me when biking started becoming such an elite, clubby, cliquish, snobbish little activity, but I think it became more and more that way sometime around the late 1980s or early 1990s. Walk into many bike stores and you'll get thrown attitude by some of these dweeb-wads, 'cause they feel bikes are only for the specially chosen. God forbid if you want to ride a bike to get from Point A to Point B while enjoying a little air and seeing some scenery. That's just not good enough for the Spandex crowd, they're L33T BIKERS and don't you forget it.
I find that the heavy spandex is a kind of shibboleth for the bikers who think they're too cool for school. They even seem to put their little uniform on when going on small commute rides when they really don't need to waste the time for a 15 minute ride across town. It's shows they're the cool kids for whom rules don't apply.
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