WILD BILL

I Can Feel the Scorn

By Bill Schneider, 4-14-05

Spring makes things happen. Anglers spend one of the first warm days washing their boats. Bears poke their heads out of the snowbanks on north-facing slopes. The crocus and phlox bloom early to lead the wildflower parade. And outdoor fitness addicts, like myself, hang up their skis and drag out their road bikes.

That’s what I did a few weeks ago on one of the many unseasonably warm days we’ve had in the northern Rockies. That’s also when I was reminded of the major culture clash we still have here in the New West.

I was riding peacefully along when a guy in an old blue pickup truck speckled with primer paint slammed on his brakes right behind me and blasted his horn because he had to slow down to wait for an oncoming vehicle to pass before he could get around me. Scaring me up to death’s door wasn’t enough for him; he just had to say nasty things about my mother when he passed by.

I wish this was an isolated incident, but for people like me who enjoy road biking, it’s far too common on western highways. I’m not sure why this is, but based on thirty years of experience, I can say that it always seems to be a guy in a well-used four-wheel-drive pickup that cost less than a good road bike nowadays. Not a woman. Not a mini-van or hybrid sedan. Not even an eighteen-wheeler driven by a courteous professional. Even on days when I don’t see That Guy, I can feel his scorn. That what-are-you-doing-on-my-road attitude hangs thick in the air like fog over a mountain lake.

Two years ago, I took my trusty steed to Italy and spend two weeks riding through the spectacular scenery of the Dolomites. From a cyclist’s standpoint, I’m almost embarrassed to say that it was like visiting a more advanced civilization.

The Italian roads are narrow with more traffic than most western highways, but I didn’t feel the scorn. Instead, I felt the spirit of sharing and acceptance. In Italy, motorists politely and safely share the road, even in scenic areas where you see hundreds of recreational cyclists during your ride.

We don’t see hundreds of cyclists on any road in the New West. Instead, we’re lucky to see one or two other riders. Nor to we see, as we should, hundreds of youngsters riding bikes to school.

And I know why. People are scared, and they don’t like to be scorned.

I find it so odd that the same guy in the beat-up truck waits patiently behind a farmer driving a tractor slower than I ride my bike or a rancher blocking the road while driving his herd up to the high pasture. No blasting of the horn. No insults about the rancher’s heritage. No universal salute. Even though the delay is often longer.

I guess that says a lot about the culture we cling to here in the New West.

In Italy, people look forward to retirement to have more time for cycling instead of playing golf, but that’s not the only difference between Italy and the USA. There, motorists have a high level of understanding of cycling. They understand, for example, that it’s safer for a cyclist to ride out in the roadway where a vehicle’s passenger-side wheel would normally go and too dangerous to ride right on the very edge of the road.

Regrettably, some cyclists don’t always obey the rules of the road, but then some motorists don’t either. Even though there are a thousand times more motorists than cyclists, most “bicycle safety programs� are geared to cyclists when obviously more emphasis should be placed on motorists learning to safely share the road with cyclists. For example, when motorists approach a cyclist from behind they commonly concentrate on how close they are to vehicles in adjoining lanes or oncoming traffic, not how close they are to the cyclist. They rarely consider slowing down to wait for a gap in oncoming traffic to safely pass the cyclist, something they routinely do when coming up on a slow-moving vehicle.

On some newer roads with four-foot shoulders, sharing the road is easy, but such roads are rare. And some new roads made with adequate shoulders are instantly made dangerous for cyclists with rumble strips.

We all know why we should spend more time on our bicycles—conserving energy, fighting terrorism by reducing dependence on imported oil, saving money on parking, improving fitness, and reducing the likelihood of a healthcare system collapse—but before any of this happens more motorists need a better attitude toward cyclists. More and better education solves most problems, so let’s hope it can gradually change our frontier culture to a society that respectfully shares the road.

Learn more:
League of American Bicyclists
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Contact Bill Schneider at bill@newwest.net

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