D
[email protected] wrote:
> Someday, someone will explain to me why it's obviously dangerous and
> stupid for a bicyclist to cling to the side or back of a car with one
> hand at 30 mph down a public street, but sensible for a pack of
> bicyclists to cling just as closely to each other in a blind pack.
>
> Is there some magical quality about a horde of bicyclists unable to
> see anything but the butt of the rider a yard or so in front of their
> faces that is supposed to make the rest of the world (debris,
> potholes, stray dogs, squirrels, children on bicycles, side traffic,
> and so forth) simply vanish?
>
> Possibly the "unfortunate rider behind" should remember who's
> responsible for riding his bicycle?
It's the people in front's (take that, English teacher!) (<g>, c-f)
responsibility to make it safe for the people in back of them.
It's the people in the back's responsibility to not run into the people
in front of them, and to ride close enough to draft, but safely.
Clint Eastwood talked about knowing your limitations. I've taken that
one to heart, also Steve McQueen's brief summation: "It can happen to
you. It can happen again". Also, as one of my early teachers noted,
with agreement from the others present: "If the guy ahead of you makes
it through, if you're right on his wheel, you can make it through,
too". Much better than swerving into a pothole that the riders ahead
miss easily.
The people I've been riding with for 25 years and more enjoy teaching.
Some people enjoy learning, some can't handle the imagined insult to
their egos. Over the last few years, after a return to my adopted city,
it's been illustrative to see a "rolling reunion" of sorts, where folks
who rode elsewhere, or didn't ride, have attended a longstanding
weekend ride or two. The "old dogs" whose wheels you could trust in the
previous century are, guess what? still the wheels you can trust now.
And the others? Well, you give them some room. You cover for them, and
bark at them when they screw up. The difference is the attitude in the
people who accept criticism and try to improve.
It isn't all that difficult, the skill set. Not "magic", just knowing
something about what you're doing, and paying attention (incl. making
adjustments for conditions and situations). Contrasting the group(s) I
ride with and say, a fast, competitive Century "ride" (a Death to the
Weak road race by any other name?), which usually do feature some
number of nasty pileups, the difference in attitude and comportment is
apparent.
Standing up on a hill, while keeping the wheel from "coming back"? You
push harder *before* you stand up. Keep the speed the same, or
accelerate. If the wheel ahead of you slows, you try to miss it without
ruining the day for the next one back. Maybe a little overlap for a
moment on a good side, whatever. Pretty simple, takes just a little
practice if the interest is there. --D-y
> Someday, someone will explain to me why it's obviously dangerous and
> stupid for a bicyclist to cling to the side or back of a car with one
> hand at 30 mph down a public street, but sensible for a pack of
> bicyclists to cling just as closely to each other in a blind pack.
>
> Is there some magical quality about a horde of bicyclists unable to
> see anything but the butt of the rider a yard or so in front of their
> faces that is supposed to make the rest of the world (debris,
> potholes, stray dogs, squirrels, children on bicycles, side traffic,
> and so forth) simply vanish?
>
> Possibly the "unfortunate rider behind" should remember who's
> responsible for riding his bicycle?
It's the people in front's (take that, English teacher!) (<g>, c-f)
responsibility to make it safe for the people in back of them.
It's the people in the back's responsibility to not run into the people
in front of them, and to ride close enough to draft, but safely.
Clint Eastwood talked about knowing your limitations. I've taken that
one to heart, also Steve McQueen's brief summation: "It can happen to
you. It can happen again". Also, as one of my early teachers noted,
with agreement from the others present: "If the guy ahead of you makes
it through, if you're right on his wheel, you can make it through,
too". Much better than swerving into a pothole that the riders ahead
miss easily.
The people I've been riding with for 25 years and more enjoy teaching.
Some people enjoy learning, some can't handle the imagined insult to
their egos. Over the last few years, after a return to my adopted city,
it's been illustrative to see a "rolling reunion" of sorts, where folks
who rode elsewhere, or didn't ride, have attended a longstanding
weekend ride or two. The "old dogs" whose wheels you could trust in the
previous century are, guess what? still the wheels you can trust now.
And the others? Well, you give them some room. You cover for them, and
bark at them when they screw up. The difference is the attitude in the
people who accept criticism and try to improve.
It isn't all that difficult, the skill set. Not "magic", just knowing
something about what you're doing, and paying attention (incl. making
adjustments for conditions and situations). Contrasting the group(s) I
ride with and say, a fast, competitive Century "ride" (a Death to the
Weak road race by any other name?), which usually do feature some
number of nasty pileups, the difference in attitude and comportment is
apparent.
Standing up on a hill, while keeping the wheel from "coming back"? You
push harder *before* you stand up. Keep the speed the same, or
accelerate. If the wheel ahead of you slows, you try to miss it without
ruining the day for the next one back. Maybe a little overlap for a
moment on a good side, whatever. Pretty simple, takes just a little
practice if the interest is there. --D-y
