Hello readers,

This is the first in a series of stories from people walking and rolling, sharing their experiences on the road.

Please submit your Tales From The Streets to apcompletestreets@gmail.com.

This installment is from a self-described “Recumbent Racing Trike Adventurist”. He’s sharing a story from someone else with his own commentary.

(Emphasis in bold is from this editor. I might take the liberty of making small grammatical edits for clarity.)

This post is in response to someone else’s that posted a picture of someone in a car distracted by holding and looking at their cell phone instead of paying attention to surrounding traffic including possibly cyclists.

The over all impression I think the post was trying to convey was that you are powerless against negligent drivers, so therefore you don’t ride a bike or any human powered vehicle.

I disagree…

I wear a Gear 360 helmet camera and between high viz colored jerseys, my rig recumbent racing trike is painted neon yellow, my neon yellow helmet, rear facing Cateye Vizeo tail lights that have mode that is similar to what the rear of a police motorcycle uses for pulling someone over and the reality that my choice of human powered vehicle is a very unusual looking recumbent racing trike, rear approaching traffic tends to slow way down and go way wide out of curiosity to get a better grasp of what they are encountering.

I should also mention that I am within 50,000 miles of crossing the 1 million lifetime human powered mile mark.

• If a driver is truly distracted by something, or even chemically compromised I rely upon a small helmet mounted rear view mirror to peripherally track the trajectory of approaching rear traffic so I can take evasive action if necessary.
• In higher traffic areas where the bike lane is just lines in the gutter where debris accumulates, the road surface is bad, or cars are parked in the bike lane or non bike lane, I take a lane. And if a vehicle approaches from the rear too quickly I move to center, or slightly left of center to let them know that I am taking the lane as the law in my State of California mandates as I have the right to, and 99.9% of traffic will back down. Especially once they realize they are being filmed they go around without horns blaring, or raving engines, or blowing exhaust like the jacked up pickups tend to think is ok to do every now and then.
• Never hug the curb, as you have no place to go if someone comes in too close – and curb hugging gives the message that you don’t belong on the road and don’t deserve respect.
• Ride as if you own the space you occupy and also be responsive to the need to divert your path if necessary for those simply not attentive or being overly  aggressive or bullying.
• Consider a Recumbent Trike – They generally don’t get treated like wall paper along the roads because they are do different.
• Never allow your fears discourage you from enjoying the beauty and benefits to your body, mind and spirit, or stop you from going for a ride or commuting. Nothing is 100% safe even being in a car or even worse, sitting on the couch – which is lethal over time….

Life is for the Living and the Loving….

• Take BOLD ACTION and build into those actions the steps you can, to make your journeys a “calculated risk” that leave you more confident that you can hold your own space, and deal with whatever life presents as you explore and enjoy the journey.

He or She who Risk Nothing Loses Everything that Makes Life Worth While.

 

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor