Tired of the animosity

Some thoughts:

• Why do so many cyclists (or at least blogging cyclists) feel that the only way to refer to drivers is to call them "cagers"?
  
• Why are there so many blogging cyclists who seem to want the complete annihilation of everyone who has ever or will ever own a motor vehicle?
• Why do blogging cyclists seem to miss the fact that their hatred of drivers is an exact mirror of the driver hatred of cyclists that they are all blogging about?

We get it - mixing cars and cyclists on the same roads is tough. There are some (large in number but probably not in percentage) drivers who actively dislike the presence of cyclists on the road. The laws, and often law enforcement, are tilted in the drivers' favor. Cyclists are often relegated to a form of second-class citizenry and not treated with the respect we feel we deserve. The point is made.

Here's another question though - given that there are a heck of a lot more people driving than cycling are we really going to get anywhere by being rude?

Whenever "bike rights" issues come up people think about the experiences they've had with cyclists in making a decision. Most people in urban areas have encountered messengers dodging between cars and blasting across intersections without a care for the chaos they cause. Most BART commuters can tell at least one story of a cyclist forcing their way onto an overcrowded train during the times where bikes are embargoed. My own father, who knows how avidly I ride (as does my older brother, an Ironman triathlon finisher) has come home on a number of occasions and ranted about the packs of cyclists he has encountered, blocking traffic by riding three- and four-abreast in their club kit, not caring that there is a line of 15-20 cars wanting to get past.

Are these really the thoughts we want people to have of us?

I've seen too many posts on some of my favorite blogs (no, I'm not linking to them today because I don't want to call anyone out) with nasty, antagonistic, prejudicial, and most of all STEREOTYPICAL language regarding drivers. Guess what? I drive. I like my truck and it's a useful tool. I also love my bikes. There isn't any reason people can't be both drivers and cyclists.

Well, except the attitude that drivers are evil incarnate which permeates the blogging cyclist community.

Bike freedom

When I decided to stop annoying my friends with bike-related nonsense and start a blog I chose "Liberation Cycling" because it captures a number of things about me. I realized that I never really fulfilled a semi-promise from my first post, which was to explain the name, and since I've been thinking about it recently, why not?

This week I've had to drive to work. Yesterday specifically drove home the freedom that you lose driving (when you should/could be riding). I got stuck on a road where a delivery truck for a construction site had blocked off one of the two lanes of a major commute-direction street. This led to a significant back-up stretching through two lights. As I sat there all I could think about was that I could be dodging the whole thing on my bike. The freedom of cycling.

Another aspect of it for me is the clarity of mind that develops, primarily on longer rides, when you can settle into a cadence and ride. No shifting, little effort, just riding. I miss that here, since there aren't easy places to take longer rides that aren't crowded MUPs, and can't wait to get back to CA and have the backroads I know available practically at my door.

The last aspect of liberation that I get from a bike, or at least the last significant one, is the freedom of movement. Not just freedom in commuting, discussed above, but true freedom of movement. Bikes allow you to go anywhere, and with a little preparation (or a high-limit credit card) you can go everywhere. Getting around town is easier on a bike, taking a vacation (touring) isn't necessarily easier, but it is certainly more open to changes of whim. There are very few barriers that can stop a person with a bike.

Those are a few of the ways I see bikes as liberating. There may be others for you, and there are some other, smaller ones for me.

Road placement

I learned to drive in California, back in the waning days of public school driver's education (classroom) and driver's training (behind the wheel. I did the classroom part at night school because it was a graduation requirement. I did the behind the wheel with my dad, who at the time was the district coordinator for the driver's training program and a certified instructor.

That mean that when we got in the family car so I could putter around he had a tendency to mash his right foot down, looking for the brake pedal that he had in the district cars. It also meant that I was taught by someone twice as neurotic about my driving.

The point of that: I had pounded into my head that the appropriate place for a car was to the far left of the lane. I was told that this was because the driver has the best view of things on that side and staying way over, close to the left line, means that anything you miss seeing because of the bilk of vehicle to your right shouldn't be much of a problem. As I drove up and down CA I saw that most drivers followed this most of the time, so I figured it was probable in the driver's handbook thing they pass out before you take your permit test.

Then I moved the Baltimore and had realized that they don't teach driving the same everywhere.

One of the benefits of extreme-left driving is that it leaves plenty of room for bikes (yes, this is a bike-related post after all). Here in Baltimore the tendency is to drive right down the middle or (when you see a bike) as far to the right as possible. I'm only slightly exaggerating there. On many occasions (including this morning's commute) I've seen cars that have passed me pulling so far over to the right that they end up in the bus/parking cutouts that only run part of the block and then have to slide back to the left to keep driving.

I suppose this is one way that the painted lines of a bike lane help - they create a "do not pass" mark for this kind of driver. I'd be happy if people would just stay to the left, the way I was taught.

(A big part of the dad-reminiscing is because yesterday was my dad's 66th birthday)