Ten Things I Hate About Sharing The Road

I am a cyclist and a motorist. So, I where two caps.

I have been riding bikes on bike paths and roads in an around Davis for more than 30 years. I have also ridden many of the interesting rides throughout Northern California. And, I have ridden cross country.

As a motorist, I have been commuting between Davis and Livermore for about the same number of years on both freeways and backroads; 80E-5S-205W, or 80W-680S-580E or 113S-12E-160W-4E-Vasco S.

As cyclists, we tend to have to share everything. We share roads with motorists and bike paths with pedestrians, pets and small children as well as other cyclists. To paraphrase Grant Peterson, we're both prey and predator. On roads, we're prey and on bike paths we're predators.

To be sure, with my cycling cap on, I have had a few very negative interactions with motorists. On more than one occasion a driver of a big diesel pickup has slowed down and pulled up aside of me and then intentionally gunned his engine to belch black smoke at me. Occasionally, motorists turn too close in front of me.

But, by far my biggest complaint about motorists has to do with passing; when, where and how fast. All too often motorists choose to pass when there is no clear view around an approaching turn or over the top of a hill. Sometimes, to prevent a motorist from attempting a pass to close to a blind turn, I move my line of track out towards the center of the lane. This is to discourage them from trying to pass when they don't have room and then passing me to close. Alternatively, when I am on flat straight roads with visibility for miles, motorists sometimes fail to move over far enough when they have plenty of room and then pass at high speed.

But, to be honest, at least around our little towns of Davis, or Winters or Vacaville, motorists are pretty used to sharing roads with cyclists and do a decent job. When it comes to the ongoing tension between motorists and cyclists sharing the same roadways, at least around Davis anyways (an unquestionably cycling-friendly town), there are more things I hate about cyclists behavior than motorists. Here are my top ten lists...

. . . About Cyclists

1. Flying by pedestrians on a bike path too fast and/or passing too close.
2. Riding 2 or more abreast along public roads when cars or other cyclists are approaching from behind and failing to re-arrange in single file.
3. Not stopping at intersections with stop signs even when cars are present.
4. Passing cars on the right that are stopped at an intersection when there is no shoulder or bike lane.
5. Failing to check in with a cyclist stopped at the side of the road to make sure they are ok.
6. Passing other cyclists too closely.
7. Wheelsuckers that aren't willing to share the work.
8. Not yielding/slowing to let a cyclist overtaking them from behind pass quickly on a road with no shoulder and a lot of car traffic.
9. Riding at night without lights.
10. Riding while using a cell phone.
11. Endless diatribes about shaving 100 grams here and there at a cost of perhaps several thousand dollars when a slight change in nutrition would shave over a kilogram from their bodies. (I just had to include this one)

. . . About Motorists

1. Driving impaired.
2. Dividing attention between driving and anything else.
3. Passing too close.
4. Passing too fast.
5. Passing when view of oncoming traffic ahead is obscured.
6. Opening car doors without checking for cycling traffic approaching from behind.
7. Passing cyclists and then immediately turning right in front of them and cutting them off.
8. Not dimming high beams for cyclists at night.
9. Rolling through or completely failing to stop at stop signs where cyclists are crossing.
10. Motor vehicles (a bike is a way better way to travel ;).