Thursday, January 25, 2007

Dear New Jersey

While I have no doubt it is dangerous to talk on a cell phone while riding a bike, I have to be honest . . . you're wasting time and money on a useless endeavor.

First, I spent several hundred hours on a bike last ear and only once did I see someone talking on the phone while they ride. He also had no helmet, his bike was rusty and, oddly, I don't think he was all too bright.

So, here are some suggestions to spend your time and money on:

1. Bike paths, trails and lanes. Encourage people to ride to work by creating a safe buffer zone for them from cars.

2. Driver and cyclist education. Drivers need to be aware of cyclists and cyclists need to be aware of drivers.

3. Recognize that there are hundreds of different types of cyclists and vow to protect them all. Kids, racers, triathletes, commuters, old people, young people, morons, recumbents, doctors, lawyers, touring riders. They will all have different skill levels, and intelligence levels.

4. I'm going to get heat for this but . . . ticket cyclists. I get pissed every time I see some idiot in his Discovery kit, on his Trek Madone fly through a four-way stop. If we as cyclists want the respect we deserve on the road we must follow traffic laws. I know it's difficult to get back up to speed after a stoplight, but it's a hell of a lot harder to get up to speed after you get t-boned by a bus. So, yeah, ticket us. I always stop and I don't cheat my way through lights either. If I could do a track stand without looking drunk, I'd do that. But I can't.

Now if we can only do something about those damn extender leashes for dogs on trails. How many times have I nearly died because someone has their dog running on the opposite side of the trail I can't see him, or the leash?

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