The cyclist ahead of you could be Me!

 

Bike racing is funny by nature. During the race you are trying to bury your competitors. You are trying to inflict as much pain on your fellow racers by either pushing them to make a mistake or making them chase you down. Mind games and deception are part of the strategy. But afterwards, Those same people are the ones you're enjoying an adult beverage with, and reliving the race. After the race we are friends, pals, and Buddies! So when I heard the news this week of fellow competitor was in a horrific bike accident, a hit and run by a semi truck, I was devastated.

To be honest I broke down in tears Monday. As every cyclist knows - That could have easily have been me. Every cyclist has had close calls. Every cyclist has been intimated by someone wheelding a 2000 pound vehicle going 50 mph. Every cyclist has been taunted, yelled at, buzzed, things thrown at them, and so on and so on....... If you are reading this you are either a friend, or family member and I'm begging you to please be careful around cyclists. When you see a cyclist I want you to think, "that could be Mike". Then treat that cyclist like it's ME. Just like me, that cyclist has a family, a wife, husband, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew. The point is that person riding a bike in front of you has people that love them and wish for their safe return. As a cyclist I put my faith, trust and my life in your hands when I ride my bike on the road. As a driver you have the power to make my son grow up without a father and my wife to be a widow.

Here is some info into the thought process of what that bike is doing in "your" lane. In my next post I'm going to give some tips to the 4 wheel types as to what to do when you come up to a cyclist in the lane. Please be careful!