Road Cyclists

This topic is significantly less intense than the last posting, but has been on my mind a lot lately and I felt it pertinent to put it down in writing. I like riding my bike, whether it be on the road, or on the trail it is an activity I enjoy and always have. I have considered picking up the hobby of road cycling but have never jumped into the activity, there are a couple reasons why I have not done it and those reasons have only been more solidified in the last couple of months.

First off, I have always been annoyed at how pretentious the activity can make individuals become. It can be compared to people who only shop at Whole Foods and then get in their Prius for the trip home all while making sure you know what they are doing. Those activities create a false sense of "I am doing good for the world" in people and makes them very hard to be around. Bringing this back to cycling, I think it can create the same false sense of achievement in people, and this achievement is the feeling that you are a very good person for not using gasoline to get to work, or for getting an exercise while also transporting yourself from A to B. When the reality is, you biking to work isn't helping the economy that much and even if it is...good for you, I don't want to hear you bragging about it, I drive to work and I am fine with my current situation. This is the first reason I have never dove into the world of road cycling, I know I would be tempted by the grasps of pretentiousness and I don't know if I could stay strong.

Next, because of the laws that have currently been passed in the state of Colorado a small but important feud has erupted between cyclists and drivers on the road. I have been commuting from Berthoud to Boulder for the last five weeks and have not once, not twice, but three times been stuck behind cyclists who are riding two or three wide taking up the whole driving lane. While a decent line forms behind the cyclists and a constant line of oncoming traffic seems never ending, the cyclists seem reluctant to get in a single file line and cause much frustration and inconvenience for the drivers behind them. Yes I know these laws were put in place for the safety of the riders but I think they are very one sided and not well thought out. These laws have put both parties in bad situations, it has given the cyclists too much confidence and has drivers being frustrated which leads to dangerous situations. I think the laws Colorado has passed are borderline impossible to follow at times, but could be corrected. If only Colorado had done a little research before passing these laws, they could have easily discovered the most highly trafficked roads by cyclists and compared them to the most highly travelled roads by drivers. The roads that had the highest traffic from both parties would deserve some widening and bike lanes constructed on their shoulders. If you have ever seen the roads in Fort Collins or in Boulder you would know how much bike lanes help and how easy it makes riding a bike in a city. Sure this would cost some money, but the safety of the citizens of Colorado is what the local government supposedly cares about, so it should be an easy decision to make these small changes.

Now I know it is easy to just blow this off and say I am just another one of those drivers that honks and drives unnecessarily close to cyclists, but I am not. I actually have two cyclists in my family and like I said earlier, have considered becoming one of them myself. I think it can be a very fun and productive activity but it has gone horribly down hill lately and I hope it doesn't get any worse.