These Motorists are Crazy!!??!!

For a laugh I read all of these comments; over 40 complaints by motorists about cyclists to about 5 the other way. 15 implied or overt threats against cyclists; one admission of a criminal assault against a cyclist (nice one, "Concerned1963"). A few complaints about clothing (seriously? "You shouldn't be on the road because you're wearing sport specific clothing," come on people.) A handful of complaints from cyclists about cyclists. A few fatuous complaints about "cyclists not paying taxes" which are sensibly dealt with in other comments.
On reading http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar/22/221358/san-anns-hills-drawing-cyclists-citations I found myself commenting...


I cycled around San Antonio on the roads marked "Bike Route" today. For the most part drivers were polite and gave me more than the legally required amount of space; on a few occasions I was buzzed (about 1 per 8 miles/22 minutes of riding). It needs to be recognized that there are spots where traffic simply cannot safely (or legally) pass- even when it was just me, alone, riding the white line. Riding 2 abreast would make no difference at all in these places as the bike has the (316.2065 (5)A.3) right to the whole lane if it cannot be shared safely with a car and a bike.

Personally I avoid large group rides as much as possible- more than 5 other riders and I'm not really interested; all road users should obey the rules, (including passing margins and speed limits) motorists should remember that they have a duty of care to other road users. Cyclists are not killing 1000 plus motorists a year in Florida; next time you're running a bit late and consider the worth of a couple of minutes of your time to be greater than the life of another road user, perhaps you should take a moment to reflect on what sort of person you are becoming.

Gasparilla Marathon, Tampa

Will all my marathons be like this, I wonder. So my race was almost identical to last year, I had to take a poo then got a bad stitch. This time around I had some stitch remedies at least, so it didn't cause me as much trouble as last year. All was going well then until about mile 19 when I sort of blew up and had to say bye bye to my running companion (up to that point we'd been maintaining a steady 8:40 per mile). Anyway, I dug out my ipod, ate some energy jelly things and got going again, and did a run/walk to the end- final pace 9:07/mil for a time of 3:56.13 which is ok as my goal was 4.