Setting out from home for a little spin on the Mountain/cross, I was almost immediately beset by that which would be the bane of my existence for the remainder of the ride. I didn’t know at the time, but the three people who passed in front of me were just a hint of what was to come. Maybe I had seen them before, maybe not – one younger heavyweight on a department store dually, and a pair of older gents on upright 26-ers. Nothing objectionable – just some friends out for an afternoon ride like me. Everyone had helmets, but the cotton tees and white tennies hinted at “people who owned bicycles” and not “cyclists”. I was coming to a stop and concentrating on trackstanding at the corner of the stop line while vigilantly watching the oncoming white Jetta whose driver didn’t know how to complete a turn without coming into the oncoming traffic lane, so I didn’t wave. We all shared friendly smiles, and they rolled off downhill, and I stood in the pedals and climbed in the opposite direction.
Turning downhill at the end of the block, I descended out of the neighborhood and onto the main highway. Approaching the next intersection, I could see bikes. Maybe it was those three guys. Sure enough it was – along with a dozen and a half other people! The three were the tail-end of a massive mob that I hadn’t seen earlier. The light was green for me but red for them, but they were leaking out into the intersection, riding two abreast on the sidewalk with a couple dropping the curb onto the legitimate bike lane. I didn’t have a bell, so I just went really wide into the unoccupied traffic lane to pass the slowly weaving riders. Halfway to the next intersection, I passed a pair of pedestrians on the sidewalk. For a moment, I wondered how the mob of bikers would deal with this, but it wasn’t my problem, so I continued on and turned up toward WCC to do my training laps. If their behavior at the traffic signal painted a picture as to the mob’s understanding of traffic rules, the pedestrians were in for trouble.
Completing my first circuit, I saw a few of the mob spilling into the road in front of me. I bypassed around them on a side street behind one of the buildings, but on my next lap, I ran into the mass of them, weaving oncoming across the entire roadway! I waved, and a few who were paying attention to something other than the ground immediately in front of their front tires waved back. On the third lap, they were congregated in a discordant tempest of random motion below the giant mango trees on the top road. I had to weave my way through the roiling soup of imminent disaster to get past them. On the fourth lap, they were coming down the road, but again in a disorganized randomly weaving mass. I was riding in a straight line, a foot or two from the right curb, but I had to go all the way into the oncoming lane by the opposite curb to avoid people coming at me on my side of the road!
The friendly neighborhood security guard waved and made conversation with me as usual on every lap. He looked a little frustrated with the mob when their haphazard, unpredictable riding interfered with the legitimate automobile traffic on the roadway. I wanted to tell him that I had nothing to do with the mob, but I’m pretty sure he knew. Not wanting to get mixed up with them again, I cut my ride short, took a quick jump run through the grassy field and sortied out the back road and took off for home. I really don’t know who these people were, but they were organized in some manner. Somebody had to put something together for that many people to show up at one place at one time. I really hope I don’t run into them again. I try not to be a bike snob, or a cycling elitist, but it’s this kind of ignorant behavior that leads to accidents and labeling.
To the Mob:
Get a clue. Learn some etiquette. The same traffic laws that govern you when you’re driving apply to you when cycling. Thank you for wearing helmets – if any of you get too damn close to me that I have to take you out, at least your heads are protected.
D = 16.40 km (10.2-miles), Vavr = 20.9 km/h (13.0 mph), Vmax = 44.7 km/h (27.8 mph), T = 47-minutes
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