Now that the hype over Burry Stander has started to calm
down, I think it is safe to do a blog posting. I tried to research the stats
between how many injuries there are cycling on the road vs mountain biking and
I cannot find anything (its probably a conspiracy created by those mountain
bikers) but a factor of 1 (as in myself), I can solidly prove that road biking
is 99.9% safer than mountain biking. After 8 years, I have fallen off my
mountain bikes on a very regular basis with varying stages of injury and off my
road bike once where I got a tiny boo boo.
So with this concrete research in hand, lets head out onto
the road. Now I have been told that us roadies should reconsider cycling on the
roads so lets look at this quickly: As Tessa points out on this topic, just go
check the Road Traffic Act. Cyclists are permitted to use the road as legal
road users. So as much as you may hate
us, we have as much right as you to be on that piece of tar. Actually, if I
want, I can utilise the full lane and have no obligation to squish into the
litter and glass ridden yellow lane (which technically we should not use as it
is for emergencies only). But, as kind fellow road users we share the road and
get out of the way.
There has been so much debate and arguments about cyclists
obeying the rules lately and yes, we have to shape up. On Saturday morning I got up, put my club
shirt on, got on my bike and road to Design Quarter. On my way, I came across
the dreaded Red Robot. 5:30am, no cars around. As I approached this robot I
realised I had a few options. 1: No one was around so I could skip it or 2:
Stop and wait for the robot to change. I could have done option 1 since no one
was around but I picked option 2. I didn’t pick it because I was in club kit but
rather because LEGALLY I am obliged as a road user to stop. I got to the club
after another 5 red robots (argh!!!), reported for duty as a club marshall.
We went out into the cradle and as a group we did our best
to stick to single lane, single file, double lane, double file (ok, perhaps at
the bottom of the dip we may have bunched a bit but the laws of hills and speed
dictate that there is almost no way to prevent this). Let me explain why it is
impossible: cyclist 1 goes down the hill at 69km/hr and hits the uphill, their
speed is immediately decreased to say 30km/hr. Now the cyclists behind have had
the benefit of drafting so have less wind resistance so hit the uphill
faster so lets for argument sake say
their decrease is only to 35km/hr. This is compounded the further back in the bunch
that they are. So, you have cyclists hitting the same apex and have to go
somewhere and the obvious is sideways by 2 or 3 riders or so until order can be
restored and they can get into lines of 1 or 2 depending on the road. Then, you
will naturally get cyclists overtaking others on the hill (which is legal) so
you will get an extra one on the side as this happens. We obeyed each road rule
and stopped at all red robots – this got entertaining for the bunch as we would
approach a green robot and slow down cause we would try predict the change.
Ok, so it sounds like the perfect ride right? Well not. I
have to admit something (hope this does not get me banned from the club): On my
way home, crossing Douglas drive I approached a robot which was green, about 1m
from the white line it turned orange and I continued through. I felt gutted!! I
was only going about 45km/hr so I could have thrown my bike down into a skid to
stop. But then again, I was safely through the robot by the time it had changed
to red so I suppose it doesn’t really count. But, all it takes is 1 motorist to
complain about the cyclist and take it out of context.
The point of this blog entry? Well, good question. I suppose
what I am trying to say is that its so easy to blame motorists for getting
cheesed off at us when they do not understand the dynamic of a bunch of
cyclists but at the same time it is our responsibility as cyclists to obey the
rules of the road to the letter. As a motorist it is your duty to accept that
we also have the right to use the road and we can be in a lane. As a cyclist,
it is your legal obligation to obey the rules of the road.
This is by far my most serious posting but, on Saturday as I
approached that little moral dilemma I realized that I am sure I am not the
only cyclist who has had to make this choice and well, I thought I should share
the ramblings of a club ride….
