Endangered species

  One of our ski reps came in yesterday to show us next year's line. He has long experience as a road racing cyclist, as well as competing in cyclocross.

He mentioned that he had completely given up riding the road in the Concord, NH, area, because of traffic volume and how badly people drive. He said that the final straw was when a car shot past him inches from his handlebars. When he caught up to the car at an intersection, the young woman driving was holding a slice of pizza in  one hand and her phone in the other. She was staring down at her phone when the rider spoke to her through her open window.

"Hey, you passed me really close back there," he said.

"Whateverrr!" she snapped back at him and floored the gas to get away.

While an incident like that might make one yearn for a hand grenade in the moment, that wouldn't solve anything. It would make things worse.

He also told us about someone he knows who was hit and injured, and someone else who was hit and killed.

We both agreed that a large part of the problem is "too many rats in the cage." In densely populated areas, in a population under increasing economic and social stress, we're all just generally sick of each other and are rapidly losing what little regard most of us had for other people's lives.

People are also generally more distracted as they self medicate for the depression and anxiety many might not even realize that they have. And at least one whole generation of new drivers has hit the road with little or no experience as transportation cycling kids. They grew up riding in cars to closed-venue activities.

Road cyclists are an endangered species due mostly to habitat loss. The lab rat metaphor applies to humans in general. The wild animal metaphor applies to the increasingly crowded roads where every vulnerable creature gets crushed. The percentage of malicious or careless drivers may not have increased much, but the sheer population increase means that a small percentage is overall a larger number. And they aren't evenly distributed. You might encounter none for weeks and then get harassed multiple times in one ride.

I haven't ridden in a high-traffic, urbanized or suburbanized area on a regular basis since the 1980s. The same dynamics apply. It's just that now they cover a much greater percentage of the country. Add to that an ever increasing population and two-tiered society in cycling.

The haves, the recreational cyclists, use disposable income to fund their hobby on two wheels. Most of those riders have been driven off of the road, but wherever they are seen in public they are perceived as privileged. No one driving past you in your kit knows whether you're a lawyer or an engineer or a warehouse worker, but they are free to assume that you are not a serious individual if you've chosen to prance around in tight shorts and a colorful shirt, requiring motorists to divert around you.

The have-nots are the transportation cyclists who used to ride department store bikes and now try to get e-bikes instead. But they can't all afford e-bikes, so they're pedaling whatever they can get until circumstances improve and they can get a car. Some of them are discovering the economic benefits of a vehicle that doesn't have to be registered and that's much easier to park, so they might only level up to a more powerful e-bike.

In my own area, traffic has gotten somewhat worse along my commuting route, and vastly worse on the popular routes along the lake shore and on the roads and highways that feed into and out of the area. This refers primarily to summer, when seasonal residents and visitors swell the ranks. Year-round population has also edged upward steadily.

If you're riding a bike, you have to assume that you are invisible. This is especially important at intersections. Even if you have the right of way, you can't assume that you'll get it. On a busy road or street with a lot of feeders that enter or cross it, you have to be alert at all times. That's why I never use headphones or ear buds. No distractions!

I'm part have and part have-not. My income is well below the median, but I don't spend a lot. My bikes and gear are above average because I get my meager income from the industry, so I get lower prices, and can do all of my own work. I don't have kids, but I do take my responsibilities to my cats seriously. That can take a bite out of savings.

Bikes can be a powerful tool for your personal economy. If I lived where wintry weather was less common and winters were shorter, I might not own a car at all. When I lived in such a place, I went without a car for years. That saves a lot of money. I rode to work, to train for racing, and intended to tour much more than I ever did. But that was millions of rats ago. All of the cages are more crowded. Some have infrastructure to help riders, but there's no universal standard. Wherever you find yourself, you have to assess the risk and figure out how to manage it.