Flutterby™! : Slow Down 2008-07-15 01:13:32.484849+00

Slow Down

2008-07-15 01:13:32.484849+00 by meuon 2 comments

I'm trying to get back on my bike more... working out some kinks and building myself back up for real rides. So I headed for the Riverwalk tonight on my 'Bent, met Nancy for a quick dinner at the Boathouse Grill before taking a long cruise. The Riverwalk is a great place for beginning cyclists or more advanced ones taking it easy and cruising.

And "Mad Max" (I don't know his name)... He's probably 60+ and healthy.. and fast.. cranking down the riverwalk at 15-20+mph barrelling though clusters of kids and walkers holding hands shouting loudly "on your left!" or "coming though" and causing pile-ups. I was behind him and tried to catch up on the not-crowded sections, yelling "Slow the F! Down". I gave up, it just wasn't safe to try to catch up through the amount of people out for a stroll or cruise. I caught up with him on the Walnut Street Bridge as he came back across, and got him to stop for a "chat". It didn't end well, he was a righteous fundementalist and did not like my language. He failed completely to understand the issues he was causing and there was probably no way I could have communicated them so he would. Even the 15-20-30-somethings racing on the RiverWalk -usually- slow down near people and especially kids, but not him.

The good news: My ankles were feeling pretty good and I won't be on the Riverwalk much more.. but when I am, I'm cruising. Waving Hi! at people and kids and enjoying the scenery. Hope to see ya'll there. Slow down and say Hi!

Wow, a decade and a half ago I stopped seriously skating there because the rangers gave me (and the folks I was skating with) a harsh talking to because we were moving fast enough to freak out the pedestrians. Of course he also didn't want us skating in the parking lots, because those were for cars...

I'm a big believer that serious cyclists have no place on "multi-use" paths, and that it's not a "bike" path unless pedestrians are forbidden.

I've had several discussions with my Sunday ride group. The ones who've invested in carbon and titanium never get on the "multi-use" trails. At the same time, I have a bell on my bike because I'd rather hit a pedestrian on a trail than get hit by a car on the road. When I'm commuting, I take the trails as much as possible. When I'm on a group ride, we stick to the roads (but I still favor backroads to highways).

I've also talked about the idea of closing various backroads in Boulder County to through traffic on the occasional Summer weekend. The idea being that accidents could be avoided if we got the bikes off the main highways and the cars off the country roads. Boulder's the kind of place that an idea like that might fly...