{"id":553,"date":"2011-08-18T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/"},"modified":"2013-01-05T20:46:20","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T20:46:20","slug":"whats-a-cyclist-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s a cyclist to do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Help me out, fellow cyclist.\u00a0 I’m feeling like an unloved step-child these days.\u00a0 In a span of about ten days, an angry\u00a0motorist hurled obscenities at me and told me to get off the street\u00a0(a familiar\u00a0but by no means an everyday occurrence), a motorcyclist reacted in similar fashion (a first) and a belligerent pedestrian demanded that I remove myself from a trail\u00a0(another first). <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
I am not a rude, scofflaw bicyclist.\u00a0 I stop at red lights and stop signs.\u00a0 I do something many motorists fail to do–I signal my intention to turn and change lanes.\u00a0 I take the lane when I need to and, when appropriate,\u00a0I\u00a0move to the right so as not to impede other traffic.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
In spite of my reasonable behavior, I occasionally get yelled at by a motorist.\u00a0 So I wasn’t\u00a0 too phased last week when an oncoming motorist rolled down his window and yelled,\u00a0 “F#$%!@<\/i> cyclist!\u00a0 Get off the street!”\u00a0 I gave him my usual response.\u00a0 I smiled and waved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I repeated this reaction a few days later when a motorcyclist yelled at me as he buzzed by.\u00a0 I have never had an encounter like this with a motorcyclist and was puzzled by his behavior.\u00a0 In fact, I usually feel a kinship with motorcyclists on the road.\u00a0 We can wave as we pass and converse at traffic lights.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I also consider myself to be a courteous trail user.\u00a0 I don’t buzz by other trail users at breakneck speed. I\u00a0either ring my bell or call out to warn others of my approach.\u00a0 And, if a trail is overcrowded with people on foot, I move to the road or dismount and join them as a pedestrian.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
But I was totally taken aback a couple of evenings ago when an oncoming pedestrian deliberately stepped into my path and told me to get off the trail.\u00a0 I stopped within inches of him, stared back in silence and didn’t move.\u00a0 “Bikes belong in the street,” he growled at me before moving on.\u00a0 Oh yeah, I thought to myself.\u00a0 Tell that to an impatient motorist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Am I paranoid or is there an increase in hostility toward bicyclists?\u00a0 There’s always going to be an angry motorist.\u00a0 I’m more troubled by this recent show of anger from other road users.\u00a0 Maybe the motorcyclist was having a bad hair day (do they get helmet hair too?).\u00a0 Maybe the pedestrian had just experienced a close call with another cyclist.\u00a0 Maybe the planets are out of alignment.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not accustomed to getting berated for riding my bike by so many in a short period of time when I’m not doing anything wrong.\u00a0 I don’t like to respond to anger with more anger.<\/span><\/div>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
So what is a cyclist to do?<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Help me out, fellow cyclist.\u00a0 I’m feeling like an unloved step-child these days.\u00a0 In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attitudes","category-share-the-road"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's a cyclist to do? - Washington Bikes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's a cyclist to do? - Washington Bikes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Help me out, fellow cyclist.\u00a0 I’m feeling like an unloved step-child these days.\u00a0 In a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Washington Bikes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-18T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-05T20:46:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Louise McGrody\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Louise McGrody\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/\",\"name\":\"What's a cyclist to do? - Washington Bikes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-18T15:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-05T20:46:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ede2cc0355be2e0115cfee13968ca938\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/whats-a-cyclist-to-do\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What’s a cyclist to do?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/\",\"name\":\"Washington Bikes\",\"description\":\"People who bike make a difference\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ede2cc0355be2e0115cfee13968ca938\",\"name\":\"Louise McGrody\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82369b38471c5b1a96a8402b92fe9d17?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/82369b38471c5b1a96a8402b92fe9d17?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Louise McGrody\"},\"description\":\"Louise has been with Washington Bikes since 1994 and is often referred to as its institutional memory. 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