Remember that silly but great song by Queen? Well, Craig Russell publishes an interesting piece on Strike-The-Root called "The Bicycle Mind." What a great topic, Craig! Of course, being an avid cyclist, racer, etc., I'm a bit predisposed toward anything with two wheels. I admit my bias here.
But I read this article while I'm travelling in various parts of the Midwest and, uh, well, riding my bikes. One of my readers sent Craig's article to me, thinking that Mr. Russell quite possibly had a somewhat anti-free market views of cars, bikes, and their respective places on the road. Not true at all.
Craig, first off, is attempting to explain the role of the bicycle in his life. Then, I think Craig is just trying to portray the average cyclist battling to share a piece of the public roads with insane behemoths that couldn't give two toots about cyclists. Then he attempts to explain why, quite possibly, the individualist mindset of the cyclist is quite possibly a great enemy of the behemoth State.
Funny, I've been enjoying the pro-cycling mindset up here in Minnesota, where the average driver is used to seeing cyclists (they abound in this part of the country), they respect us, and they are forgiving of our turtledom on "their" roads. Quite often, experienced cyclists will tell you stories of how we're purposely "buzzed" (drivers getting as close to us as they can) and/or cut off (for "fun"). I've also had objects thrown at me and my fellow cyclists while on group rides. Ahh, the nuisance of public, non-owned roads.
Thinking about each and every time I have ever been aggressed against while cycling, I come to this thought: Having caused a car to slow down, perhaps, to wait to go around me, it seems I have taken up a mere 10-15 seconds of his poor, little life. I've made him wait ten seconds, and that gets me a sideview mirror swipe, a thrown object, or a few less-than-tasty words. Of course - and this ties in with Craig's thoughts - I've always thought that the aggression and hatred shown to cyclists is a jealous reaction to others' fitness, and a hatred of the displayed individuality that a sleek-looking cyclist exhibits.
The fact that roads are public is the root cause of the problems between bikes-cars-motorcycles, etc. For no private association would tolerate such aggression.
For a small "photo-tour" of some great Minnesota towns, see my blog posts here and here, at www.karendecoster.com.
