As the scattered paceline started to reassemble itself, Howard rolled alongside and said, "Another nail in the coffin." The Tuesday levee ride had started like any other, and by the time it had reached the Country Club it was stretched out into a long string of at least 20 riders. Up ahead there had been a fat lady lumbering down the right side of the bike path and also an oncoming bike. Riders called them out as usual, but the front part of the group didn't slow down much, if at all, and slipped through the gap way too close. By the time I, and most of the group, got there the door had closed and people started yelling "slowing" and "brakes" because as the bike and walker came together there was no longer room to navigate safely around them. Well, the fat lady went ballistic and turned around and screamed something unintelligible, and probably unintelligent, at the nice riders who had slowed to nearly a stop to avoid ramming into her backside. I screamed ahead to the front part of the group that had slipped past so they'd slow down until everyone regrouped. I even rode up to the front to explain that the front riders just can't be doing that sort of thing and that they need to consider whether the whole line will be able to make it past in situations like that. Anyway, we continued on, still chasing Donald and then a small group with Eddie and Brady, but when Brady was abandoned at the dip we all came back together there, not that the pace slowed down very much. With a little tailwind I guess we were going around 27 much of the time, with occasional surges up to 30 or so.
After the turnaround, I was dripping sweat like a window unit in a cathouse, and it was a long time before the pace started to gradually pick up again. Somewhere after Williams Brady flatted, so a few of us stuck around while the rest of the pack continued on. Well, when we came around the curve at the Country Club, there was a JP police car in the middle of the path with his strobe lights flashing, and the fat lady was on the grass with a lawn chair and a camera. We smiled and said "good morning" as the officer ignored us and the fat lady took pictures. A while later we caught up with the main group that had been stopped and lectured by the police officer as the fat lady, who is apparently a Parish Juvenile Court judge, took pictures. I wonder if I'll be on her blog. So I guess we'll end up going to the mat on the bike path thing and the fat ladies and risk control people will, as usual, win because after all, why would one expect to encounter a group of bicycles while strolling on a bike path? Everyone knows bicycles only go ten miles per hour. Personally, I think that in the name of safety, pedestrians should be banned from the bike path. They can walk anywhere -- like maybe the middle of Jefferson Highway.
8 comments:
It is time we all started paying closer attention to the hazard we pose to these oblivious people walking their dogs, roller-blading,
turning around without looking first. A few months ago Donald came dangerously close to hitting some old bag with a dog. Had he not swerved at the last minute somebody would have been hospitalized. It doesn't take much on our part to start exercising concern for the other pedestrians. So everyone needs to quit worrying about getting to work on time and start riding more sensibly.
Love,
Matt Rinard
A stay at home dad.
Yeah Matt. I was thinking that last time I was hanging on your wheel at 29 mph with my vision going blurry!
I wasn't there, but, I have got to beleive Howard must have been at or near the front when this incident took place...
Howard was behind me somewhere around the middle of the paceline at the time. It can be a tough call when you're at the front whether to slow down suddenly and risk a pile-up behind you, or maintain the momentum and navigate around. Unfortunately, what works for the front of the paceline doesn't always work for the back. I don't think the four or five riders nearest the front even realized what had happened at first.
I wasn't there yesterday but there's no excuse for what happened. Had the "fat lady" been a young woman with a baby stroller, or a parent riding behind their child on a bike, the group would certainly have slowed down. It may be a bike path, but there's no stopping walkers, joggers & others from using it. It may seem unjust, but if we don't respect them we'll find ourselves facing a speed limit like there is on the Tammany Trace.
It wouldn't bad idea for each of us to pull on some sneakers one Saturday morning and walk a couple of miles on the path, just to see what it feels like to have a group of bikes pass, without warning, 12" from your left arm, going 25 mph. Just my 2 cents' worth. . .
Dang Randy,
Sounds like some of the N.O. guys have been taking group riding tips from the guys around Mobile.
I was mid pack and Howard was behind me so there goes that theory. I think the real problem is pack size; yeterday was a larger than normal Tuesday group. If a large group shows up perhaps we should deliberately split instead of splitting as the ride progresses based on genetic make-up or EPO. This later scenario causes riders to be on the rivet and lose a bit of control/judgement. Indeed these less gifted riders are the ones on the back and get squeezed as the packs avoids someone in the same direction while another approaches in the opposite direction.
Hey roadrider - you may think this is a private blog but anybody with internet access can read it, including Her Honor. "Fat lady," "oblivious people" and "old bag with a dog" won't play well if this ever gets as far as the Parish Council or the Harahan or Kenner City Council. We may look good in lycra, but if we have to go to a Council meeting to speak against an ordinance restricting us on the bikepath they'll just see us as a bunch of white men riding expensive bikes. Maybe nothing comes of any of this; but just in case, you may want to consider editing today's entry before it's too late.
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