By Max Dirks
Max and Irene Dirks on their tandem bike.
My wife, Irene and I are tandem bike riders and have done several organized bike rides through the years. The biggest thing we have learned in our bike riding experience is to be seen. When we ride, we have a small, but bright flashing light on the front of the bike, a red flashing light on the rear and Irene has another red flashing light on her bike helmet. We try to wear clothing that will help us stand out, and a lot of the time we wear high-visibility vests.
To prepare for these organized bike rides, we
ride 10 to 25 miles at a time around our small community of WaKeeney on the
city streets and highways. We feel we are doing something right when we have
people from the community tell us, “When you are biking, we can see you a half
mile away.”
While biking, we have learned 99% of the
traveling public is very courteous to cyclists, but you always need to be on
the lookout for that other 1%. Being courteous is a two-way street. My mindset
as a cyclist is to ride on the edge of the road or the paved shoulder to allow
cars and trucks as much room to safely to pass - a courtesy to the traveling
public.
A few years ago, we were on a organized bike
ride on a highway in southwest Kansas. The road was hilly (Yes, hilly! For all
of you who think Kansas is flat, get on a bike and start riding!). There was
one cyclist who was riding in the middle of the lane and at times on the center
line. We all had just topped a hill and then saw a semi come over the hill right
behind us. The one cyclist was still riding in the middle of the lane. We were
all very lucky that the truck driver was able to lock up his brakes and avoid
the cyclist riding in the middle of the lane.
I have thought several times what went through
the trucker’s mind when this all took place. Do I go left and have a head on
collision with another truck, or take the shoulder and take out 40 to 60 other
cyclists? Or hit my brakes and hope for the best?
We were ALL very lucky NO one was hurt. As I
said before, sharing the road is a two-way street. Both cyclists and motorists
should look out for each other and show mutual respect for everyone’s safety.
Max
Dirks is the KDOT Area Superintendent in Hays
Wow, that would have been very scary to watch. I'm so glad no one was hurt.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this good post, Max. Irene and you are among the growing number of cyclists taking to Kansas highways and back roads. Many of those roads do not have shoulders, making your message to share the road all the more important. Your last line is best: "... show mutual respect for everyone's safety." Safe travels across hilly Kansas!
ReplyDeleteMax - it sounds like you may have been on the Bike Across Kansas on this ride. I too have seen careless riders all of the way across the lane they are riding in. This just gives us cyclists a bad name with motorists, I just wish these riders would be more mindful to present a positive image of our cycling community.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the story Max. It is a good reminder how important situational awareness is for both the rider and those driving the roadways. One moment of distraction can change lives.
ReplyDeleteGood to see folks out and about on their bikes. I too ride a bike but do a lot of MTB (mountain biking) on trails around Topeka but still need to get there on local roads and streets. I do use a blinking taillight and my preference also is to ride near the curb or in the shoulder when no trail or dedicated bike lane is available such as Shunga and Landon Trials, which are great facilities. There are numerous “Share-the-Road” routes in Topeka marked with the bike symbol pavement marking which are generally good facilities. These bike markings also indicate the general positioning of a bike in the street, but many would have you riding towards the center of the road and some streets even indicate with signing that bike may take the full lane. This is fine as they are generally lower volume routes, but a motor vehicle will always win any competition for space on the roadway, so I tend to stay out of their way! Seems like many folks in vehicles are not giving as much attention to driving as they should.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. I agree with share the road and think it works best like most things when we fight and divide something it’s not enuf but if we share, it is wide enuf. We don’t often ride on a hiway like in this experience - more like in-town & on city streets. we agree with your 99% observation. Only the slight few are jerks who honk and think we don’t have a right to road cycle. Ody enuf us “share the road’ types are quickly losing ground and are being displaced by a fad that claims to be pushing “separate facilities” but they are ‘t separate & they aren’t facilities. they R decorations hijacking the existing roadbed/watershed & narrowing the road/blvd/wide avenue so now normal road riding is extinct. I have seen lovely home roads like Gilham & Armour boulevards in KCMO ruined to regular cycling & routing. We have a #RightToRoadCycle and it is under attack not only by that 1% motorist jerk, but also by the professional bike lane advocates & there are dozens and dozens of them (if not many many more than that) in KCMO. they narrow all roads they touch, throwing up hi curbs & pinchpoints & anti-cycling road furniture on all the new streetscapes going in. Thank you, #CyclistsAgainstBikeLanes
ReplyDeleteHey Max, absolute garbage post. Maybe DOTs should build roadways conducive to sharing? There are 40,000 annual deaths and $1T in damages caused by drivers of cars in this country. But, sure, share the road.
ReplyDeleteTake the lane. The safest place to ride is in the middle of the road. Anytime I’m near the edge cars try to squeeze past me without slowing. Winning hearts and minds didn’t work in Vietnam and it doesn’t work with motorists.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in Kansas and worked the highways alot of years and now live in Texas. I have one question, why are you not allowed to ride facing traffic which would give you alot of time to move out of the way.
ReplyDelete