Chris, the individual in your example is probably the one who also hogs the road and thinks he's the only one on it when he drives a car. You can't teach, legislate or force people to use common sense or courtesy. Some people are just plain inconsiderate slobs no matter what their form of transportation is.

Yesterday I was hanging behind a bicycle as he rode 7 feet from the white line. As we approached a stop sign, I stopped and he kept on going. I caught up to him about 200 feet down the road and then hung behind him again till we came to another stop sign at which point I stopped and he kept on going. Fortunately for me, the road headed downhill and he gained enough speed to almost reach the 25 limit and then I turned left before we hit the flats.

Do these people not realize that S-T-O-P means "stop"?

Maybe the lycra pants are cutting the blood off to their brains?

I knew when I saw the headline to this letter, Yo Yo would be in here early with another harrowing tail, er, tale, about following men in spandex for miles down the road to verify that they couldn't stop.

It's indeed curious that Yo Sammie can come up with abhorrent anti-cycling anecdotes at will, every time the Journal prints another inflammatory complaint letter.

The complaint letter writer claims that (s)he had to "move into the opposing lane" in order to drive around a person (who was probably trying to fix a flat tire). I doubt that the writer had to cross over a solid yellow line on Bald Hill Road in order to pass some Tour de Lincoln cyclist standing along the roadside, even if the cyclist was stupidly protruding out into the road. There just aren't very many stretches of Bald Hill Road with solid yellow lines. In other words, it was perfectly safe and legal to drive a little further over toward the left side of a road with no line, in order to avoid striking and killing a person. Of course the complaint can now be altered to insist that there was a solid yellow line.

I live off of Placer Hills Road, a road that cyclists use regularly for training (I am assuming since there are lots of them out there everyday with all the gear). Most of the time I don't have a problem, but a couple times in the last year I have had near misses with riders who, for whatever reason, insist on riding well into the lane and won't move over or stop for anything. I am actually amazed that there aren't more accidents.

I live on Newcastle Road where there are TONS of bicyclists everyday and especially on weekends... they don't bother me at all. It's good to see people out enjoying our area. A the rate my knees are going I'll probably be joining them soon. Running hurts my knees too much.

There's always going to be a few rude people in any given group but we can't blame them all.

This is the problem with Mr. Chaddock's letter... he had a bad time with some bicyclists when he was in a hurry one day and his solution is to write a letter with a serious threat (he claims wanting to be fair and balanced). This then provokes and inflames other similar minded people to write letters about their bad day and away we go.

No real solutions usually in these types of letters... just complaints about a particular bad day they had here or there and someone feels compelled to tell others about it... as if your private individual encounter represents a virus that is affecting everyone and you need to tell us about it.

Nothing wrong with people voicing their opinions in whatever manner they see fit... more power to you. But, it just never crossed my mind to write a LTE just because I had an unfortunate encounter with any person -- motorized, bicycle, waiting in a grocery line, walking down the street, etc. -- and complain to the whole world.

i'm certainly not perfect, but i tend to just deal with the situation between myself and the individual(s) involved, create a solution, and not lump all into a category (all/most bicyclists are arrogant) and try to treat it as an individual situation each time.

just don't see the point in airing my bad days or encounters. to each his own, i guess. maybe it makes you feel better to tell the world about it. but bottom line, it's just life... and not all that interesting. get involved if it's important enough to you.

I need to correct myself: Gold Hill does indeed have a solid double line, my apologies, I was thinking of Chili Hill Road. But that doesn't change the point that if some cyclist had a flat tire, they have to stop and change it right then and there at that spot in the road, they can't ride on a flat because they can't control the bike with one. Responsibility remains on the motorist to safely steer around a stopped cyclist, painted road or not. I've had local police cars pass my cycling group by driving over a double yellow line (no, the officer wasn't on the way to an emergency). You can safely break traffic laws for the purpose of preventing injuries to humans.

Guess what all of you folks complaining about cyclists-- you gave encouragement to a future murderer. Here's a quote from some moron commenting today on the letter from a person asking you all to be careful:

"prepare for the danger that you might find yourself looking face up at the bottom on my Dodge Ram Diesel’s transmission. I win!"

Go look at the comments to the other letter and see for yourself. Hopefully this criminally-minded creep won't kill or critically injure someone. If he does I'll consider every one of you anti-cycling fools responsible.

"But that doesn't change the point that if some cyclist had a flat tire, they have to stop and change it right then and there at that spot in the road," Oh yea it would be tough to lift the bike and carry it off the side of the road like most bicyclists that I see are able to accomplish.

Jerks are jerks no matter what they are doing while other individuals are only trying to do what was once known as using Common Sense.

Recently, I wrote a letter to the editor which addressed some of the rude, un-safe, and illegal bicycle behavior exhibited by some of the cyclists during the Tour De Lincoln Charity Bicycle ride.

I need to clarify what my original letter attempted to explain. A very dangerous situation was created by one of the cyclists when she maneuvered to pass another cyclist without looking behind her. In her attempt to pass the other cyclist, she darted out in front of my daughter and I in a pickup towing a loaded livestock trailer weighing in at over twenty-five thousand pounds. Because there was oncoming traffic of bicyclists and cars, I could not take evasive action to the left. I thank God I was only going 30 MPH and able to slow my vehicle enough to avoid hitting her, other cyclists, and a minivan loaded with kids traveling in the other direction.

Because I am a very passionate person, I wrote a lengthy letter that contained some very bold statements to help illustrate my point. Because of the letters length, the Auburn Journals editorial staff edited out the heart of the letter. In doing so it left me sounding like a maniacal anti-cyclist out to run them down. The statement in question was “Don’t make me choose between my family’s safety and yours because you will lose!” This statement was not intended as a threat. If I had to choose between hitting a minivan loaded with kids head-on, or forcing a few adult cyclists off the road with my livestock …

Continued....

the kids win and the adult cyclists lose.

laughatpoo,

You have a little bit of a distorted view of people who are tired of watching cyclists ignore the laws of the road.

You're also attempting to silence opinion by telling everyone that if they go on talking negatively about cyclists, and then someone runs one of these folks down, that somehow anyone who posted a negative opinion of the cyclists is responsible. Huh uh! Screwball logic you're using here.

I just wish some brave, honest person from the cycling community would come out and admit they ride the streets and roads of Placer County (and everywhere else for that matter) with little regard for the law. I wish one person would come forward and be honest about how pathetic bike riders are when it comes to abiding by the laws.

If they would do that I believe more than a few people would say, OK, we'll try harder to make the roadway work for all who use it.

Man-up you bikers! Admit you break the law every time you leave your house.

Hey "Born Here" cutting and pasting the same comment under all the letters does not make you seem any less beligerant.

When you behave in an irresponsible manner, you give other truck drivers who don't try to frighten and intimidate other road users a bad reputation.

Canyonrat,

When you make assumptions without knowing facts, it cheapens you sir. I am not a truck driver. But you had to get the last word in, so be it.

hey there gregcalac... when you say "I wish one person would come forward and be honest about how pathetic bike riders are when it comes to abiding by the laws..." it is very difficult to tell if you say that tongue-in-cheek or if you are serious. If serious, then you also fall into the category of generalizing and lumping all riders into one big morass... what I would call "bicycle profiling."

If you're just kidding, then a little hint at your sarcasm or smile would help... but your calling him/her "poo" invites one to think you're serious, and that's odd from you who has made a practice out of chastising others for not being civil here. :-)

If you are driving a pickup truck and trailer.... weighing over 25,000 lbs.... that's 10 to 20 times heavier than an automobile, and you ARE a truck driver according to the Dept. of Motor vehicles, which will register your truck as a truck and not as a car. Take it up with them.

CanyonRat,

Your arguments are somewhat Mickey Mouse, the fact remains your bicycyle buddy still broke the law. By her flagrant disregard of California Vehicle Codes, and bicycle safety ettiquette, she caused an incident which put my daughter, myself, other bicyclists, and other motorists in DANGER! Not to mention all of the other cyclists that broke many laws that day. Cyclists that sopped in the midddle of the traffic lanes to rest, bicyclists that blocked the ophir firehouse intersection, bicyclists that completely closed down the Ophir Road Park N Ride to vehicle traffic. I could go on and give you each chapter and subsection that corresponds to all of there flagrant violations of the California Vehicle Codes, but you are too arrogant to believe that you or one of your buddies could do that.

wrighter,

Haven't I been civil here?

First of all, I think cycling is a great activity. I believe there are a lot of nice people out there cycling their buns off (literally) and I know many of them. I also enjoy jumping on my bike and tearing around town every once in a while. So, I would never lump all cyclist into one big morass. Nor would I ever "bicycle profile" for the sake of simplicity.

No, I'm not a cycle hater, I'm a cycle realist. If I walk down to the corner of Race Track Street and Auburn/Folsom Road, which is the closest big intersection to my house, you can sit for an hour and never see one cyclist come to a complete stop at the signal light. You might see one come to an inconvenient semi-stop, or they might even make that illegal maneuver where they come to an intersection, turn right and then quickly flip a U-turn and turn right again to put them back on their original path.

It's not that I dislike cyclists, I just know what I see on a daily basis and I've never heard any riders admit what everyone already knows. They constantly break the law!

If you want to hear me admit that I drive around all day, every day, talking on my cell phone without a hands-free device, then I'll do that, gladly. But, it would be nice and refreshing to hear a cyclist do the same with regard to running stop signs when it's so obvious that they do.

None of this means I'm ready to start running people down because they're on a bike. Heck no! Actually, I wish more people would get on a bike and get out of their car. However, please abide by the same laws as the motorist are held to. It they would just do that then I'm a real happy camper.

That's all. ;-)

Wrighter,

You are obviously a good writer as you can add a very subtle spin to further try to villify me. The story you spin is that I was just out to get where I was going faster, not the case sir/mam. You read an incomplete letter, a letter that had been edited for length so you didn't get to read all of the facts. I stated nothing but facts, some coloful statements, and quoted California Vehicle Codes, but the meat of my letter was cut away leaving nothing but the colorful statements. I admit had my letter been crafted a little better, with fewer colorful statements than my writings would have been less offensive to you and those like you. The fact still remains that many bicyclists that day were not being safe and breaking the law, end of story.

In closing, by airing my grievences with a letter to the Auburn Journal has gotten people to THINK about the situation than I have begun to accomplish my objective. I am getting involved.

"Anyone of any age is free to ride a bicycle without training and with little fear of law enforcement. No wonder cyclists have unnecessary accidents! The first step to a recognition of cyclists as legitimate road users is to agree on how they should behave in traffic, and to develop a course to teach this behavior." EC rev

This along with what appears to anonymity, many cyclists seem to fall into the "little man" category. If you misbehave driving a motorized licensed vehicle at least law enforcement has some information that allows them to find and stop the lawless individuals.

gregcalac... you are always civil. ;-)

i must've misunderstood the "poo" in your post.

you don't have to be an apologist for the bicycle riders who violate the law to say that it isn't fair to lump them all into one heap.

my complaint is when someone enters a discussion announcing that *all* of them are wrong. that kind of generalization is pervasive here in this discussion on bicyclists, much like it is on other topics. many people will try to categorize all Democrats as the same, or all Republicans as the same, or all religious people as the same, or all bicyclists as the same. i just contend that this isn't reality, and discussions wouldn't blow out of proportion and would be more civil if we didn't generalize so much.

Born_here... i wasn't trying to vilify you here overtly or covertly. my apologies. i was just making my own independent point that now and then someone has a personal encounter that didn't go well and then write about it as a LTE. rightly or wrongly, i simply have the opinion that this isn't a prevalent problem that is so severe that the letter writer couldn't have found a better solution that would deal with the direct incident in question. i drive our roads all the time and bicycle incidents are very few and far between and i never hear about it from others in the county. my only point was individual personal incident = individual personal responsibility and solution. at any rate, it sounds like you are doing more than writing and that's commendable.

Wrighter,

Thanks.

I think what a lot of people mistake for irritation at cyclists might actually be concern about running over one. When I break it down for myself that's generally the case.

It scares me when bikes come out of nowhere and put themselves close enough to me that I might come into contact with them in a way that I wouldn't want.