I was watching a really good documentary on the Tour de France this week on Netflix. If you get the chance to see it, watch it. Very well done. It brought up some thoughts of when I was real active riding road bikes. I started back in my 20s with a ride from North Park out into Butler County with Larry Cohen and Chuck Martin. These two guys, who are no longer with us, got me started and what a “ride” it has been. From long rides in the country, to racing the Allegheny Cycling Association time trials and criteriums at the Pittsburgh Zoo parking lot, to races in New Jersey and the Mt. Washington Hill Climb in New Hampshire. I also had the chance to ride my road bike in Holland, Ireland, and England as well as in many states of the U.S. Lots of good times riding along with lots of time on my hands.

I always enjoyed riding in a pack in the races and also on long road rides with all of my friends. The road is so smooth and when you get in a good group and exchange leads in a counterclockwise rotation, you can really motor along and rack up some serious mileage. Road cycling was always my go to spring, summer and fall activity for many, many years, until it all came to a screeching halt 5 years ago. Not by any accident or traumatic issue, but rather from the circumstances surrounding the roads that I had cycled for years. I started to notice an aggressive behavior of drivers on the road who seemed stressed. I used to ride in the city a lot and never had any vehicle issues- well maybe a few, but I generally kept my head down and kept pedaling and didn’t get into any confrontations. One time I had a guy throw a ham sandwich with mayo at me and smack me in the back of the head. After a few expletives from him in his car, he drove off and I wiped the Teddy Bear sandwich from the back of my helmet and kept riding. But it was starting to make me nervous.

The years went on and the road cycling continued. I enjoyed my weeknight rides to Mars, Pa. and beyond, and my weekend rides the country north of where I live. Most of the time, when I got further north, the roads were not as crowded, and the scenery was great, and it was a pleasant riding experience. But as housing developments began to spring up, replacing the farms and wooded areas I once rode through, the traffic became more of an issue along with the aggression of the drivers. Even though road bicyclists can share the road with motor vehicles, there was a feeling from a lot of drivers that we did not belong there. I always tried to ride to the right of the road as far as I could and gave drivers the appropriate hand signals to alert them if I was turning. I never got into confrontations and always tried to be courteous. But things started changing.

With the advent of car phones and then cellular phones, I noticed an increase in accidents, sometimes fatal on our roads. The ones I used to cycle on all the time. Different organizations put white painted bicycles called Ghost Bikes at the fatal accident sites as a reminder of what can happen. I came to the decision, a tough one , to sell my road bike and not leave my safety to the whim of someone not paying attention to the road and texting their friends. It just wasn’t the way it used to be, and I was thankful that at least mountain biking had taken over as a very good alternative option.

I miss road cycling. I miss the friends that I rode with. I also miss the solitary times by myself on some country road seeing picturesque farms and mountain views. Technology with the phones, and the spur of housing development had deflated my passion for riding on the road. Watching the Tour documentary this week brought back a lot of memories of road cycling. I looked at those nice Pinarello road bikes that Ineos uses with a bit of nostalgic envy.

I don’t mean in any way to suggest that anyone stop road cycling. I miss it. But I am just relating my experiences good and bad which made me come to the decision to stop. Maybe I am getting more conservative as I get older, or perhaps a bit more cautious. But the time came for me to put my road cycling life in the past and focus on other pursuits. Be careful where you ride. Stay safe. Be alert to vehicles and their drivers and avoid confrontation at all costs. Thanks for reading.

https://fb.watch/lpjYpG610H/?mibextid=qC1gEa

Good Rules of the Road for Cyclists link from Lake Placid.