This is a real mystery, Deacon. So many people in our society suffer from such very high levels of anxiety that the pathological base has come to be labeled normal. Most American's think their life would be better if only they were in some other place doing something else! In the short run not much can be done to change that and the long run begins with refusing to buy into their delusion. As for self protection, I start with trying to be visible at all times. This can feel counter intuitive, compared to trying to stay out of the line of travel, but, as you surely know, the driver who hits you will swear s/he never saw you, that "you came out of nowhere." You are right to take the lane when necessary, and I would add, wear brightly colored clothing. Of course the law in all states requires slow moving vehicles to stay as far to the right as reasonably possible.
When all is said and done, at 71, I would rather die on my bike than on the sofa watching reruns of Gilligan's Island! 39 degrees, 30 mph winds, and light rain in Vermont today, so not tempted to ride. Michael On Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 2:22:25 PM UTC-5, Deacon Patrick wrote: > > On narrow mountain roads we take the lane, riding in the right tire track. > Thus, cars no longer run us off the road, but instead pass us after going > to the oncoming lane. That works great when there is clear sight line and > no oncoming traffic. Far too often, entitled drivers pass us anywhere, when > it is either a blind curve or there is clear oncoming traffic. This > happened 4 times this morning just getting out of our small mountain town > on y ride with our two eldest lassies. Four times oncoming traffic was > forced to stop and/or pull over for selfish drivers. > > Whenever I see this situation is about to happen, I try to signal the > driver coming up behind me (I always ride at the end of the bike line) by > putting my left hand out in the "Caution, slow" signal and if I hear them > still passing, I wave them back. This has caused a driver to slow down > exactly once out of countless times. > > Any ideas how to help the situation be smoother/better? > > With abandon, > Patrick > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
