I wasn't going to write about the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) this year. I did come out of my self-imposed RAGBRAI retirement to ride one 50+ mile day with my daughter and her friend, but it was a relatively uneventful day, and I didn't think there was enough new things to add to my prior years' summaries.
Since then, I've had a another cycling-related issue come up to complain about, so I figured I'd include everything in one blog post. Turns out this week was also the second anniversary of my last (and hopefully only) biking crash, so cycling is on my mind.
First, the 2016 RAGBRAI observations:
* I rode on Thursday this year, later than any day in the week I ever had as an adult. I get the feeling that fewer people actually ride later in the week. The weather was great, and the day was short, so I think this is a rational explanation for what, from my perspective, was fewer riders.
* Here may be another reason for fewer people: Proximity of the ride. The far southern Iowa route doesn't lend itself well to a daily ride of 10,000+ cyclists. There are fewer towns, ergo fewer people to join the ride for a day, and even fewer roads for the route and its many support vehicles. Frankly, RAGBRAI should permanently keep the ride north of Interstate 80, and then from time-to-time just send some of the ride proceeds to southern Iowa towns. Win/win.
* Best sign this year was next to a cornfield late in the day's route, which declared it was the last chance to use the "World's Largest Transgender Bathroom." (By the way, this is another negative about going through southern Iowa, where it's about 85% pastureland and only 15% cornfields.)
* Worst thing I saw this year was a roadside, trashy-looking acreage with a double-wide trailer and, ugh, a large confederate flag. Really?! That was not good optics for RAGBRAI or for Iowa. It screamed ignorance. I'd have given almost anything to see a team of riders raid that yard and destroy that flag.
* Still no pineapple pie anywhere.
Now for my complaint. A lot of effort goes into the 'Ride Right' theme of RAGBRAI and large group cycling, where riders are encouraged to use proper hand signals and call out bike movements and stoppages. That's great, but some cyclists are taking it too far. I saw some getting upset at other riders who didn't live up to their "Ride Right' expectations, without factoring in that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of others on RAGBRAI who simply don't ride enough to know the rules.
Worse yet, some cyclists were yelling at drivers of vehicles who they deemed to not be properly sharing the road. I saw it again this week when I was on a ride, where another cyclist got angry that a car didn't stop for him at an unmarked crosswalk.
C'mon now, you cyclist-douche bags. I get that too many cyclists are being injured or even killed by careless drivers -- I have to make minor defensive maneuvers virtually every time I go for a ride. But instead of cursing at the darkness, maybe just worry about continuing to make yourself a great example. Be an ambassador of good, not evil, and always remember that in a battle between the vehicle and the bicycle, the vehicle will win 100% of the time.
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