What's Going On Out There?

I enjoyed a great ride yesterday - from the Capitol Square around Lake Monona and east to Cottage Grove and further east on the Glacial Drumlin Trail to Deerfield to enjoy lunch.

After a great lunch and good hospitality at Tina's Deerfield Bar & Grill with a Burger, Fries, and Mt Dew - it was back on the bike for the return trip.  56 miles total - a good distance and without much wind - it felt good heading down the trails and roads.

What I couldn't understand today were some of my fellow bike riders.

There were more folks on bikes today NOT wearing helmets that I've seen in a long time.  Which was made all the more interesting when I came upon Madison Police and a Rescue Squad attending to a biker who had been hit by a car.  (He didn't appear to be seriously hurt.)

There were too many with earbuds jamming out to music while riding.  Seriously people?  Your ears are the second most important sense we have when it comes to avoiding trouble on the road.  If you can't see the cross traffic, maybe you can hear it.  Please, no headphones.  It's a bad idea (and against the law) to drive a car with headphones... don't ride that way either.

Oh, and for the woman rider I saw texting and riding a couple weeks back.... come on - put the phone out of reach while riding.

But taking the cake today was a rider a little older than me that passed me from behind while I waited for a red light to change.  There was cross traffic, but that didn't seem to bother him.  Riding without a helmet - he slowed and picked his way across traffic and did the same thing a few blocks later at a busier intersection.

It's the kind of behavior that leads motorists to 'hate' bike riders for ignoring standard laws of the road.  That doesn't help the rest of us and could get you killed in the meantime.

Biking is a great way to travel to work and a fun form of recreation - but since you probably want to return home at the end of it - try to take some practical pre-cautions.

OK, end of sermon - please open your songbook now to page 14 as we join in singing, 'A Bicycle Built for Two.'