<br>At least they acknowledged the <span style="font-style: italic;">concept</span> of cyclists acting like vehicle drivers, though they misrepresented what it is ("bikes acting like cars"), did not give a hint about how well it works, and basically quickly dismissed it ("just won't work in
L.A" - no mention of why) and moved on to the tired old "solution": separation of cyclists from motor traffic through the use of "facilities".
<br><br>The clip of the KFI road cyclist Michael Clarke at 0:55 being closely passed in a narrow lane looked like it was a typical southern CA arterial, the type on which Dan Gutierrez and Brian DeSousa have filmed and shown dramatically the effect of riding as far right as Clarke is shown to be riding versus riding just a couple of feet further left. In the former case -- using the Clarke "separation style", if you will -- most drivers are invited to pass by squeezing into the narrow lane with the cyclist, just like it was shown on this news report. In the latter case, by riding in a lane-controlling position, everyone changes lanes to pass, and the cyclist has plenty of room.
<br><br>In addition to his riding style, Clarke reveals why he has the issues that he has through his own words of deference, "there is no sense of sharing, it is a battle for space. I have to battle for my five inches out there".
<span style="font-style: italic;">Battle</span>? Five inches? Can anyone say, "self-fulfilling prophecy"? At the end of the piece, at 3:22, Clarke discloses more about his sense of inferiority: "Right now the cars rule. It's their road. And it's my job to go in there and figure a way in and out of them".
<br><br>What can we do to get cyclists to stop talking and, more importantly, to stop <span style="font-style: italic;">thinking</span> like this?<br><br>Dan/Brian - any chance you can share a link to that clip?<br><br>Serge
<br><br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/8/07,
<b class="gmail_sendername">Darryl MacKenzie</b> <<a href="mailto:DarrylMacKenzie@cox.net" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">DarrylMacKenzie@cox.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Interesting story from a former Cyclo-Vet.<br><br>Hi All,<br><br>I just saw a news story on NBC, Channel 4, LA. It was called "Road Wars"<br>and was a news exclusive about bikes vs. cars. I taped it and then had the
<br>story uploaded to YouTube. The news previews made it look like a hard<br>hitting and scary piece for cyclists. They could have done a lot better with<br>the story. Check it out and see for yourself.<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbeDxOHfT68" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbeDxOHfT68</a><br>Troy<br><br><br><br><br>__________ NOD32 2047 (20070208) Information __________<br><br>This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.<br><a href="http://www.eset.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
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