Cycling: Yes I have the RIGHT to be on the road!

I was out for my Saturday ride just a lil hour 15 jaunt around the homestead. Lately I have been riding with D but Saturday he decided he was going to lift at the gym while I rode. I decided to take the route that isn't super hilly for a little change. And while about 2 miles into my ride I had my first fight with a passenger of a car! This is how it went down.

I was riding just to the left of the white line of the shoulder to avoid all the sand and pot holes. A car pulls out of the lot to my left turning into the lane of traffic I am traveling in. He pulled in just as I was coming by pushing me off into the shoulder. Luckily I am not a novice cyclist and I just adjusted instead of freaking out and crashing out. As they did it I screamed "REALLY?!" And we pulled up to the one light in town. The female passenger rolls down the window and goes "Really what?!"
I said "You nearly hit me."
"Well, we didn't. And you are on a F*ckin Bicycle, get off the road and on the shoulder where you belong."
"Actually, if you read the rules of the road I have just as much right to be on the road as you do."
"Actually, according to the rules of the road you have to be off the road on the shoulder."

Then the light turned green and the driver finally pipes up and he says "Well at least I didn't hit you!" and they sped off.

I was fuming! Which actually fueled a great ride. I couldn't believe how wrong they were and how they chose to fight with me about it. I couldn't believe the driver hung his hat on *not* hitting me even though he could have easily caused a crash! A crash that he would have been 100% at fault for! I know I am bound to have a lot more run ins with cars- hopefully none literally! I have done 3 and a half hour rides and never had someone be so blatantly rude or WRONG!

Just for clarification I did look it up- the basic rule in Massachusetts is "Same Roads. Same Rules." This site has some great info on the rules for cyclists and motorists in Massachusetts, "http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

And I did check with a cop on Sunday. He said I was right I am allowed to be on the road cops prefer that you stay as far right as possible to be safe but I am allowed to be on the road I don't have to be on the shoulder. Then the very nice officer asked if it happen somewhere in his area that he could do something about it. haha :)

Anyway- I just wanted to make people aware of their rights as a cyclist and make motorists aware to be careful! I have a hope that maybe my fight with the woman in the car will cause someone that saw it to think twice, or look twice, to keep cyclists safe. I know the guy that was driving the car behind them slowed way down and looked all the way over his shoulder before he made a left to be sure I wasn't coming close. Hey maybe it paid off a little?!

Cycling... New Equipment... Great Training Day

For those of you that have known me for a while you know that I did my first tri in 09- it was off road so I used my old mountain bike to train and borrowed D's to race. In April of last year I had my hip surgery so that made bike riding a big part of my recovery and potential come back to triathlon. I bought a bike (trek 2.1) soon after my surgery and tried my first ride when I was allowed bout 4 weeks post surgery. On my very first attempt to clip in I fell over onto my NEWLY repaired hip. I rode with flat pedals for the rest of the 2010 season.

With the new endeavors I was taking on this season in triathlon I had to give the clips another shot. My friend Julia bought some speed play pedals and when I saw how easy they were to use I had to get some. I swapped to the speed play light action . Love em and get in and out of em easily!


So my newest edition to making my training and racing better I added aero bars to my road bike! Last Thursday I had aero bars put on my bike. In order to do this I had a fitting, I just needed to be sure that the add of the aero bars wasn't going to totally screw me up. Glad I went. Ended up adding Profile Jammer bars to my current road bike. I just can't afford the purchase of a tri bike right now so I am making it work. At the fit we ended up leaving most of my geometry the same but taking out a spacer in the handlebars.

I took the bike out for the first spin on Sunday- 2hrs on the road. It felt so good. I had a great training ride. I rode almost 31 miles in the 2 hours. Which is about 2mph faster than I usually ride my training rides. Then hopped off the bike and ran 2 miles. It was one of those great training days that boosts you mentally. I needed one. I was starting to get to the point where I thought I wasn't going to make the time cut offs for Timberman. This ride and run made me realize I have come a long way and my training is paying off. It was really just a great training day! :)