Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Another thought on my crash...

After some more reflection on what happened to me this evening, I've come to two conclusions. First, I'm very concerned about the level of attention drivers pay the road. It seems (in the last two weeks) that things have gotten worse and worse on the road. Sure I've been riding a lot more in those two weeks than just about all of the summer, but I'm still shocked at the level of road rage and ignorance displayed by drivers here on Long Island. It really is true that they hate anyone taking up the road with anything other than a gas guzzling, environment killing SUV.

I just don't get it. As cyclists, we really don't take up all that much room-those of us that are respectful, that is. Of course there are some jackasses out there on bikes, hogging up the road, and making drivers hate us. Listen guys, we appreciate that you feel the need to demonstrate our rights as bikers on the road, but no matter how you cut it, cars will always win.

There just aren't enough of us out here. Either that or people driving on the roads just have no conscience. They could care less if they run us down. As far as their concerned, we don't deserve to share the road with their big bad trucks and cars.

On the second note, I realized I'm definately not invincible. I think because of the fact I had never crashed, I pushed and pushed the limits as if there were none. I really didn't have any idea what it was like to feel the pavement strip your flesh away. Luckily, I got that education tonight and lived to tell the story. My bike however...well that may just be collateral damage.

So that's it. Driver's out here are nuts, and I need to be more careful. Unfortunately the likelyhood of me changing any drivers' opinion is about nil, so I'll work on me. Thank the Lord I'm still here to do that.

Push 'till ya puke (safely)...Always.

2 comments:

jameson said...

dude... sorry to hear about your crash, and the new bike. Most drivers suck! that's why i ride offroad as much as possible.

I hope everything heals quickly.

Dave said...

Thanks for the good word man, I really appreciate it. The bike looks like it's gonna make it. I took it down to the local bike shop and they gave it a pretty good inspection and said I was good to go. Fortunately/unfortunately, I think my body took most, if not all of the impact! The way I see it is that I'll heal, the bike won't. You're right though, after my last race of the season this weekend I'm planning on lighting up the moutain bike on the trails this winter! Hey, and congrats on your result from this past weekend! That's gotta feel amazing!