Dear Cyclist, can we chat?
I own a bike. I ride it. I love the feeling of zipping down a hill against the wind. That sense of freedom and speed. None of that has changed since I was 7.
Granted, I’m no expert. I don’t own a pair of biking shorts, nor do I plan to. I hardly know my gears from my brakes. And I’m happy to donate to all those charity rides rather than ever ride in one.
However, I know my biking etiquette, while some of you have clearly forgotten yours.
Let’s start with the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Despite what might be in your head, the 25-mile path from Yarmouth to Wellfleet is not just a bike trail. There are runners and skateboarders and walkers, many of us with dogs. And, yes, I do leash my dog on the path AND I pick up poop.
But lately instead of walking down the right side of the trail, as one is supposed to do, I walk FACING the bike traffic, surprising some riders. It’s because, dear cyclists, you no longer seem inclined to announce your presence as you come up behind someone. You don’t ring a bell. Or beep a horn. Or say, “on your left.” You just whoosh by in a startling vision of colorful Spandex.
I’m not even touching electric bikes here. They are even more terrifying, swooping in silently from the rear like super-charged raptors.
You might think this is the exception rather than the rule. Au contraire. I see cyclists several times a week in good weather. One person – I repeat, one – has called out in about two years. And consider this: Cape Cod Commission counted an average of over 1,500 people – walkers and riders – using the trail in Brewster during one day in July 2021. That’s a lot of opportunities for interactions to go bad.
Not giving a signal is actually illegal. And dumb. Even if a dog is on a leash, it doesn’t like surprises. I’ve trained my dog to sit at the side of the trail when I say “bike,” but there are dogs for whom bikes are just confounding or frightening. As you speed by, you run the risk of the dog jumping or lunging or pulling at the leash in a manner that the often-older owner can’t control. The next thing you know, the owner is down and you’re down and everything’s a mess.
It’s to all our advantages for you to give pedestrians – whether they have a dog or not – the right of way and announce yourself. That’s not just cranky old me; that’s Massachusetts law.
And can we talk about Route 6A?
Sadly it does not have a bike lane. I wish it did, with apologies to all of you who live along it, as I used to do. Forty years ago, I would pop my 2-year-old into the bike seat and pedal down to the store for doughnuts, stop to eat them at Millway Beach, and then ride home along Route 6A, his sleepy little helmeted head banging against my back. I think we can all agree traffic counts were lower then. I would no more do that on Route 6A now than dance down the middle of it blindfolded.
But many cyclists – I’m sure it’s not you – bike down 6A like they own it, sometimes three abreast. The other day two were riding down the LEFT side of the road, facing traffic.
Even if you are on the right side of the road, many of you act as if there weren’t a line of impatient drivers – many of us, over a certain age, if you get my drift – anxiously waiting to get around you. Drivers pull out, balk, pull back into traffic, pull out again, getting increasingly foolhardy as the miles roll by, and you just keep on pedaling. Or worse, suddenly there’s a driver coming around a curve over the yellow line because they swerved around a bike.
Meanwhile, cyclists are pedaling like demons trying to stay ahead of the cars. But, it’s a race you can’t win. So even if you’re raising money for a worthy cause, don’t cash-out, so to speak, while you’re doing it. Is Route 6A really the only road you can take? If there’s a line of cars, how about ducking into a side street occasionally to release the pressure? Oh, and remember, crosswalks apply to bikes, too.
Look, we can all get along. I promise not to run you off Route 6A or other Cape roadways and to be patient. I’ll continue to be a mannerly dog walker on the rail trail or the Cape’s other paths and donate to your cause. All I ask is some courtesy and a loud bell.
