The Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society February 2018, Volume 35, Issue #2
President’s Report John Pringle
Drivers and cyclists – Is harmony possible?
Christmas dinner party for six. Four avid cyclists. Two non-cyclists. Ages ranged between 60 and 75 years. We’d completed a grand supper. Had moved before the fire with a wee dram, and the desire for quiet conversation to end a fine, festive evening. Despite a warm glow, she looked a little uncomfortable, cautious maybe, in launching the topic, but launch it she did (And I paraphrase); “I know you folks are cyclists. But I must admit there are problem cyclists in downtown Victoria. For example, a cyclist came along side between the curb and my car at a traffic light. Upon the green light, he zoomed straight ahead – across the intersection! Shouldn’t he have turned left or waited ‘til I turned left?” Her husband joined in, explaining that he too had recently had a bad experience with a most aggressive cyclist. “I was coming out of a parking lot and idled on the street’s edge waiting to move into the traffic. A most irritated cyclist slammed his fist onto my hood and yelled, ‘you’re in my &%$# lane’! Indeed I was, but surely this is permissible? Just waiting to get into my lane?” These folks, I can assure you, do not want to irritate cyclists, “… why some of our best friends are cyclists …,” they noted, nodding at us, “but we just want you to know that cyclists don’t always obey the rules … We are correct, are we not, in our assessment of fault?” They went on to suggest that, “… cyclists should have bicycle license plates so drivers can call the cops when they misbehave?” They added that, “… the license should be of significant cost to help pay for bicycle law enforcement?” The four cyclists looked at each other in quiet amazement. “Cyclists, like auto drivers, are not saints”, one of us replied. “We will, when safe to do so, roll through a stop sign. Our lights may not always be on. We may ride in groups. But some of these seemingly egregious affronts to the rules may coincide with those pulled by drivers”, he pointed out. “We are on a 20 kg bicycle. We’re not likely to harm anybody but ourselves. And it would certainly be a rare cyclist who caused the death of a motorist. Driving any vehicle, however, is another story when it comes to the flaunting of rules in and around pedestrians or cyclists: driving distracted; driving impaired; speeding; and on and on.” The conversation did change the tone of the evening’s finish. We’re of course, yet friends, but it was an eye opener. Folks of this age, unaware of simple rules designed to allow cyclists’ a safer journey – their friends’ journeys safer.
In another Christmas conversation, a close relative who, because of my commitment to cycling, relayed a story from the streets of Amsterdam. He was sitting, coffee in hand, in a café patio. “John, the streets were swarming with cyclists. They were everywhere. Thousands of them. No helmets. No signals. Weaving in and around cars. Crappy old bikes. It made me so mad I searched in vain for a cop!” I asked, “Were the local drivers concerned.” “No they weren’t”, he replied. “Couldn’t understand it. No honking of horns. No yelling. No fingers.” “Well then, why were you concerned,” I asked? “You spoiled your morning coffee, maybe your day, worrying about cyclists in a foreign country. Here were cyclists and motorists who’d obviously worked out a symbiotic relationship; maybe even a mutual admiration for one another?” He couldn’t explain his reaction. But this is the same lad who feels motorcycles taking BC ferries should pay the same rate as vehicles despite occupying much less space. “Nor should they be allowed to board ahead of vehicles or go to the front of the queue”, he’s been known to say. An intolerant mind possibly? He dislikes motorcyclists with the same sense of unfairness and bias that he dislikes cyclists. He too thinks cyclists should pay road taxes, line up in the automobile queues for ferries, and carry a license plate. Not sure where this dislike stems from, but it seems pervasive in significant chunks of society. Just last week Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson announced he’d not be running for re-election; CBC’s afternoon show phone lines were humming with denigrating calls re his bicycle lane legacy. Finally, the host shut down the most angry and aggressive of these calls.
Disliking cyclists is one thing; being ignorant of cyclists and their special place in traffic; their requirements, their legal right to a lane whether in busy city traffic or on country roads, and so on, is quite another. Sadly, the results may be the same in any consequent tangle; the cyclist, guaranteed, will be the loser.
What to do? We cyclists must ride defensively, be visible, be cautious, be careful. We must be smart, aware, alert, attentive, agreeable, and in the end, if right, we don’t want to be “dead right”. We can all learn to be better riders, to be safer riders: To ride so that we’re not a menace to our fellow cyclists, to drivers, and to ourselves. You, dear member, can begin by looking at www.bikesense.bc.ca .
The Board has agreed, improving cycling safety will be a major Club goal for 2018. Watch for material on our website. Watch for Chapter-sponsored “on the road” initiatives such as “safe riding” day-rides. Listen for “ride safety – ride safely” instructions/appeals from your day-ride leader. And, if any of you would like to contribute in a significant way to our meeting this goal, please contact any Board member. Especially if you have a background in safety issues.
As for drivers with an irreverent attitude of cyclists – stay tuned.
Welcome New Members
| David | Trost | Vancouver | BC |
| Tim | Pepper | Richmond | BC |
| Rob | Der | Surrey | BC |
| Jerry | Wyshnowsky | Victoria | BC |
| Rick | Lymer | Ottawa | ON |
| Don | Gillespie | Victoria | BC |
| Peter | Hawkins | Ottawa | ON |
| Judith | Hawkins | Ottawa | ON |
| Grant | Halm | Kelowna | BC |
| Colleen | Vanderheide | Chemainus | BC |
| Jacob | Vanderheide | Chemainus | BC |
| Joanne | Tuttle | Ottawa | ON |
| Kevin | Zack | Delta | BC |
Upcoming Tours
2018 Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley
Upcoming Hub and Spoke
2018 South Okanagan Hub & Spoke
106-Year-Old Record-Breaking Cyclist Hangs up His Helmet
After breaking records at the velodrome as recently as last year, French rider Robert Marchand will finally retire from competitive cycling. But he’s still pedaling long distance on his stationary bike.
Robert Marchand, 106, raced in an age category made specifically for him. JOEL SAGET
A centenarian French cyclist whose exploits garnered fans worldwide is retiring, ready for more leisurely rides after racing into the record books, his friends told AFP. But Robert Marchand, 106, is still eating up miles on the stationary bike at his modest studio apartment northeast of Paris.
Last January, Marchand pedalled for 14 miles in an hour at the national velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines west of Paris. It was a new record for his age group—though the category had to be created specially for him, and he had no competition.
“His doctors don’t want him to make these huge efforts any more,” his neighbor Christian Bouchard said, confirming a report in the local newspaper La Marne.
In 2014, Marchand had managed about 16.7 miles in one hour, the record for racers over 100. As recently as last August, he claimed the world road racing championship in the over-105 category. Though, again, nobody was challenging him.
Going for yet another record “would mean lots of pressure, lots of demands,” said Alain Gautheron, president of the Cyclos Myrtriens club in Mitry-Mory, where Marchand is the eminent cardholder. “If he pedals, he should be doing it to relax, purely for the pleasure.”
Marchand, born on November 26, 1911, in the northern French city of Amiens, worked in a variety of fields—firefighter, sugarcane planter, wine merchant, vegetable farmer—over a life that spanned the two World Wars. The former national gymnastics champion and boxer also found time to backpack around Venezuela and Canada.
He has chalked up his outstanding physical form to plenty of exercise, “loads of fruits and vegetables,” not too much coffee, no cigarettes, and “very little alcohol.” (By afp/bicycling.com January 10, 2018)
(We should all be so lucky.)
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