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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 07:57:00
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Distance:
120.23 miles
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Max Speed:
37.50 mph
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Avg Speed:
15.10 mph
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Route:
PAC Tour Central Transcontinental
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Weight:
0
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Category: training: general -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Newest Road
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| Club: Commuter Cycling Century |
| Weather Conditions: |
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NOTE: Even though this post created on day 24 of the tour, it was not published/posted in the Yahoo Group.
While riding down the road on this, the next to last day of the Central Transcontinental Tour of 2005, I started thinking about all the signs that a cyclist on this tour needs to be looking out for, spotting and then doing as it instructs. I’m not just talking road signs, although that is a good part of the idea here.
The support vehicles for this trip are referred to as the ‘hotel van’, ‘lunch van’ and ‘caravan.’ The hotel van pulls a trailer that not only services at least one of the rest stops during the day, but also carries our gear bags (luggage) from hotel to hotel. It is the first thing that arrives at each hotel, and the gear bags are lined up in the parking lot along side the van for cyclist to claim and take to their rooms as they arrive at the hotel. Also, along side the trailer is an easel that displays a map of the tour (highlighting progress made so far), a white board listing all cyclist and is updated each day to show hotel room number assignments for the night, and last but not least a second white board for general messages. These messages include suggested dinner options, location of laundry facilities, and most importantly the time breakfast will be served (usually a half-hour block) and when luggage will start to be loaded onto the trailer and when cyclist can start departing (usually follows immediately after the breakfast slot). Maybe due to fatigue, and partially due to changing times and different room numbers each night, the information can easily be forgotten or just a little doubt arises as to whether the correct information is being retained. So we frequently ask each other, over dinner and throughout the evening, what time breakfast is the next day, etc. The board is not left out for display all night – just during the couple hour window cyclist are expected to be arriving at the hotel.
Another sign a PAC Tour cyclist must follow are the directions listed on the day’s queue sheet, and sometimes there are "P arrows" painted on the road showing what direction to go at key intersections. A "P arrow" is literally the letter P, and above that an arrow of appropriate direction. (Sometimes the act of doing this, by the crew, is referred to ‘P-ing on the road – ha ha.) There was an situation on today’s route that we approached a stop sign as we came to this particular intersection, and the arrow had a slightly extended line before the arrow showed to make a right turn. The reason for the longer line is that there was a side street immediately adjacent to where the stop sign was at, and then there was a two lane highway, which was our intended route. This was just a few miles before the first rest stop. At a the second rest stop of the day, a cyclist came in behind Team Turtle, and he said he had done an extra 16 miles because he took that first right (side street), and didn’t realize his mistake until he was 8 miles down that road and the queues that followed were not presenting themselves. He saw the arrow, but misread/misinterpreted it, and it lead him down the wrong road.
A road sign that I wish everyone would take to heart is the sign that shows a drawing of a bicycle and has the words "Share the road" underneath. I don’t remember seeing this sign the last couple days as we made our way through Tennessee and Georgia, but I saw it several times after we crossed into South Carolina. I guess an incident earlier in the day made me a little more conscious of the message of the sign, too. At about mile 16, we were approaching a place where we were to turn left onto a small side road. On top of that, about 30 yards before we reached that intersection, there was road that spurred off to our right (we would almost have to make a u-turn to get onto this spur). Well, it was about 8:30 a.m., so there was some traffic as people were making their way to work or wherever they had to go. There were a few cars lined up at the stop sign trying to make their way off the road we were about to turn onto, and there was at least one car that wanted to cut across our lane of traffic and take the spur. See us cyclist, a motorist yield the right-of-way to allow us to pass by (as she should have), but unfortunately, the pickup truck behind her wasn’t paying close enough attention to the situation and ended up Plowing into the rear of her car. Team Turtle was still a few hundred yards from the scene when that all happened, but we could hear the screech of the tires and crunch of the bumpers & fenders as it all took place. The two vehicles pulled of the side of the road, and the lady driving the car walked around to the back of her car and just broke out into tears. I could hear her wailing as we were now passing the area. The young man that was driving the truck had gotten out and was dialing his cell phone as he made his way to the other vehicle. Then, as we were completing our turn onto the other road, we could hear the lady screaming, "I wish you f----- cyclist would get off the road." Not that any cyclist did anything wrong to cause this accident (besides the guy driving the truck is at fault, from insurance stand point, etc.), but part of our analysis of the situation as we continued rolling down the road was that she may be one of those drivers that takes out her frustration on some cyclist, some day, regardless of that cyclist having any idea of what her beef is with cyclist. I hope our prediction never comes true, but that is part of the message behind the sign that says, "Share the road."
About an hour later as we were stopped at the first rest stop of the day, the crew member working it told us about a motorist that stopped by and told him of several cyclists that blew through a stop sign a few miles up the road and he about hit a few of them because of that.
As I was seeing these "Share the road" signs, I began to think that cyclist need to take the message to heart, too. The sign isn’t just an admonition for motorist, it is also a message to cyclist and I don’t think cyclist see it this way. I know there are cyclist that act like they can do anything they please, and act any way the want while on a bike – like it is some kind of ‘get out of jail free’ card, but that’s not the way it works. Basically, my philosophy is I ride my bike like I’m driving my car or truck, and I drive my car/truck like I’m riding my bike. The same rules apply to both modes of transportation. The biggest difference between the two is the horsepower of the engine – a couple hundred HP in the car/truck and about an eighth of a horse power on the bike. Another difference is the car/truck has crumple zones for safety, incase of being involved in a fender-bender – the bike doesn’t have any crumple zones. So, as you see cyclist on the road, I hope they are abiding by the law of the road, but I also hope that you are not in so much of a hurry, and not having such a bad day, that you take the time, as you pass them with care, to share the road.
Got on the bike starting at 7:05 A.M. EDT
Got off the bike at the hotel in Charleston at 2:00 P.M. EDT
Total travel time: 6 hours 55 minutes
Distance traveled: 98.77 miles (my computer got turned off at one of the rest stops, so it didn’t register about 8.5 miles – should have been 106 miles)
Amount of climbing: 500 feet – mostly downhill today, to the ocean, although there were a couple steep bridges over some waterways
Actual time on the bike 5 hours 47 minutes and 26 seconds
Average speed (on bike): 17.0
Max speed attained: 29.6 mph
Total Time on the bike: 168 hours 41 minutes 40 seconds
Total distance traveled on the bike: 2551.75 miles
Total overall average speed: 15.13 mph
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