What Cyclists Know (and someday motorists will)

**Never ride on the painted strip on the shoulder when wet. Whole new definition to the term “slippery”.

**Extended mirrors on large RV’s and campers are painful and reduce your balance and ability to negotiate when you are riding.

**Vehicle lights, when turned on, even during the day….REALLY do make a difference.

**Never ride your bike in rivulets and small road streams when it is raining. The back spray up your butt and back is more than just significant.

**Cyclists do not possess the power of reading driver’s minds, or inheritantly “just knowing” that, without your turn indicator on, you are going to turn right. That not only includes city driving, but also taking freeway exits.

**2 inch wide tires with a human body balanced on them cannot “stop on a dime”; dollar maybe, not a dime. My bank is only so full. Please do not pass me, then abruptly take a sharp right turn in front of me. Your vehicle will sustain dents as I crash into it.

**Thank you to the vehicles, large and small, that just take their foot off of the gas pedal (no, don’t even have to slow down or touch the brake pedal) when passing a cyclist while riding in the rain. That “splash” made from your vehicle that you probably can’t see in your rear view mirror is WAAAYY bigger than you think!!

**When crossing Railroad tracks, Cow Guards, or any slit built into the roadway, a cyclist need to hit the slits as close to a perfect perpendicular angle as possible. So, if the slits cross the roadway at an angle, then you swerve in order to hit it as directly as possible. If you don’t, your skinny tires easily can get caught in the deep spaces … and down you go. There is a very specific reason why cyclists swerve as they cross these obstacles.

**A good cycling season ends with really weird tan lines on one’s body: *Demarcation line about 1/3 down on thighs from the groin. Can make wearing short skirts very interesting in appearance *Triangular patch of tan on the back portion of the hands, with the rest of the hands absolutely white. This absence of tan abruptly starts at the wrist from wearing of bike gloves.

*Another sharp horizontal line right below the deltoids of both arms from wearing cycling shirts. Women frequently don’t get these as sharply as many of their riding tops are variable and sleeveless.

**Good Scents -vs- Not So Good Scents when riding
Hay, freshly cultivated farm lands Slaughter houses and mass production animal farms
Freshly fallen rain Road kill after several
hours of no freshly fallen rain on it
Deep forests with streams Tyson Chicken Factory @ Storm Lake, Iowa

**Dr. Doolittle moments (yes, hours on the road does inspire one to ‘talk to the animals’):
Cows: Always look up with you talk to them. They’ll actually walk/run to the fence to check you out.
Horses: Some look, some don’t. About as many are actually fearful of you and trot/run away.
Sheep & Goats: No response what-so-ever. Just continue to chew away.
Birds are quite variable. Hawks will usually fly away; most of the smaller birds just tilt their heads in confusion and/or amusement at your presence.
Eddy's: These are non-leashed dogs that vigorously chase with definate attempts at destruction of you and the bike (from 1980's Kevin Costner movie where he was a professional racing cyclist). Fortunately, only one did we come in contact with...an Irish Red!!! (They usually don't give chase). She ran so hard and fast, but kept entirely on the left side of the rural road, never crossing over to me. Whew. She was just out for excercise.