Respect

Opinion by Chris.
So, I rode to work today, as I do four days a week. I do this for a number of reasons but the best one is that it gives me some time to clear my head both at the start and end of the day. It’s almost meditative sometimes particularly if doing some intervals or focusing on another goal for the ride.
Anyway as happens occasionally some peanut decides to test my nerves by seeing how close they can get to me as they pass me on my right shoulder. OK I figure that’s it for the day relax and enjoy the rest of the ride. But I wouldn’t be writing this if that was the case now would I?
This same or similar happens a couple of more times on the way to work and I’m starting to think there is a vendetta against me. I put it down the law of averages and think no more of

it until my ride home.
After getting cut off two more times on the way home and having a couple more nerve testers I am pretty pi$$ed.
This gets me to thinking about respect on the road and the main reason this behaviour grind my gears. These people appear to have no respect for cyclists as road users. Hopefully this will change over time but there I guess there will always be the minority.
I am sure I will continue to yell at some of these guys , particularly when I feel the actions have been premeditated or particularly uncalled for. More importantly, I will aim to earn the respect of other road users by simply obeying the road rules, as I expect them to, and hope you will do the same.
See you on the road

2 thoughts on “Respect”

  1. Don’t turn to the dark side. Pretty hard to intimidate bogans in 4wheel drives. Chasing them does release some aggression though, but probably not a good idea to catch up/pass them.

    I suspect that if you were commuting on a hybrid with cargo pants and panniers with a little flag, that there is less agro. Perhaps they are just jealous of your toned lycra physique?

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