I think this illuminates a general problem about the danger of "bike-
by" comments. Although I'm sure the victim meant it as a helpful piece
of advice, nobody likes being snapped at -- and the problem, of
course, is that while biking past someone (or being passed), there's
rarely time to come up with anything beyond a basic concise message:
"Get a light!"
In my own experience as a dog-walker, I had a parallel encounter with
a biker on a path where I'd pulled my leashed dogs to the side and had
them sit when bikers were approaching (vs. create a leash trip wire
for wheels). The bikers saw me holding the dogs and assumed that they
were unleashed, and one snapped (it sounded like a snap as they sped
by) "Get a leash!"
I was offended, but before I could explain that the dogs were leashed
and held, and just sitting so as be even less of a worry for the
bikers, they were 100 yards away, and I thought better than to yell
"Got one!" at them because they'd probably only hear "STFU @$$hole!"
and not the actual content. This sort of drive-by communication can
quickly cycle downward into arguments, and apparently fisticuffs.
That said, I'm sorry to hear about the incident, and especially sad
that it was from fellow bikers (we sort of expect it from drivers,
no?), and I'll be keeping my eye out for unlit Treks and Orbeas --
although maybe now they have one?
On Dec 2, 2008, at 1:06 PM, Mark Clear wrote:
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/316796
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