* * Riding the Ride of Silence

Let me start off by saying that for most bicyclists and for most motorists, it’s really not a war out there. I put many more miles each year on two wheels (bicycles and motorcycles) than on four. Most of the time, everything works pretty well; bicyclists obey the rules and enjoy the benefits of utilitarian and recreational riding and motorists obey the rules and are willing to share the road. Ninety-nine out of a hundred drivers are patient and accommodating. Then there’s the one-hundredth.

I participated in the Ride of Silence in Radford, co-sponsored by the New River Valley Bicycle Association and Pathways for Radford on a beautiful recent evening. The local Ride of Silence is part of an international event, held throughout the world on the same day, to honor those riders who have been killed or injured while riding on public roadways. There was a large crowd in attendance, approximately 100 people I guessed. All of us were given black arm bands. We were instructed to ride in single file, slowly and solemnly. We left a parking lot on Main Street in West Radford and rode east, through downtown and past the Radford University entrance. There were both children and adults riding every conceivable type of bicycle. We were given a police escort so we could stay together through the intersections.

It was difficult to keep a measured pace, as the line of riders acted like a slinky, bunching up and then spreading out. It seemed to take as much effort to ride slowly as to ride the usual pace. Nobody said a word.

We departed from the streets near the Dedmon Center and rode the trail along the New River to Bissett Park. From there, we rode through the tunnel under Main Street and through Wildwood Park. Part of our mission was to raise awareness among motorists, so I felt that we should have stayed on the streets. But with its views of the river and the dark woods of Wildwood, the trail is a special gem.

Radford is a lovely little city. The downtown is nicely kept. Bissett and Wildwood Parks are amenities that any city in the nation would covet.

Still, the mood was somber, per design. I personally was acquainted with two people who have been killed by motorists while bicycling. Errant motorists typically fall into two categories, the malevolent and the oblivious. Neither really WANTS to hit a bicyclist. The malevolent, for whatever personality disorder, believes that bicyclists don’t belong and it is his (or her) prerogative to hassle, terrify, or otherwise ruin the day of any bicyclists he may encounter, and doesn’t want to hit the bicyclist only because it will ruin his day as well. Parenthetically, I suspect this person would be entirely patient with a farm tractor going 12-mph on a public road but not a bicyclist doing the same speed. The oblivious is texting, doing make-up, fiddling with the radio knobs, or otherwise distracting herself (or himself) from the activity of driving. She doesn’t want to hit the bicyclist because she is actually a caring person, but has never considered driving a full-attention activity.

Bicyclists are sometimes at fault as well, running stop signs or disobeying other laws.

By state law, bicyclists are required “ride as close as safely practicable to the right curb or edge of roadway.” But painfully few of our local roads are wide enough for a car to pass a cyclist without using some of the oncoming lane. I’ve personally been imploring VDOT for years, as have other riders, to place adequate bike lanes or paved shoulders on local roads. But money is always tight and progress is slow.

What keeps Radford and most American cities and towns from being as nice as they should be, is that in the past 30-40 years, they have become almost completely automobile-centric, with the retail districts moving from downtown to the outer fringes. Automobiles are community de-magnetizers, fostering sprawl and gobbling up land. Bicycle and pedestrian activity magnetizes communities, keeping things tight and limiting sprawl. Bicyclists enjoy better health and fitness and our society benefits from reduced demand for energy consumption. The bicycle is the most efficient transportation device ever devised. In an increasingly energy-expensive world, they’re not going away.

We all just need to learn to live together. Because it’s really not a war out there.