Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Mark Lansing

One of YHIHF’s heroes from the Tour of California (featured two months ago), prologue winner Fabian Cancellara, recently topped that victory with a superb win at the 2008 Milan-San Remo bicycle race.

Almost 200 miles long, much of it along the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Italy, this is arguably the most classic of the many European single-day road races held that time of year, otherwise known as the Spring Classics.

This year Milan-San Remo organizers extended the customary finish line three more narrow, twisting miles. After a series of agonizing attacks among the lead group—hey, after 200 miles, they had to be agonizing to somebody—Cancellara countered a little move by one of his opponents, covering it and immediately launching again, got a little gap, punched it one last time, and then rode away from the group with one kilometer to go. It was beautiful to see. Thanks again to Versus TV Network for broadcasting this stuff…

A note about the Spring Classics: Many American cycling fans developed their taste for spectating as Lance Armstrong and Greg LeMond combined to win the Tour de France on multiple occasions, but these one-day races are often more interesting. Devoid of all tactics based upon overall position in the general classification (e.g. the top riders in the three-week test rarely even try for stage wins), these one-day events in the Spring pit the best in the world against each other, with no one holding back…

Moving on: This month’s YHIHF hero is Christopher Heaps. For years YHIHF staffers have been lamenting the discouraging lack of law enforcement when it comes to laws that protect bicyclists. Some motorists routinely graze, honk and yell at people on bikes. Police could often care less. Even when the cyclist is struck and injured, officers often resist the idea that the motorist drove illegally, in spite of laws saying that one cannot drive a vehicle in any way that seriously endangers someone else’s safety. Uncle YHIHF therefore concluded that cyclists should start sticking up for themselves. Enter Mr. Heaps.

He has recently volunteered his time to pursue citizen’s citations against drivers who injured bicyclists in Portland, after police officials declined to take any action. While their insurance companies may have been forced to pay, these offending motorists had escaped without any consequences, which sends the wrong message to drivers everywhere: these laws protecting bicyclists will not be strictly enforced, and even clear violations may not be enforced, so feel free to drive poorly at someone else’s risk and expense. This message may not have a chilling effect on motorists, but as a cyclist you should be nervous. Very nervous.
In both instances, Heaps successfully clarified for drivers that they will not be allowed to strike cyclists with impunity. He has also received criticism and one death threat for his efforts. This guy is a modern-day warrior for every biker. He’s on the front line of an undeniable battle in the car, bike and all-the-rest road world that absolutely requires cycling advocates (and eventual support from all non-cyclists too). If you aren’t seeing this, one of two things is going on. Either:

A. You aren’t a regular cyclist.

B. You live in some sort of bicycle haven/heaven unknown to the rest of us. Please tell us where you live, we all want to move there.

While opposing motorized mistreatment, YHIHF has also advocated a European standard, where cyclists get a lot more respect and protection, probably because of (and leading to) the fact that there are many more regular bicyclists living there.

One critic scoffed at all of this, saying that he had toured in Europe many times, and that he had just as much trouble over there as over here. The only possible explanation for this offering is that this guy just doesn’t get out much. Most U.S. motorists are great, and show the bikes a fair amount of respect, but there is no community-wide outcry when drivers don’t give bikers space, and somebody (guess which one of them) gets hurt.

Keep in mind that harm doesn’t need to be physical. Just being harassed or placed within inches of disaster is plenty scary and upsetting, and wrongly discourages everyone from bicycling. Most people don’t ride. Even those who give cyclists plenty of courtesy and room are more sympathetic to the motorist’s position in the motorist-cyclist dynamic.

If you think a sufficient number of drivers treat bikers sufficiently well, you aren’t riding off the bike trails enough to see the problems. Just because you haven’t been run over yet doesn’t mean this is not a problem for you too. Be a hero. Oppose motorist abuse of cyclists. None of this “Yeah, but [insert lame excuse for motorist yelling at, endangering or striking bike person here].” We can do better.

YHIHF may be emailed at lansingatlaw at rvi dot net. It also welcomes Chris Heap to the YHIHF staff—welcome aboard, buddy.

Possibly Related

• October 2007: Vulnerable Roadway Users
• June 2007: Cyclists must mix with peds on the sidewalk
• March 2008: Roots Racing
• June 2008: Catching up to Chris Horner
• May 2008: Clown around at Cirque du Cycling