I have been commuting by bicycle for the past 9 years. It is a great way to get some exercise as long as you don't die. You think I might be exaggerating but I've been hit by a vehicle four separate times. That's an average of a serious collision once ever 2 and a quarter years.
Which is why I tend to get really mad when guys like Mayor Jeff Graham of Watertown, NY decide to talk about bicyclist in his community.
https://www.watertown-ny.gov/images/pages/N81/graham_sm.jpg
He recently went on radio and suggested that anyone who rides in the winter should be arrested. You can hear the interview here. Most of it is just some Watertown resident rambling about sidewalk clearing (which I fully agree with, by the way). However, if you skip to the 1:50 mark, you hear some real pearls of wisdom.
He ends his remarks by lamenting that we can't arrest people because we have "rights". This is what makes me really mad. I am not an activist, I'm just a guy trying to get home to see my kids. He makes it sound like ever bicyclist is a hard core political activist who uses cycling as a political counter culture blah blah blah.
I am not "exercising my rights" or "sticking it to big oil" or any of that crap. I just like cycling. I like cycling all year around. And when Mr Mayor McDumbdumb suggest that I am being reckless and stupid because I have a right to be reckless and stupid, other people think of me as reckless and stupid.
I just want to ride my bike.
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