BLOG: Vermillion bikers

This particular blog is not about discovering Vermillion like the title says, rather, I’m writing about the adventuring process.

I am very pro-bicycling, I ride my bike to every class and around town and it’s awesome. I don’t spend money on gas and it’s good for me too, being as I spend the majority of my time sitting, either doing homework or more likely watching “South Park.” However, when I am biking, it baffles me that drivers can’t handle bikers on the road. I bike on the road and I come from a place where there are bike lanes on the road and I use them and the world continues to turn.

However, in Vermillion, when I ride my bicycle on the street, rather than the sidewalks, the drivers on the street don’t have any idea how to handle it. They err on the side of politeness so I really shouldn’t complain, but when a car a half block ahead of me is stopped at a stop sign and begins to wave at me to go through the intersection, I feel obligated to get to top speed in order to not piss them off.

This happens almost every other day on my 3-block ride to campus, but what happens even less, (but is way more obnoxious,) is when I’m going south toward my driveway and begin to slow down and the car heading north slows down too as if ill just drift over without a care and allow them to slaughter me with their SUV. I end up coming to a complete stop and, out of stubbornness, get off my bike to show them that they can proceed. Once they pass, I have to awkwardly remount my bike while turning into my driveway and attempt to get up the slight incline with no momentum. I usually just get back off and walk, but it’s all worth it because I won versus the overly-polite SUV-driver.

Normally, I try to be as nice as I can and stay close to the curb, out of the way of drivers. On busy streets, I’ll get on the sidewalk to cross the street rather than confuse drivers. But I think I speak for most street-bikers when I say we don’t expect special treatment. Treat us like a slow moving vehicle and go around us. Don’t wait at stop signs, and when I slow down, please, for the love of God, don’t slow down with me because I’m letting you go around me, like my neighbors. Stop being polite to bikers!