I’ve been interested to read recent columns and letters about bike lanes. I have to say that James Culic’s quite humorous take on it, because he is a cyclist himself, seemed to me pretty well spot on.
I have a mountain bike that languishes in my workshop, but I would never presume to speak for all those real cyclists out there.
But as a driver, like James, I am totally sold on his observation that he would love the idea of bike paths totally separated from auto traffic. Not because cyclists are the problem but that drivers have, by far, the most lethal way to wreak havoc on our roads compared to cyclists.
Currently on our roads, there are both cyclists and drivers all too ready to make fools of themselves and blindly blame each other for incidents that each is often shown to be guilty of, but hopefully on a daily basis a majority of road users coexists quite well and for the most part share our roads and respect each other.
In 2023 I made a trip to Holland to attend the wedding of one of my sons to a delightful young Dutch lady, now my daughter-in-law. I was invited to stay with her family in a lovely rural village where I took my early morning walk habit with me.
I also discovered the bike paths that have been a part of Dutch history since cycles first appeared and are for the most part, not part of the auto highways. It was almost magical to wander past fields, around lakes and along riverbanks, without having to even consider seeing an automobile.
Whilst it is probably far too late to even think of just separating our bike paths from city and urban daily traffic, and specifically, rush hour traffic, it’s still a bit sad. But I do have to say that the Dutch way seems to work so much better than the Canadian way and produces almost no controversy between bike owners and car owners.
And now to those ‘real’ cyclists.
About a dozen years ago a friend asked me if I would volunteer to help turn around 50 km cycle event athletes at the halfway, 25km stage, of the Welland Triathlon.
Today I know a little more of triathlons and barrelman events than I did then, but have to say I still find it as satisfying now as I did then. Back then there was always either an NRPS or an OPP presence at all the major highway crossings. Sometimes the officer would actually do the turnaround themselves, leaving the volunteer purely a bystander. Other times they would stay back and merely regulate any traffic that may attempt to access the cycle circuit. The aim is always to allow public access whilst keeping the athletes safe.
It’s changed over the years. Some years ago, Multisport Canada arrived on the scene and now organizes and manages these events, albeit with the same group of local volunteers faithfully turning out. Then the NRPS and OPP no longer offered the same support or numbers.
That same friend still lets me know on what date I will be needed, and I dutifully arrive on site at around 8:30 a.m., check the road surface (gravel is not good for speed cyclists), make sure the signage put up by Multisport Canada is good, then sit down and wait for the first cyclists to start arriving.
This year my first contact with the organizers was an unmarked police car with the driver telling me the race would be at my location in the next 15 minutes.
The leader actually made the turn five minutes later, then for the following two hours, 700-plus barrelman athletes came and went, a pretty impressive performance, with many offering “thanks for volunteering,” some cracking jokes, but all doing their best to cycle as best they could.
With the last one turned it was time to help the Multisport sign guy as he collected all the signage then it was home for a well-earned beer, and then to wait for next year.
