Cyclists Are People Too

Regarding your column on Camino Cielo above Santa Barbara [Road Trip, July 29]:

It was a mostly accurate and nicely executed description of a lovely drive. I know it well, as a driver, journalist and--get ready for your blood to curdle--bicyclist.

Which brings me to my point: Too bad the drive wasn’t quite the relaxing tonic for O’Dell that he implies it could be. Sheesh, what a grump.

His diatribe against cyclists could easily have been stated: “Watch out for cyclists, who also enjoy riding these winding mountain roads.” Why the invective?

I always get a kick out of writers who employ the hackneyed cliche “spandex-clad bicyclists” and all its implicit contempt. Why? What’s the point? Can’t imagine that anyone would want to be comfortable on a bicycle (the sole reason for wearing spandex), let alone imagine that anyone could be fit enough to ride such challenging roads without the aid of an internal-combustion engine?

Just what did O’Dell mean by the phrase “tear around a blind curve, and even if you stay on your own side, you’re likely to come up hard against a bicyclist”? Where else would you be but on your own side on a blind curve? And just why are we tearing around it anyway, so shortly after being advised to keep to “a 15-to-20-mph crawl”? So much for “lane rules apply to everyone on wheels.”

There’s a reason cyclists occupy the lane on winding portions of narrow roads such as Gibraltar or East Camino Cielo (as it is properly known). It has to do with survival--theirs and yours. If a cyclist were to hug the shoulder, he’d be implying to you that you have room to pass. You swing around and voila!--an oncoming car. You either hit the car head-on or swerve back to the right and hit guess who? The cyclist. It is absolutely legal and proper for the cyclist to occupy the lane. He is doing you a favor by implicitly informing you to remain behind him in the lane until it’s safe to pass.

And believe me, he will move over, even off the road, as soon as it’s possible to do so. He doesn’t want your noisy, agitated presence on his rear end any longer than is necessary.

Of course, cyclists can be as rude as motorists. Both are people, and people can be rude. But O’Dell’s characterization seems to place cyclists in a class of contemptible subhumans “hellbent for whatever.” Hellbent for health, for invigorating physical exertion, for the same glorious views and sensory stimuli that drew O’Dell to the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains.

BOB HOWELLS

Culver City

John O’Dell responds: Mea culpa! Bicyclists are not subhuman, and all motorists should indeed treat them with respect and be willing to share a lane with them. The problem here isn’t my attitude but my inadequate prose. The bicyclists complained about were heading toward me in my lane. They were encroaching, not me. And the “even if you stay on your own side” remark was aimed at motorists who don’t. For the record: I like bicyclists and have nothing against spandex. (If anything, I’m jealous of people who can wear it and not look like the Michelin tire man.)