....A Good Read for ALL of us...
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:39 pm
Riders: Read This Letter! 
It's that time of year when everyone hits the road, and group riding is a common thing. So, as a bike-riding trucker, I'd like to ask for a few things:
1. Stay off my bumper. I know it's cool to draft, but bumper suckers can't see what I'm running over, and I guarantee I can run over bigger things than you can. A hubcap or a piece of wood can really ruin your day on a bike.
2. If you're in a group, plan ahead. I don't like being surrounded by a bunch of bikes, especially when only half of the riders seem to know what's going on with the group as a whole. You have to leave me someplace to go in case I need to swerve, which I might have to do to keep from running someone over.
3. Stay away from my tires! In the summertime, the roads get very hot, and the heat builds up quickly in truck tires. Most of them (excluding our steering tires) are recaps. Heat makes the glue let go, and a blowout of a tire inflated to 100 psi can literally blow you off your bike, or at least seriously hurt you.
4. If you pass me, keep up your speed instead of slowing down. There are a couple of riders who almost learned #3 and #4 the hard way in Texas. They passed me and then slowed down. As I went to pass them back, they sped up and stayed on my side so I couldn't get back over. One was nearly decapitated by a chunk of my tire when one of the tandem tires on my trailer blew at 70 mph.
5. When you go by, give me a wave, and please, use all your fingers when you do. I try to be considerate and help riders out by the way I drive and where I drive.
I don't like being around trucks any more than anyone else when I ride, but I know both sides of the story. Truckers don't have the freedom of movement or the speed you do on a bike. If you stay clear, we'll all be a lot safer.
...............
Thanks to "letters to the editor".....Oct '05....Road Bike magazine......
Ride Safe!....
It's that time of year when everyone hits the road, and group riding is a common thing. So, as a bike-riding trucker, I'd like to ask for a few things:
1. Stay off my bumper. I know it's cool to draft, but bumper suckers can't see what I'm running over, and I guarantee I can run over bigger things than you can. A hubcap or a piece of wood can really ruin your day on a bike.
2. If you're in a group, plan ahead. I don't like being surrounded by a bunch of bikes, especially when only half of the riders seem to know what's going on with the group as a whole. You have to leave me someplace to go in case I need to swerve, which I might have to do to keep from running someone over.
3. Stay away from my tires! In the summertime, the roads get very hot, and the heat builds up quickly in truck tires. Most of them (excluding our steering tires) are recaps. Heat makes the glue let go, and a blowout of a tire inflated to 100 psi can literally blow you off your bike, or at least seriously hurt you.
4. If you pass me, keep up your speed instead of slowing down. There are a couple of riders who almost learned #3 and #4 the hard way in Texas. They passed me and then slowed down. As I went to pass them back, they sped up and stayed on my side so I couldn't get back over. One was nearly decapitated by a chunk of my tire when one of the tandem tires on my trailer blew at 70 mph.
5. When you go by, give me a wave, and please, use all your fingers when you do. I try to be considerate and help riders out by the way I drive and where I drive.
I don't like being around trucks any more than anyone else when I ride, but I know both sides of the story. Truckers don't have the freedom of movement or the speed you do on a bike. If you stay clear, we'll all be a lot safer.
...............
Thanks to "letters to the editor".....Oct '05....Road Bike magazine......
Ride Safe!....