Reader Letter #8 - from the Windy City

As you've read, these letters came from Rivendell Reader subscribers. They wrote me through Rivendell to respond to a story about my being scared by a driver and hangin' up my bike.

Wow! What a horrible way to begin/end your day! I could actual hear the voice of the guy speaking to you, cursing you out and (as you say) humiliating you to the point of getting you to give up something you love.

I'm from the Chicago area and there are a few communities both suburban and urban through which I won't ride anymore. One of them is Round Lake. It's a blue collar area and folks in pick up trucks love to barrel down two lane roads rushing past you with inches to spare.

But the worst of it is the general glut of traffic that resulted from recent growth in an area devoid of sufficient roadway infrastructure. I'm black and this area is red neck white and some Latinos. I've never experienced the kind of verbal abuse heaped upon you by the SUV driver who from the sound of it might have been black (I assume you are white...?).

Nevertheless I kindof think that we have experienced similar behavior for similar reasons..? People tend to find those they think defenseless to take out their frustrations and they often do this when they feel safely ensconced in their own neighborhood and you are outnumbered.

It's a bit like the husband who comes home from a humiliating day at the office to take it out on the dog or his wife or even kids. There is most certainly good and evil in all of us and you got a chance to see the worst in the particular human being.

The riding I have done in Round Lake is with the Chicago Area Tandem Society. Members of this club live in Round Lake and have a 50-miler there each summer followed by a cookout. A really nice time, but when I'm on the bike with my wife (who is white) and have to deal with the red necks, I'm not only feeling personally uncomfortable but worried about her safety as well.

So I've stopped doing that ride for the past two or three years now. It's sad really that we have to deal with this sort of stuff. But I guess compared to the sectarian violence in Ireland, Iraq and points beyond I have no reason to complain.

Let's both work on getting back on the bike. We really don't want the mean-spirited guys to win out now do we? --

your friend EGV