Fairfax and FKV

Well, this post might cause some consternation among some folks, but I feel it's something that I need to say.

What is it with cyclists wearing kits? Do they really think that the Marin bike path is part of the Tour De France? Or that Camino Alto is closed to cars so they can pedal up the hill in a Pelaton?

Jerry named them Full Kit Vermin today. These men and women may be perfectly nice (or not) when off their bicycles, but something must happen to them when they put on their Dolce Vita jerseys and shorts. Or their Fizik jerseys and shorts. Or whatever. They have never uttered the phrase "on your left," and stop signs and red lights are for other riders, or perhaps just cars. And "car back" means pull out in the lane.

The FKV are the riders who give the rest of us a bad name, and I, for one, am sick of it, but there's not a darn thing I can do, really. True, there are a few of them who are polite. They will say good morning on the way by to let us know they are passing and they don't come back over so close that we are afraid our front wheel is going to get clipped.

We have been dissed by FKV, but that just makes me think they are immature brats, and I don't really care about that. What I care about is their unsafe riding, and their endangering our lives and others.

We saw a sign on the road today that said "Same Road, Same Rules," with a picture of cars and bikes. But I think signs like that just goad them into riding even more impolitely and dangerously.

Jerry and I tend to avoid the Golden Gate Bridge to steer clear of the majority of the rental bike riders. We have had some close calls with them and so we tend to join rides at the north parking lot. But there's really no way to avoid the FKV on a beautiful fall day.

Jerry and I will never ride as fast as those riders. Hell, we don't ride as fast as many of the cyclists we train with. We have our own tandem pace which is slow up hill and fast down, though we try to stay safe on our descents. I've got no problem with people riding as fast as they can safely ride, but it doesn't help any of us when they block vehicles that can outrun any of us. And it surely doesn't help us when they come close to running down pedestrians in crosswalks.

So, all that being said, Jerry and I actually did have a lovely ride up to Fairfax today. The return trip for me was better than the way out because Jerry raised my seat a little. My new saddle is a lot slimmer than my old one, so raising it another quarter inch helped. The saddle is leather and very slippery so I found myself pushing myself up and back even after it was moved, so I might have him tip the nose a trifle up to keep me from sliding down it so much.

Next week will be a longer ride that should give me a chance to really see how the saddle is doing. Looking forward to it.