Monday, April 27, 2009

The Real Pandemic

Swine Flu has been saturating the news over the weekend. As I was driving to a jobsite inspection this morning it was all I heard about on NPR and, being the simple minded person I am, I started to think about other "pandemics" that affect my life more directly.

Now that the weather in MI has changed for the better I am starting to see a lot more bikers on the roads. In years past I have been guilty of complaining about all the spandex clad cyclists riding on the road. Since I have started to bike more seriously I have taken note of just how many people share my previous outlook. People constantly complain about bikers being on the road. It has become (or has been) socially acceptable for drivers to talk about yelling at bikers, throwing things at them, or joking about running them off the road (or ACTUALLY doing it in some cases). The amount of time we cyclists, triathletes, recreational bikers, etc. spend on the road makes us particularly susceptible to bad drivers and road rage prone individuals. I feel fairly confident in saying that by the time the Swine Flu story has faded away there will be less people affected by it than those affected by biking accidents on the road.

I'm not really sure why this popped into my head this morning... other than what I wrote above. However, right after I started thinking about it I noticed the "Share The Road" sign which I posted above. I've seen these at Jade/Whisper before and I know that a lot of the bike shops have donated these signs to different municipalities... so thank you! I figure with all the time on the road I'll have this year maybe this sign will directly benefit me, and hopefully others as well. I guess the important thing is that safety is the shared responsibility of both automobile drivers AND cyclists... we all need to make sure we aren't being stupid. So, I guess that's all... just wanted to throw up a quick post as I was thinking about this.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this weekend was Gwen's graduation. It went awesome and we had a lot of fun. I'm super proud of her and know that she'll be a great nurse. I bought her a couple of graduation gifts, 1 that I knew she would really like, and 1 that I really like... I'll post pictures of the one I like this week when I get it! With all the craziness behind us, and my body finally reaching 100% following the marathon, I will finally be getting back to my training plan. Luckily I start slowly with a 1/2 hr. swim and a 1/2 hr. run today! Can't wait.

Two things before I jet: 1. I meet with a nutritionist/dietician this evening to go over my IMKY nutrition plan. I'm super excited about this and will share details. 2. My boy Nick Gerrits ran his first 1/2 Marathon in Nashville this weekend so big ups to him!

Alright hope your week is starting great! Later on...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

1 comment:

  1. I hear ya. At work I have to defend cyclists to my co workers... and to be fair to drivers, a lot of cyclists don't share the road, signal properly, etc. I think both the drivers and the cyclists need to work on etiquette... that said, the drivers need to work on it more ;) I am TERRIFIED to ride in traffic and I don't.. I only ride courses with wide shoulders...

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