As someone who frequently rides the roads, I’m interested in driver’s attitude toward cyclists. After all, I’m continually at the mercy of the next vehicle coming up behind me.
And thus I read Ms. Newman’s thoughtful letter published in the Knoxville News Sentinel: “Citizen’s Voice: Cyclists need to find some wider roads.” Ms. Newman argues that cyclists should keep off her secondary roads and stick to roads that have a wide shoulder.
I agree with Ms. Newman’s premise, that in an ideal world cyclists should ride somewhere other than in traffic lanes. But in the real world that’s simply not realistic.
Ms. Newman suggests riding on emergency lanes along highways. That’s obviously an alternative to secondary roads, but not a satisfactory one.
First, It severely limits where you can ride. There simply aren’t many roads like this in the area. Road builders seemingly didn’t even contemplate non-vehicular traffic until the 1990s. Who wants to drive several miles across town just to ride the same stretch of highway all the time? Furthermore, such lanes aren’t well maintained and are frequently littered with glass shards and other hazards which can puncture bike tires. Even with a wide side lane, it’s not very pleasant riding a bike when you are continually being blown by with vehicles traveling at 50 or 60 mph. Finally, it’s worth noting that a cyclist was recently been killed along this supposedly “safe” alternative.
The fact is that if cyclists are going to be out on the roads in East Tennessee, they’re going to have to share traffic lanes with vehicles. Drivers and cyclists must coexist.
For cyclists, that means obeying traffic laws, not doing any crazy stunts, and not riding two or three abreast in high-traffic areas. For motorists, that means heeding Ms. Newman’s advice to “be kind, slow down and keep an eye out for our friends on the bicycles.”

I completed this exercise for a game going around Facebook. I thought I’d repost it here.

• My general knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. I learn just enough about something to be dangerous, then move on to another subject.
• I have never received a traffic ticket. I’ve only been involved in two very minor fender-benders–one of which didn’t even bend anything.
• I once student conducted my high school’s band, despite not being able to count.
• My personality type is ISTJ. People who don’t know me well probably think I’m quiet/shy or aloof; in reality I just don’t put as much effort into making small talk as I should.
• I (still) have a piece of Neyland Stadium turf I extracted following Tennessee’s 1998 victory over Florida. My lucky turf propelled the Volunteers to a national championship that season.
• I dislike talking on the telephone. I avoid using it, particularly with strangers.
• The most valuable thing I’ve ever had stolen from me is a trumpet. Ironically, it was taken from a back storage room at church. I don’t have a clue who took it.
• I paid as much for my bicycle as I paid for my car. Granted, I have a high-mileage car. But my spending reflects the fact that I enjoy riding the bike much more than I like driving a car.
• An adventure I’d one day like to do: Go for a week of cycling in the Alps. Or, closer to home, ride to the top of Mount Evans (CO) or the Bear Tooth Pass (WY, MT). There’s nothing like the feeling of resting on the summit after you’ve conquered a challenging mountain.
• I have only taken one airplane trip in the last 20 years. I’m well grounded.
• Red lights and traffic backups really annoy me. Sitting in a car is a giant waste of time. I’d like to be Knox County traffic engineer for a day and make intersections more to my liking.
• I have a soft spot for animals, particularly cats. One of the hardest things I’ve had to go through was losing my cat in 2007. I still think about him everyday.
• I only saw one movie in a theater last year: U2 3D. It’s probably the closest I’ll get to a concert.
• Tomé clases de español por tres años, pero recuerdo casi nada de la prueba. Y confiar en mí, fue una experiencia dolorosa.
• I’m a leg man.
• I enjoy looking at old photographs. I try to visualize what life was like for the subjects in the picture.
• Relatedly, I’d love to be able to time travel and witness great (and not so great) moments in history.
• I currently have 382 items saved on my YouTube playlist. 95% of those are music videos. I use it as a virtual iPod (since I don’t have a real iPod). One thing on the Internets that really annoys me is having my saved videos pulled. Come on, YouTube.
• When a song is stuck in my mind, it cab get lodged there. Sometimes I listen to a song four or five times in a row. When I’m out riding, it’s not uncommon for me to only have two or three earworms throughout a two-hour trip.
• I’m a news/information junkie. I get antsy if I’ve been away from the TV/Internets for more than five hours. I want to know what’s been happening in the world. When on the web, I hit “F5” (refresh) often.
• I have never bought a ticket in the five-year existence of the Tennessee Lottery. I put more stock in odds than I do in good luck.
• I’m a poor speller. Not just a bad speller, a horrible speller. One of my most vivid memories from 1st or 2nd grade was trying to figure out the word “few” in a spelling test. I got it wrong. Were it not for spell checker, I would look pretty ignorant here.
• I generally don’t believe in conspiracy theories. They’re unrealistic. People talk too much; it’s difficult for a large organization to pull anything off without someone blabbing.
• Despite having lived most of my life in Tennessee, I don’t care for country music or NASCAR. I hate the Tennessee Titans. I generally support the Democratic Party. I’m a fish out of water.
• I’m a frugal person. I can’t remember the last time I was at the mall. If everyone was like me, the economy would have gone down the drain a long time ago. So go ahead, whip out that credit card, and buy something you don’t need–make up for me.

Tennessee progressive bloggers are having a fund raising drive to support the Tennessee Democratic Party. The blogathon, called “Chip In!“, is an independent campaign (not managed by the party) which runs through the end of the Friday business day.
See Knoxviews for complete details.
UPDATE: The initial target was reached in four hours. New goal.

If you want to see what a collapsing economy looks like, in graphic detail, see Calculated Risk’s January Economic Summary in Graphs.
The bottom seemed to drop out of the economy last September/October and things have been in a free fall ever since. The situation is even more dire than the nightly news indicates. Necessity will force many people to make tough choices this year.

On Wednesday’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann interviewed NSA whistle blower Russell Tice regarding the government’s surveillance of American citizens.
Here’s Thursday’s follow up interview:

Mr. Tice elaborated more on the government’s data mining capabilities. Perhaps the most interesting new thing that he mentioned is when the government targets a particular citizen, it doesn’t just collect communications, it collects data on that person’s financial transaction data, too.
Related posts: Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, FireDogLake, Democratic Underground.