This is a follow-up letter to a recent [letter] of mine that was published in recent weeks. A response from a Mr. Rick Sanderson leads me to believe there is some misunderstanding about the issues.
I see there is no disagreement about the absurdity of banning gas golf carts, but when I mentioned that recreational cyclists should use our path system instead of the roadways, I was not comparing the two issues. I was merely giving the council an issue worth addressing, as opposed to the potential gas golf cart ban.
My right to use a safer product is not tied to cycling well below the minimum speed limit on major roadways. Its a safety issue.
Are you even biking to go to work, or to an appointment? No, you’re admittedly only practicing for a competition while others are just going on a bike ride.
People are having to constantly change lanes or pass the cyclists, a lot of the times over blind hills or around blind turns. Peachtree City has become the place to ride in Atlanta. People from around the metro-area come here and park their cars in front of one of our bike shops or City Hall to then ride on our roads. Look at the tags in front of the shops on the weekends. Few are from Fayette.
If your argument is that you only have a road cycle, I would suggest getting a mountain bike. I have one and its works great on the paths. And if you are a competitive cyclist and must use the road bike, I’m not sure how that is an argument for making our roads your practice facility. Your training doesn’t trump my safety.
While there may be expert cyclists on our roads, I’ve seen plenty in the pot-bellied division, hardly breaking 8 miles an hour on the verge of passing out on the parkway.
Just because you dress like Lance Armstrong doesn’t mean you’re ready to mix it up with vehicles weighing thousands of pounds. We do have minimum speeds limits that are rarely (and should be) enforced. Going too slow on our roadways is as dangerous as going too fast. Both are moving violations for a reason.
I ride my bike 3-4 times a week on the our path system and get a great workout. While it is annoying to go around the slower traffic on the paths, I choose to go around others on these paths instead of making others go around me on the roads.
Daniel Allen
Peachtree City, Ga.
