Scary stuff. 7/12/2009

I'm not scared of many things. I'm not scared of snakes, or scorpions or spiders or bugs. I'm not scared of mountain lions or wolves; I'm not scared of heights.

I'm not scared to travel alone nor to be alone in the wilderness in the desert or the jungle.
I'm not scared to use my judgement and trust a stranger anywhere in the world.

There are a few things I am scared of. I have been scared a lot in the last 24 hours.

I am scared of 'Big-Rig' trucks, 16 wheel juggernauts hauling tonnes of freight across the US. If one of those hits me I will die instantly, if the driver didn't see me he might not even notice as he smashed me to pieces and spread them all over the roadside.

As a vehicle passes a bike at speed it generates its own winds. Initially buffeting the cyclist , knocking him off balance then at one point the winds suck you towards the rear wheels of the passing vehicle. The bigger the vehicle, the faster it's going, the closer it is to you the more chance you're going under.

Trucks going fast and close scare the shit out of me.

I'm scared of biking on the interstate freeway.

When I ride on the interstate it feels like playing Russian roulette. Cyclists ride in the (hard) shoulder, it's our designated area. I weave my way along dodging the disintegrated truck tyres and smashed headlight glass as I go.

I am a sitting target. 3 lanes of traffic speed by at 70+ miles an hour 8 feet to my left. All it takes is for one tyre to go, one driver to fall asleep or lose control, or to drift off line whilst texting. If it happens at the wrong moment and BANG it's all over for me. My soft and brittle body spread all over that shoulder.

Biking on the interstate is like living on borrowed time, my fate is out of my hands. However if I want to make my jounrney across the southern US on a bike, at times I have to ride on it.

There are times when the interstate is the only black top road across the desert.Unlike the UK, out here there is not always a parallel road for the use of cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders, tractors and anyone else who chooses not to enjoy the dubious pleasures of motorway travel.

It is noteworthy that in California when an alternative route exists motorcyclists are also often prohibited on the interstate. Is this recognition that these places are not safe for any of us cycle travellers?

I am also scared of car drivers, especially American urban drivers.

It was different in San Diego. But since then urban drivers have a dangerous attitude towards me. Perhaps they just don't know how to deal with me. It's almost like they've never a cyclist before. I'm sure they have, they just don't like to.

In Greater Phoenix there is heavy traffic and often no lane for bikes. I don't ride close to the sidewalk. If I do that cars pretend I'm not there and pass close at high speed putting me in great danger. Instead in I occupy my lane fully. I wear a high vis-vest and ride in the middle of the lane. I block the lane and force cars to change lanes to overtake me. This is called defensive riding, it is how you are supposed to ride incidentally.

Drivers don't like cyclists . Heaven forbid I should delay them for 30 seconds by riding in a way that may just save my life. Some have deliberately and aggressively pulled in within inches of me. Some have yelled abuse at me, and generally behaved in the exact opposite way to what I have come to expect from Americans when they are not in their cars.I still am waiting for one to throw a beer bottle at me, a common occurrence I 'm been told.

It is a widely held belief that roads are for cars, not for people. Drivers have yelled at me to ride on the sidewalk. Sometimes I have done, when I've got too shaken up by the dangerous antics of drivers.

I've even ridden on the side walk past police officers- they don't seem to care. Pedestrians are an endangered species outside town centres so there's no one to hit right? Or maybe being in cars themselves police officers also believe that roads are not for bicycles.

In the USA you can turn right at a red light, so long as no one is coming from the left. As a biker in the right (slow) lane going straight at a cross roads: if you stop at a red light you are blocking the cars who would otherwise turn right. So if the lights start to change to red as you arrive the thing to do is change to the next lane so turning cars can get by. Then when the lights change pull back into the right lane. All the time avoiding all the other cars going straight on in both lanes who have not noticed you.

It pays to remember as you come up to a crossroads on a green light at 20+ mph that the cars to your right may pull out into your lane in front of you even though their light is red. They may well not see you, they are not looking for a bike.

"It's a war out there." it is often said of urban cycling the world over. In the US it's more like being under attack. It's not a war it's self-defence. There's no time to notice saddle sores or aching limbs in this adrenaline-fuelled, totally focused, fight for your life.

I'll be putting my bike on the light rail to miss the next 15 miles of urban riding on my way out of Greater Phoenix tomorrow.

I'll live to fight another day.