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City cyclists deserve more respect
Spring is here and everyone is out biking, including me. As soon as the weather turns nice I bike everywhere. It is good exercise, gives a different view of the city and a cheap way to get around.
I like to have a destination when I go biking so during the warmer months I bike to the grocery store and haul my loot home in a basket over my back fender. Visiting friends and family on the bike is also a great way to get exercise and save on gas. This year has been great for biking around town as the weather has been very pleasant all of March and April. I started biking early in March.
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On weekends I meet with friends for a bike ride in or around Assiniboine Park. Sometimes we take one of the many bike trails in Winnipeg. It is a great time for sharing information with friends as well as meeting new ones. You never know who you might run into on the trails. Watching the trees and bushes spring to life and hearing the birds sing and the frogs in the creeks is a wondrous experience.
Biking on the streets can sometimes be another matter. I often bike on the sidewalk as I don’t like being in traffic. Some drivers can be very ignorant and I have had some incidents that made me wonder if the drivers were blind. One time I was biking down a residential street in the West End and as I passed a car parked on the wrong side of the street I was almost run over by a driver who proceeded to drive on my side of the street, which was the wrong side for him. I barely escaped being hit by going as close to the curb as possible and scraped my leg pretty badly in the process. I was furious to say the least.
Sometimes pedestrians can be pretty ignorant. More than once, I have been biking down a street and a pedestrian walked right in front of me as if I wasn’t there. Luckily for them and myself I have pretty good reflexes and am able to stop quickly. However this is very frustrating and can be dangerous. I sure would like people to be more respectful of us cyclists. If I bike on the sidewalk I always make sure that I respect the pedestrians and warn them of the fact that I am coming, especially when I am behind them.
Arny Hjaltadottir is a West End-based writer.
Neighbourhood Forum is a readers’ column. If you live in The Metro area and would like to contribute to this column, contact jim.timlick@canstarnews.com.
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