Just like...

When you're lost in the rain in Juarez
And it's Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity don't pull you through
Don't put on any airs
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outa you

-- Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb Blues

One of the things I notice in so many cyclists is a spirit of negativity, which I presume is a by-product of the cycling inferiority complex. The owner of the largest bicycle retail stores in the USA (mostly located in Dallas' northern suburbs) says that Dallas is the worst city for cycling in America, even though his shop's training rides have led to multiple bike bans in the area. Cyclists who use the ten mile loop of 12' wide trails and local roads circling White Rock lake cry about not having a bike lane on 1000' of Mockingbird Lane. It's too hot, it's too windy, it's too hilly, it's too flat. Bottom line: excuses. It's always somebody else's fault.

The cyclists who know how to ride in a civil manner, either as vehicular cyclists or recreational cyclists, seldom complain. But the ones who want special privileges, who want laws enforced against others but never themselves, who believe there is safety either in the pack and on the path, these are the cyclists who complain. Every incident is the fault of someone else, and is cause for hysteria.

I estimate that 90% of the nation's efforts for promoting the bicycle as a viable transportation tool has been directed at this group... and I suspect they account for at best 10% of the people who use the bicycle as transportation.

As for me, I cannot move, and my fingers are all in a knot... or a fist.