OldDuffer
Well-Known Member
Amen! I got to watch a newbie in action just today. It was even a teachable moment for the half dozen kids left on my schoolbus.
I was on a main road next to a major subdivision in our area. The rider in front(group of 3) came up to a stop sign on one of the side roads. Decided that rather than making a complete stop didn't want to get caught behind the bus for it's interminable stops. So he gunned it without coming close to stopping, good thing I was covering the brake, because the 2 obvious newbies just followed right along. Nobody stopped except me. Then we got to be a part of a cruiser parade. The main road dumps into a county rd that has 3 curves marked at 40mph. Guess how fast we went through the curves. The bus speedo doesn't work real well below 20mph so I'm guessing we were at about 15. The two rear riders almost came to complete stops before entering all 3 curves. Obvious that neither of them had so much as an min of any structured training, let alone a decent lesson from their fearless leader. I pointed out to the kids, that being that slow and wobbly on a bike is almost as dangerous as high speed craziness. To her credit one of the little darlings noticed my helmet sitting next to the doghouse and pointed out that I might have some idea what I was talking about. High praise from a cynical teenager.
Just cause you have the right to ride, doesn't automaticaly make it right to ride.