DALLAS MAVERICKS

My name is Michelle - I am fairly new to cycling. This is my third spring on a bike since I was a teenager and I am now in my early 40's. I am pretty much proof that ANYBODY can ride a bike and love it. I am a mom of lots of kids - some of whom cycle. They nipped at my heels until I bought a bike. Now I am very involved in not only cycling for myself but cycling advocacy and the community.

I receive an email newletter every so often called "Road Bike Review". One of the things in it this past month was a suggestion I thought I would try. It was said to work better if you were wearing a pair of brightly colored gloves rather than black gloves so I went and bought a new pair of very visible blue PI's just for the occasion. (Hey a girl always needs a reason to buy a new pair of gloves, right?)

The idea is this - as a car is coming up behind you, if you will wave the brightly colored side of your glove in a friendly wave at them, they will supposedly give you much more room when they overtake and pass you. So I started waving like a pageant queen at every car I saw in my little rear view mirror. I had lawn care crews, dart bus drivers and high school kids not only giving me entire lanes, but sometimes the entire right side of the street! It was amazing! And they would wave back as they passed! It was almost like being passed by a bunch of cyclists in cars! People who understood!

Sure there was the occasional high end SUV in a hurry on the cell phone who probably never saw me - but for the most part, I'd say the waving works and works well. It let's the car know you are there, know that you are aware of them and if they are nervous about passing you, you can wave them around you when it is safe to do so.

As an aside - I made my first commute home from work last Friday. There is nothing like the feeling of leaving work a little early on a Friday afternoon to ride a bicycle home. I could smell jasmine and honeysuckle and everything else in bloom (allergies be darned!) The trees were greener than I could have remembered, and the sun felt incredible. I felt like a 9 year old kid without a care in the world. Amazing. Just amazing.

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