"frkrygow" <"frkrygow"@omitcc.ysu.edu> wrote
Quoted message said:I read articles mentioning EC or VC way back in the 1970s. At the time,
as a newbie cyclist, I tended to skulk in the gutter and treat myself as
a second-class road user. But the principles mentioned in what I read
began to make sense to me, and I wanted to learn more.I bought a very early edition of _Effective Cycling_ and, trust me, did
_not_ (and do not) believe every word of it. But on proper road riding,
I thought it made sense. However, it took me years to gradually test
the concepts and overcome my nervousness.I eventually adopted those road riding techniques because they
absolutely WORK. I get where I'm going with much less stress, feeling
much safer, feeling confident, and knowing how to handle road
situations. I can now ride literally anywhere I want to. That was
certainly not the case before.
There were quite a few of us riding the streets of Boston during the 60's.
There were no lanes or paths, and you quickly learned to get out in the street
or get doored. I don't recall the atmosphere being either more or less
aggressive, I don't think we gave it too much thought back then, we just rode.
Maybe it was an urban thing, but it just made sense to go with the flow of
traffic. The whole EC/VC thing seemed like just so much common sense that I
didn't find it remarkable, and these days, I'm amazed to find it
controversial. I never rode my bike on the sidewalk, even as a child in a
suburban neighborhood. We did some long rides as kids, taking state roads many
miles, later, we rode highways sometimes. I remember my college roommate
drafting trucks, like "Breaking Away", I never was fast enough, but I did
rear-end a Chevy once. It was entirely my fault, I was speeding.