My only two experiences in about 6 months of riding: First time I rode into town for a normal training ride, with plans to stop at my turnaround point which was at the town square. There was a town fair type concert going on and I thought I would ride down and check it out for a minute. The roads were blocked to all but foot traffic about a block in every direction. As I rolled up to the barricade, an officer stood up and stopped me and said I could not ride any nearer to the stage. I asked if I could just walk my bike the rest of the way in, and after he sized me up for a second, he said it was cool if I promised not to ride while inside. I thanked him as I left, and he has been friendly ever since when I see him out while I am riding.

The second encounter was just recently. I rolled up on a road block/ sobriety checkpoint or whatever you want to call it. As I rolled up the officer very sternly said "I'll need to see your license for operating that bicycle." I start thinking "great, this is Mississippi, there is no such thing as a bike license." I start to ease over to the shoulder and unclip, and he just smiles real big and laughs and says "I'm just pulling your leg. Go ahead, and be careful." I said thanks and told them to have a good day. It was kind of a funny experience really. In this part of the country I generally try to wave and be as nice as possible to the LEOs that I encounter. They probably rarely encounter roadies around here, and as it starts to catch on, I would like them to think of us as decent folks.