HobbesOnTour -- Scruffy crates & vagabond -- point well taken. Shane the crazy bicyclist, encountered in rural Kansas, was pulling a massive trailer, complete with dog, very vagabondish, and was getting free tents, flirts, invitations to dinner, even some coverage by local TV. But then, I don't have Shane’s looks or, I suppose, his ultimately harmless if not entirely baffled air. By now, Shane probably has a free apartment and a woman. If I’d tried with his trailer, I’d be in a hospital somewhere. I’ve been hit three times, once deliberately, and have had my share of close scrapes with big trucks and others. Again, probably a difference between the U.S. and the Netherlands. I met a woman who’d been hit 12 times, including one that pinned her and her bike under the front end of a car. I ask distance cyclists whether they’ve been hit. It seems many have. Dehumanized: maybe. Clearly the bicyclist is vulnerable, but then so is a cockroach.