Originally Posted by
Spoonrobot
The story sounds like a misrepresentation. Mountain road steep enough that you had to ride at 4 miles per hour and yet car traffic was moving at 50 miles per hour? Those kinds of roads don't exist IME - name the road, I'd be curious to see it. A quick perusal of Charlottesville and the surrounds on RideWithGPS with the terrain feature doesn't seem to show much in the way of roads you are attempting to describe.
The story was 25 years ago. You know how much Charlottesville has grown in 25 years. But I believe it was Rio Road, or in that area north of the city. They lived somewhere around Greenbriar. I could ride my bike from the entrance to their cul de sac, turn left to a larger highway, and coast downhill about a mile to Trader Joe's (or some similar "health food" store but not Whole Foods). Trader Joe's is still there but looks like a newer store in a big shopping center now. Here is a link to the spot that MAYBE where I took my break. It's a 4-lane now with a shoulder and a bike path. My fully loaded touring bike weighed in between 70-90 lbs depending on food and water. I always just dropped into my lowest granny on uphills.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0618...7i13312!8i6656
^^This is my best guess as nothing looks familiar and Google Earth won't let me into the condo communities to find my friend's place exactly. They all look alike from above and development has occurred.
Originally Posted by
Spoonrobot
It's also somewhat humorous to suggest that one party can be "entitled, rude, happy-go-lucky" when using a shared public space in a legal way, as intended. And yet it's acceptable to trespass and actually fall asleep on a random plot of land? Entitled not to the road, but to the use of another's property.
Haha! ^^This is quite a stretch. The house was an acre off the highway. Perhaps the spot I sat on was even city right-of-way. Don't know, don't care. "Trespassing" was safer than continuing. No doubt a judge would understand. It was a country road at the time, no sidewalk, with a shallow, grass-filled ditch at the road edge. It was slightly uphill to the residence. I remember that scene vividly.
1. "
Entitled" means you KNOW you are allowed to be there. But SHOULD you be there at that precised moment in time? If the answer is "Yes", then you are acting out your entitlement. 2. "
Rude" means tying up a long line of auto commuters unnecessarily, without any concern for fellow road users and human beings. 3. "
Happy-go-lucky" means the cyclist hasn't even CONSIDERED the first two and put themselves in added danger without any thought or awareness. I guess we all know where you fall on this spectrum thanks to your commentary.