Comments on the BCE Article

Unfortunately the article in the Battle Creek Enquirer that appeared a few days ago had a few negative postings from some folks that seem to think that cyclists have been taking up too much of the road when riding in Battle Creek on our group rides. As Team Manager, I crafted the following "rebuttal" but only after typing it, realized that I'm limited to only 1,000 characters. So, I'm posting the full response below. Here goes...

Thanks for the positive comments about the Team and we are excited about the nice coverage to hopefully get others involved with the sport of cycling. We truly do have some amazing athletes racing for us and feel that we can use this to help gain exposure for Battle Creek and the surrounding areas to hopefully attract more visitors to this community (and spend some dollars). Yes, we are a racing team, but hopefully our efforts will result in some economic benefit too.

I know that the issue of bike lanes and sharing the road can be somewhat of a "hot topic" at times, but hopefully motorists keep in mind that bike are on the roads, especially starting this time of year now that the weather is getting nice. While the bike lanes certainly are appreciated and used when possible, many non-cyclists don't realize they sometimes have debris that can pop a tire or cause an accident. Additionally, riding along close to the side of the road or along the curb with cracks and potholes that are resulting from the long winter is also dangerous. Just as someone driving an auto has to drive defensively, we too find ourselves dodging obstacles on the road to keep ourselves safe, which may necessitate us coming out a bit in the lane to avoid a dangerous situation.

Believe me, as a cyclist the last thing I want to do is get into a competition with an auto, because I know who will win that battle (not me). But the hope is that as more people in our community become aware of the sport of cycling and the fact that we are out on the roads we'll all be able to co-exist. We often times get people coming up along side the group rides and honking their horns and waving (yes, with all their fingers) because seeing 20+ cyclists on a group ride is not something you typically see around here and many think it's a pretty cool sight. While I cannot speak for all cyclists that are on the roads (just as nobody can speak for all motorists), I can tell you when we head out as a team we always try and stay as much "out of the way" as we can for vehicle traffic so that we continue to put forth a good impression for our sport and our valued sponsors.

We are all very interested in sharing the road and working together so that we can continue to enjoy the sport we love AND make sure that motorists are able to drive safely and get where they need to go in a timely fashion. Hopefully many of you reading this article will come out to Fort Custer this weekend and attend what may be your very first bike race/event. Who knows, we may just see you on our next group ride and welcome you to the "team"!

Eric Cook, Team Manager
Team Active Racing
http://www.TeamActiveRacing.com