The dangers of riding a bike cross-country: Drivers

Most everyone we meet asks us
if we are afraid of riding across the country. Don't we worry about someone trying to harm us in any way, shape, or form? Don't we feel unprotected without a gun?

To most people's surprise, we tell them we haven't felt threatened by anyone during our trip and that 98 percent of the people we have encountered have been great.

What most people don't realize, is that the most dangerous aspect of our trip is aggressive driving. Every moment that we are on the road, we need to be alert to the drivers around us. Most are fine and will give us space. But there are some that put our lives in danger, simply due to distractions and impatience.

Here are the most dangerous drivers (in no order):
- those on their cellphone.
- those who pass us on blind hills / curves.
- those who do not realize how fast we are going and try to pass us when there is an on-coming car (fully loaded we average 12 mph).
- those who do not give enough space while passing.
- those who pass too quickly.
- those who pass too quickly AND too close (getting buzzed is really freaky).
- those who honk at us.
- those who are driving RVs.

I felt the need to write about this because today we encountered a disproportionate amount of dangerous drivers. ALL simply too impatient to wait 10-15 seconds so they could see if there was a car coming from the other direction, or too impatient to wait for the car in the other lane to pass before attempting to pass us. There were WAY too many close calls. One in particular was an older man driving a blue jeep. The road was snaking up the  hills, so I was making sure to keep an eye out for cars coming from behind us so I could alert them to on-coming cars if needed. This particular man disregarded my outstretched, waving hand and decided to pass us, far too close-- at the same time we were being passed by an oncoming vehicle no less! This guy could have killed us.

Still shaken up and totally pissed off, I saw the blue jeep at a gas station. I decided to stop and tell the man how terrifying it was for us when he passed us. Calmly and respectfully I tried to convey the danger he put us in. I can only hope that he drives with higher caution and care around other cyclists.