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From: donch@teklabs.UUCP (Don Chitwood)
Newsgroups: net.cycle
Subject: Re: Projecting Fear and Non Aggression
Message-ID: <3285@teklabs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Feb-86 15:02:16 EST
Article-I.D.: teklabs.3285
Posted: Wed Feb 19 15:02:16 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Feb-86 07:36:53 EST
References: <3099@vax4.fluke.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 47

This is a most interesting subject and one that I often ponder as I
am biking, particularly on a long ride.

I happen to wear a black leather jacket, a black Nava Helmet, and
sometimes black leather pants.  My cycle is a black Moto Guzzi 850T.
The choice of black apparel was suggested by Langlitz Leathers, who
made my jacket (marvelous jacket and great folks to know and deal with).
Their comment was that the black leather was a better choice for durability
and spill protection owing to the processes used to produce it.  My original
choice was a light  brown, which was a more supple leather, but they 
queried me about my wants and riding style and strongly suggested the black.

What is interesting is how people respond to me when I'm shopping or otherwise
on foot but still fully "leathered".  I get quite a fear or apprehension
response from many people, so much so that I take pains to open up the
jacket to disarm the "black appearance".  Oddly, I find myself having a 
reserved response to other bikers dressed similarly if I don't know them.

As far as traffic is concerned, I have rarely been a target, to my knowledge.
On the other hand, I assume that nobody else on the road sees me, a point of
view that has saved my skin numerous times.  Whether or not my driving
style or apparel has any influence on how I'm treated on the road, I know
not.

To me, the greatest driving hazard on the road is a wood-chip truck.
What with all the lumber industry around here, one often encounters these
huge semi trucks with a load of wood chips loosely held in my a mesh structure.
The wind picks up the wood chips and even a full face helmet is no protection
against a cloud of chips.  They get in my eyes and the agony is extreme.
Vision goes to hell.

Another one is dump trucks with a load of gravel.  They constantly shed gravel
and rocks, particularly with every bump.  A rock the size of a football once
carommed off the back of a dumptruck I was following on the freeway.  The rock
was spinning erratically across the road in front of me, so there was no way
not to hit it.  Happily this was in my car; unhappily it wiped out two tires,
tweeked the steering and dented two brand new alloy wheels beyond use.  On
a bike, I probably could have avoided it if seen.

The moral:  be alert at all times.  Also a little bit of aggressiveness
(NOT obnoxious-ness) can help define your space on the road.

All for save driving!

Don Chitwood
TekLabs
Tektronix, Inc.