in which I am interviewed by our local newpaper

CAR vs. CYCLIST: a cyclist, knocked out for the season by a car, talks rights, responsibilities and road rash

by DAVE BANGERT

A week after a car clipped her bike, sending her cartwheeling into a ditch near Louisville, Kentucky, at mile 100 of a 196-mile training ride in early-April, Molly Birt posted a photo of a pair of cacti given to her by friends.

The post was more of a lament about big plans and a season lost – “This was supposed to be the Year of the Bike,” she wrote. The potted cacti looked all the world like tiny, prickly hands with one middle finger straight up. She told her friends: “I don’t want to be told I’m lucky I’m alive. … I’m mad, and I’m sad, and I’m stuck.”

Birt, a vet tech at Purdue University, is one of Greater Lafayette’s more prolific riders, with more than 6,000 miles last year and the top solo rider among women at last August’s CASAs for Kids Cycling Challenge, cranking out 364 miles in 24 hours on Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc.’s two-mile test track. (If you’re wondering, yes, that’s a ton for a solo rider.)

She and Thompson, a Wabash River Cycle Club partner, were in Louisville chasing miles ahead of a couple of big challenge rides Birt had lined up in 2018 – the Dirty Kanza 200, a 200-mile ultra-endurance race in the hills and gravel roads in Emporia, Kansas; and Race Across the West, which covers the first 930 miles of the Race Across America, from Oceanside, California, to Durango, Colorado.

Birt said she and Thompson had signaled and claimed a turn lane to make a left onto a rural road, when a driver attempted to pass on the left. The right front bumper or the passenger-side mirror caught Birt’s hip and sent her flying. (“Dean said he thought I was dead, until I started raising holy hell,” Birt said.) The crash fractured two vertebrae and left her bruised and badly scraped.

“Molly’s case really shook all of us who know her,” said Pat Boling, president of the Wabash River Cycle Club. “She’s such a confident and competent rider and puts in so many miles, that it makes you wonder: If it can happen to Molly … It should make drivers and cyclists, both, pay attention – especially as the season really gets going.”

Sidelined for National Bike Month – one that opened with the death of a Purdue University freshman hit when he failed to stop his bike at Lindberg Road and County Road 400 West, and another car-vs.-bike crash that seriously injured another Wabash River Cycle Club member – Birt talked with me about the road, rights and responsibilities on a bike and behind the wheel.

Question: First off, how's that cactus doing?

Molly Birt: Still pointing upwards.

Question: When you posted about that a month ago, you were saying you were amazed to be alive, but feeling broken and demoralized. Where are you on that now?

Birt: I feel better, physically. I am back to work full time, with serious limitations. Being a large animal veterinary technologist is serious work – no jogging, running, lifting, bending, etc. But physical therapy has been a true help. I have permission to start easing back into more activities. Who knew the stationary bike could be so thrilling?

Question: What's your general impression of the safety on the roads? Is it getting better or worse? Or is it the same as it ever was?

Birt: Just up front, folks need to know I'm not an expert – I’ve learned from experts, I ride with them, but my story is a small one in the sea of stories of cyclists being injured. But I personally think it is worse, and there is an opinion among several of my friends that it is, too. I think that people behind the wheel are more impatient, more entitled, less forgiving, more volatile and more distracted. Or the majority is the same as always, which is characteristically described as above, but the outliers are more angry and violent, less compassionate, more apologetic to bad behavior.

Question: Purdue President Mitch Daniels, in his commencement speech this weekend, warned new graduates to beware of tribalism – not to get caught up in my way is right, your way is wrong to everything. Think that applies to drivers and bike riders? Is that where we are?

Birt: My knee-jerk reaction to being accused of tribalism within the cycling community is: absolutely not. I also drive a car – and pay taxes for the roads, in case any detractors want to send that straw man argument my way. I am also prone to making mistakes while driving, just as I do when cycling. The difference – first – is that I am driving a 10-ton tin can, and when my mistake/indifference/hatred causes a crash, my 10-ton tin can will always win. Many people who bike in this area also drive and can tell you the same thing.

Second, and because of that perspective, it's not tribal for me to recognize and obey the law to keep all users of the road safe – especially the most vulnerable. We're all in this together, all of us want to get to where we are going safely. To demand that our right to the road is respected is not tribalistic, it's survival. Because, when I get off my bike and behind the wheel of my car, I carry the same responsibility. I watch out for people on bikes, people running, people's pets, wildlife, whatever. They deserve to live, and it's not their fault I'm always 10 minutes late.

Question: It only takes one bike blowing through a stop sign or riding like a squirrel ...

Birt: About that acting like a fool on a bike ... it can be benign ignorance that causes crashes, both on cars and on bikes. Folks, if you are going to get on a bike on the road, ride it like it is a car. Know the laws, and obey them. Ride predictably and confidently so that cars can anticipate your next moves. As they say, be a “Good Bike Ambassador.” When a bad bike ambassador pisses off a motorist, that increases the tension. Over time, that leads to altercations, bad perceptions and a lack of compassion. Don't make it harder on the rest of us.

Question: Lafayette and West Lafayette are working on being bike-friendly towns. New bike lanes. Sharrows and signs to share lanes on bridges. Promises to do more. Do you think that’s sticking?

Birt: As far as it sticking, I quote books: "Words are wind." If they want a bike friendly town, then they need to start by enforcing laws, citing people – on bikes and in cars – who break those laws, and encouraging more foot and cycling traffic. They need to not put into place infrastructure that increases altercations with cars, and that infrastructure needs to not increase tensions across the parties. If they are serious about it, they need to get Bicycle Lafayette involved before they plan anything else, instead of relying on Bicycle Lafayette to clean up their mess – which they have limited resources to do.

Question: There have been moments in the past – example: when a seasoned rider was hit in 2015 on Harrison Bridge by a driver bending down to pick up a cellphone – when the cycling community rallied. That time, they had a day devoted to riding the bridge as a sign: We’re here. They lobbied – and got – three-foot passing ordinances in both cities. What’s next?

Birt: A three-foot passing ordinance in the counties and, can I be so hopeful as to say, statewide. The cell phone/distracted driving law isn't enforceable due to its wording or some such thing. Wouldn't it be nice if a law were written in a way that allowed for police officers to actually enforce it? I'd love to see continued efforts by cyclists within the community to increase awareness to all users of the roads about their rights and responsibilities.

And I'd like to get back on my bike.

Question: And after all that happened, you’re anxious for that?

Birt: It's worth saying that, anyone who gets on a bike knows that there is a danger to it. We all know it, yet we all undertake the risk because we love the feeling of being outside, the endorphins that come from a fantastic exercise, the community that is developed as a sport, the enjoyment from commuting for work or errands, or the necessity of commuting by bike because it's all that's available to us. All we want is a chance to experience that, without being scared to do it.

IF YOU GO: As part of National Bike Month, Bicycle Lafayette will host the Ride of Silence at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, starting at the Celery Bog Nature Area, 1620 Lindberg Road in West Lafayette. The slow-paced, 12-mile ride will honor those injured or killed while cycling on public roads.

► Also, a ceremony for Bike to Work Day will be 8 a.m. Friday, May 16, on the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge between downtown Lafayette and West Lafayette.

► For more on National Bike Month events, go to facebook.com/bicyclelafayette.

Reach Dave Bangert at dbangert AT jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.