Be safe out there!

We are a really lucky bunch. We come from a cycling-rich county, we are a force to be reckoned with. We hail from a hub of cycling activity. We are home to Sportivistas, Road-Racers, MTBers, Cyclo-Crossers, Activists and Commuters, and never fail to give good account of ourselves. So how on earth do we find ourselves in this Neanderthal predicament today where we are nearly hunted to extinction on our own roads? What is wrong with our world?? I have a few opinions on it. My pet theory is that during the boom cyclists hardly existed. Kids didn't cycle to the GAA anymore through their parent's fear of abduction. Public transport got everyone where they needed to go because they still had patience. Those kids grew up to drive tool-laden vans, live on a river of grilled-meat residue and cyclists went the way of the Dodo. And then everyone became poor.... Running, walking and, God forbid, cycling exploded back into our country's DNA. It seems this was too much for the jilted generation, those that had never encountered cyclists before. So we started dying. Or the media would like us to chew on just that. That fact. Cyclists die a lot. Garda ticker-tape, a squad car, a few bunches of flowers and a closed road with blue ACCIDENT signs make perfect images for MSN believers. You see MSN can only do bite-sized stuff. It can't produce a feast of knowledge because all it's followers are on intellectual diets. So it doesn't inform fully. Apparently us cyclists don't get healthy. We don't lower hospital waiting lists for obesity or cardiac-related issues. Our Seratonin producing efforts don't cut down on anti-depressants sales or help unclog the Samaritan's helplines in any way. Neither do we support a virtual cottage industry of LBSs. Nor do we raise money for charities or awareness for causes, raise kids that go on to be [international] sporting icons. No, we just raise hackles, get in the way, we are outsiders, an indigenous grouping far from tolerated. So despite being despised by the ignorant we continue to make our way by bike. We go to work, the shops, out training out socialising, out LIVING as much as we can. And yet some of us come back dead. You can't fight ignorance. We only exist as ghosts, a bunch of well-intentioned road users that had been forgotten and now we return to find nobody remembers us. Now we try to jog memories by dressing like miners, easily identified if the worst happens. We have given a lot away already. Our peace of mind, our self respect, our right to return home. But the spirit won't die. We all share road-hunger. We don't get a little older, put away our sporting tools and drink to the memory, bar-stool surfing while we wear rose-tinted glasses and listen to our arteries harden along with our features. No, we keep going, knowing full well that cycling is us. Is ours. It's a high class tattoo we don't hesitate to bare to all. We are justifiably proud of who we are through cycling. Lets not lose sight of that. Theres an ignorant minority that don't view us as viable lives, don't see us as human beings. Ironic considering theres nothing more human than cycling for its emotions, feelings and rewards in getting to be part of it. So let's go out there, go cycling and be that human the media won't admit exists. Lets be the human side of cycling and win hearts. Maybe only one at a time... but winning them.