I packed in riding my recumbent bicycle a decade ago. Mt. Newton X Road was an unavoidable ride to access my home, but the bike was my favourite transport until cyclists en masse discovered the scenic beauty and terrain challenges of this route. I was often swarmed by those training for races and yelled at to get off the ##!! road or go faster.
In 1967, I moved to the Island from Australia and kept horses on the Peninsula. I most often used my bike to travel from home in Oak Bay to work in Sidney and to the horses in Central Saanich where I often rode across the Peninsula. It was paradise. The air smelled of fresh blooms in spring. Traffic en route was civilized. Horses were fit, their rider happy too.
Then came the bikes, individuals training for competitions or travelling in packs.
Yes, drivers are rude to cyclists, but no worse than they are to each other, and certainly more respectful of cyclists, individual or in packs, touring or competitive or cycling as necessary transport, than they are to horses or pedestrians. The mixed traffic problem added to the incentive to build the Mt. Newton X roadside trail for pedestrians and horse riders. Now, we dodge cyclists on this lovely scenic trail. This trail was motivated by a delivery truck accident with a horse killed on Mt. Newton X Road. Now, horses are no longer safe even on the trail as cyclists barrel through at speed. The world changes and most changes are due to
increased population.
All modes of transport need to slow down and watch for those who, of necessity, share their transport lanes. But the primary challenge is development spawning hordes of urban humans and vehicular traffic.
Start humming: they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. And yes, who needs those parking lots unless you develop and the cars breed like rats? I doubt there is a solution to the very real dangers to cyclists, pedestrians or horses with riders or carriages. The Peninsula is not a paradise of considerate rural drivers anymore.
Karen Harris
Central Saanich
