Zero Tolerance

I started thinking about this post more than a week ago.  Even wrote a draft that will linger here at Blogger.com.  I've thought the topic through.  I've rethought it.  I swear I even sideways thought it and I still came to the same conclusion.  A conclusion that probably won't make me popular with many of my friends.  I guess I've thought about it enough to not care.
Around about this time of year, Ironman WI draws near.

And the crowd goes wild!  Well, some of them do.  Others not so much.
As peak training for Ironman comes upon us, the Ironman WI bike course is clogged with would-be-Ironman riders.  These are rural roads with few options for go arounds.  Narrow with almost no options to pass.  Occupied by locals and now invaded by cyclists.
And "Share the Road" has just come home to roost.  Or should I say fester.
We all know what happens.  Words are exchanged, fists and fingers raised, rules defied, single lines ignored, gravel spewed and smoke rolled.
And the endless lament of "How do we get past this"?
What I am going to say no one is going to like.  And I don't care.  Because someone (probably a cyclist) is going to die.  And someone (probably a driver) will have to live with being a killer for the rest of their lives, along with a jail term and the destruction of everything they are and could be.    Unless a few things change.
Let's start from the top becuase there is room for everyone to grow here:

1. Get off the Ironman course.  If you are a cyclist find someplace else to ride.  Don't ride this course more than once or twice a season.  It's a road.  It has hills.  It's black with gravel shoulders.  There are 1000's of miles like this in WI.  Find one or twenty and get off this route.  Seriously?  Go piss off or inconvenience someone else.  
2. Residents, you know it's this whole Ironman thing.  I know you didn't sign up for this when you moved out here 20 years ago.  But things change.  You know people will be out here on this route.  Allow a little more time to get where you are going.  Find another route if you can.  Be respectful.  
3. Cyclists AND residents.  Zero tolerance.  I'll say it again.  Z-E-R-O tolerance.  That goes both ways and internally as well.  Residents, I'll start with you.  If you see a group of cyclists ignoring traffic rules or just being a-holes in general don't call them out.  Call the police.  Report them.  At the very least note the id on their jersey's and call out their team or training group leader.  Make them an example.  Post it on Facebook, send it out on Twitter.  In the tri community in Madison everyone knows everyone and everyone who is visiting.  Put an ad in the paper, write a letter to the editor but do not let people who break the rules get away with it. But it has to be a specific complaint against a specific group or it does nothing other than fuel the cyclists versus the world battle.  Same goes for your own.  You see someone run a cyclist off the road, you stop and you report it.  You know the kid who drove too close because he lives 6 farms down, then go talk to him or his parents.  Cyclists the same goes for you.  You get run off the road or have an unpleasant encounter, get a picture.  Report it.  Even if all you have is a half plate number based on the geography the cops can find them.  Don't let it go. Vent on Facebook with a partial.  Public shaming works.  The same is true of your own group or other groups you might see.  Are they riding correctly?  Are they following the rules?  Do not let people be in your group if they won't follow the rules.  I have friends who bike that I won't ride with because I don't like that they don't follow the rules.  Zero tolerance is zero tolerance.  Zero.  Don't promote it, don't encourage it, Don't accept it and lastly...
4. Don't forget to live by it.  Ask yourself every single time you get on the road to drive or to bike or run or just take a walk.  Am I doing the right thing?  Did I just cross the street without looking?  Did I just blow through a stop sign?  Am I paying attention to where I am at all times and who is around me.  Don't be complacent.  It isn't just one time.  Every single time is an example to others and to yourself.  (Iron) Man up and do the right thing...everytime.  

And most of all, good luck with your race.  Make sure you remember the residents on the bike route. They might deserve that award as much as you do.