Cycling in Austin

One day, I visited Nelo's Pro Cycles in North Austin. Nelo is, what do you know, Brazilian, from Sao Paulo, and I think he has Italian ancestry. (Many Italians, as well as Germans, and Japanese live in Southern Brazil.) Nelo was happy for my trip, I was "doing a good thing", but he wouldn't go about such a journey himself. He has helped lots of pro racers in his day--Italian, Brazilian, American, and others. He had a big display of Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, who grew up in Austin. Nelo hooked me up with three water bottles with his logo on them for my bike (I had left mine in a parking lot in the last city). Above is a photo of Nelo and me in his shop.

Austin has been impacted tremendously by Lance Armstrong's success. Bike lanes are common throughout the city, and bicyclists of all types are prevalent. Commuters, roadies, racers, BMX'ers, and mountain bikers cruise the streets, hills, and parks of Austin. The driving public, since the advent of the success of Armstrong, has become very used to, and accomodating of bicyclists, often over-yielding for cyclists--deliberate signs of respect and acknowledgement. But it has almost gone too far, with cyclists in some cases abusing that respect and acting like they own the roads, ignoring the road rules, and expecting extra treatment. Some drivers have become incensed and have written editorials about cyclists disobeying laws. On the other hand, some bicyclists have been killed in accidents and sometimes drivers are drunk and other times drivers hit and run--these incidents, of course, have been followed by many editorials criticizing drivers. But cyclists do need to retain motorist's respect by obeying the road rules, learning their rights on the road, and asserting them. I again recommend the book Bicycling Street Smarts--what a tremendous boost to my confidence on the road this manual gave me. And I just realized it is all online!