Dear Sir,

You might not remember the encounter we had the other day, but I do. In case your memory has grown fuzzy, let me refresh it.

I was riding my bike down Main Street, going about 20 mph. Your red truck approached me from behind, slowly getting closer, honking all the while, eventually maintaining a distance of about six inches from the rear wheel of my bike.

At first I thought you wanted me to get over – but I was over as far as I could get, and we were the only two vehicles on the three-lane, one-way road, meaning that all you had to do was put on your blinker and turn that steering wheel ever so slightly, pass me and never have to think about it again.

Maybe, I thought to myself, there’s an axe murderer in my back seat and you’re just trying to let me know. Turns out, my bicycle doesn’t have a back seat.

Usually when drivers honk at me, they do it once and pass me, occasionally yelling something that casts aspersions on my manliness or telling me to get on the sidewalk. I’ve come to accept this as one of those annoyances of everyday life, like dogs crapping in your yard and mosquito bites.

But you didn’t seem to want to just run with the crowd. You kept on tailgating, close enough that I could see the veins bulging on your forehead and your bright red power tie, honking in short, erratic bursts.

Do you remember now? What was it that made you so angry? Since, as I mentioned above, we were the only two people on the road, and I was only going five miles per hour below the speed limit, I doubt I was really causing you much of a delay.

My mere presence on the road seemed to be making you angry. You probably don’t think bicycles belong on roads.

Have you ever taken a good look at the sidewalks in Norman? They range from bad to awful, and I don’t want to have a sidewalk end abruptly on me – or have to risk dealing with pedestrians.

The phrase, “Bikes don’t belong on the road,” is something I have heard more than once from more than one person.

According to whom? According to the city of Norman, “Every person riding a bicycle upon a street shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.”

But it’s more than that. You absolutely could not understand why I was biking down Main Street.

It wasn’t a personal insult to you – I have better reasons for riding my bike than that. I wasn’t trying to obstruct traffic or be a nuisance.

I was trying to do the exact same thing that you were trying to do: I was trying to get home.

Maybe you can’t understand why someone would want to bike to work instead of drive. That’s fine. I don’t understand why people watch Nascar, and I probably never will.

What you should understand is that I have the same right to ride my bike on the roads as you do to drive your car on the roads. This is one of those cases where, as a member of a civilized society, you have to accept some difference you just don’t get and move on.

If you think that bicycles on the road are annoying, that’s fine too.

I think that people who wear Bluetooth headsets are annoying. I think that people who stand around in stairwells and chat right after class gets out are annoying.

The difference is, I don’t start following people around and yelling at them when I see them doing something that annoys me. I do what any other reasonable human being would do – I complain about it to a friend later, and let it go.

So the next time you see a biker on the road, don’t get angry at him or her. They’re just trying to get from point A to point B, like you. Don’t do something dangerous, like tailgating, or something obnoxious, like honking. Just accept it as one of the mundane frustrations of having to live around people who aren’t all the same as you, and move on.

You’ll be happier for it, and so will we.

Sincerely,

Chris Dearner