But then, about 15 bystanders chased the cyclist to the southeast corner of the instersection, “ganged up on him and tackled him and held him until police arrived,” he said. “I thought it was awesome.”

I thought it might be helpful if some of you cyclists had a way out. A helping hand if you will, a place to turn, a way-out of your cycling ways. This “way-out” isn’t to cross enemy lines and become an anti-cyclist, but more of a way to become a grownup.

I’m guessing some of the reason you ride your bicycle everywhere is because you are conscience of your carbon footprint, your independence from “big oil”, or maybe it’s as simple as you just wanna be a pain in the ass. Either way here are a couple of helpful links to get you off of two wheels and into four.

A woman is fighting for her life after she was hit by a cyclist as she left a supermarket.

Joanna Hillman, 52, had to have part of her skull removed by surgeons to allow her brain to swell, during a life-saving six-hour operation.

The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-four was knocked down as she stepped out of an Asda store in Hatfield, Herts.

She had popped out to the supermarket to pick up some dinner and a DVD when the accident happened on Tuesday September 15.

Mrs Hillman, who works at Hertfordshire University, was taken to the QE2 Hospital in nearby Welwyn Garden City with serious head injuries.

But she quickly deteriorated and was transferred to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, as medics battled to save her life.

He husband Barry, a manageer for the National Grid, was away working in Mansfield, Notts, when he was told about the accident.

He immediately drove more than 100 miles south to be with his wife of 34 years and has been at her hospital bedside since.
He said: ‘It was absolutely devastating, she is critically ill.

‘Joanna’s had a six-hour operation and they’ve taken some of her skull away so her brain can swell. She’s so gentle – this just shouldn’t happen to people like her.’

Their daughter Lorraine, 30, said: ‘We’re living minute-by-minute at the moment.

‘It’s just awful – we’ve been on a real rollercoaster of emotions.

‘It’s really hard to get your head around that a pushbike has done this.

‘It looks like she’s been hit by a car.

‘We’re hoping mum can pull through this – she’s fighting for her life.’

A 17-year-old from Hatfield has been quizzed by police investigating the incident.

My aggravation and burgeoning anti-cyclist feelings, stem not from the trail but from some of the cyclists that use the trail. Since opening, I’ve almost ran over several cyclists that didn’t even look for traffic, let alone hit their brakes when crossing Sandy Lane / Montclaire at Cty Rd 15. There’s a stop sign there, why don’t you stop? In one instance I was turning right onto Sandy Ln from 15, some old fart looked right at me and proceeded to blow right through the stop signs. I had to jam on my brakes to avoid running this asshole over. So, I laid on my horn to let him know he messed up. Then, to my astonishment, he gives me the finger! Luckily, I had my window down, so I yelled “That’s not a cross walk asshole!”. He just kept right on going.

My wife had a similar and somewhat more disturbing experience. She honked at a couple of cyclists that blew through the stop signs in front of her, causing her to jam on her brakes. As she’s waiting to turn on to 15 from Sandy Ln, the male rider of the couple approached her car and started yelling and swearing at her. He said something to the affect that there’s a cross walk there. My wife normally would’ve torn this guy a new proverbial asshole but my daughter was in the car with her at the time. I couldn’t believe this guy had the balls to harass my wife and daughter when he was the one in the wrong! I hope to meet this prick some day.

We called the Mound Police Department to verify that we are actually in the right. The person we spoke to verified that bikes need to STOP at the stop sign and wait from traffic to clear before proceeding across the road. Wow, what a concept. They also confirmed that they’ve received countless complaints that were similar to ours. The officer recommended we also send complaints to the Three Rivers Park District.

It seems that the complaints have been heard! The white “boxes” that were painted on the roads to look like cross-walks are starting to be removed. These were never cross-walks, hence no need for the white boxes as cars are NOT supposed to stop at bike crossings!

I’ll end my anti-cyclist rant for now. I’d like to direct one last statement to all cyclists that use the Dakota Rail Trail: I don’t expect you to make a complete stop at every stop sign on the trail. BUT. You need to slow down, look BOTH ways for traffic and STOP if you see a car. Just like the law states, very simple.

Info from the Three Rivers Park site:

“This 13.5-mile trail offers a spectacular view of Lake Minnetonka and follows the route of the former Dakota Rail Corridor through St. Bonifacius, Minnetrista, Mound, Spring Park, Minnetonka Beach, Orono, and Wayzata.”

Here’s a link to the Three Rivers Park page where you can download a map: