Fred said he would NEVER pass another bicyclist inside those lanes, admitted that he was speeding in the first place and was overall very supportive at the end of the interview.

First, let me set the scene.

West Broadway is a 4 lane arterial in Columbia with 9′ 6″ lanes. The area where this incidence occured is also a school zone with a posted 20 mph speed limit.

One of my old instructors was riding down west broadway and taking the lane. Someone came up from behind him and honked repeatedly. At the stop light the person rolled down their window and started shouting, “you need to learn how to share the road….ask PEDNET!”

My instructor just looked at him and said, “arent you Fred Parry?” Fred Parry is a local quasi celebrity who owns a publishing company and at the time was co-host of a popular talk radio show in Columbia.

Of course after arriving at the station the host took the opportunity to discuss his altercation with a bicyclist who did not know how to ride in traffic and was messing everything up.

I talked to Fred off air and arranged for me to go on the air with him and discuss this incident and to discuss “taking the lane.”

Fred was SHOCKED to learn that those lanes were 9’6″ wide and he assured me that they were 16′ wide at the minimum.

On the air Fred admitted that the lanes were too narrow but stated that he had been passing bicycles inside those lanes for 10 years. He then blamed me as the “education coordinator” for someone like him not knowing that bicyclists could and should control the lane.

I told him that I had asked him to take Confident City Cycling many times and he had never done it. I then told him that he probably figured he had nothing to learn since he did bicycle on occasion.

It turned out to be a great piece of radio that about 14,000 Columbia residents heard. Its been one of the most worthwhile things that has happened here.

I hope that story made sense.

Robert… Being a teacher sometimes saves me from thinking I already know it all