On June 26, I was riding my bike from Squaw to Tahoe City — a journey I’ve made literally hundreds of times — when I came upon a man sitting in the middle of the bike path with his three-year-old daughter. After I checked behind me and moved left to pass, I called out “That’s a bad idea!” as I went by.
The man’s response?: A hearty “F*&% You!” I stopped, we had a short, fairly heated discussion about bike path etiquette and I continued on my way to town. However, apparently that wasn’t enough for this gentleman (and I use the term loosely) as he found me at the bus stop in Tahoe City and resumed our previous discussion, concluding by giving me the “you’re number 1” sign as I turned away to board the bus.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of leaving my bike behind the bus shelter and when I came back two hours later my rear tire and tube had been neatly sliced down to the rim. Confident that I knew what had happened and who had done it, I called the sheriff’s department and made a report. The officer was sympathetic and told me what I already knew: There are many irresponsible people on the bike path but pointing that out to them is rarely productive.
That being said and understood, I nonetheless feel compelled to point out that the bike path is a road and as such it is every user’s responsibility to obey the rules of said road: Stay to the right except when passing, pull off the path when you stop (there are endless places to do so) and, most of all, pay attention. If you fail to follow these rules, don’t get upset if someone tries to make the road a safer place by pointing out the error of your ways (especially if it’s an obvious and potentially dangerous mistake as in this case).
It’s ridiculous that anyone would turn a completely harmless comment on their (mis)behavior into an excuse and provocation to commit a criminal act.

Josh Crawford
Olympic Valley