CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A recent incident causing a vehicle to almost hit a cyclist, prompted the statement that Corpus Christi is not a very bike friendly city.
Cyclist Gerardo Gomez says there has been an uptick in cyclists around Corpus Christi, "within the past couple of years I think there's more people becoming more active in cycling. It's easier to get on a bike and start on a bike exercising as you lose weight, then you can begin to cross-train."
Gomez leads a group of cyclists every Tuesday and Thursday evening and says he's noticed the community may not understand the basic rules of sharing the road with people on bicycles.
He says he's had obscenities yelled at him, as well as objects thrown many times.
"Thrown with beer bottles, beer cans or a coke can," he says, "every time we ride we do have a sense of paranoia of just being alert. Being aware of what's happening with vehicles."
KRIS 6 spoke with Senior Officer Richard Olden from the Corpus Christi Police Department about safety precautions. He says the golden rule is to be courteous and do unto others what you would want done to you.
"They are allowed to ride two abreast, that means side by side in a lane that a car is doing," Olden said. "The bicyclists have to be courteous also, if it's 5 o'clock traffic they need to get over as far to the right as they can."
Bicycles have the same rules as vehicles on the road.
Stop at stop signs and red lights, do not ride on sidewalks. Allow 3 feet for cyclists while sharing the road.
One concern that Gomez has about the city, is that many lanes are not bike friendly, or bike lanes randomly end.
"We do stay away from a lot of other roads because they're just not safe or the bike lanes end. And then now what do we do? And I don't understand that reasoning," he said.
Gomez says he would like for the city to be more aware of cyclists on the road, and hopes Corpus Christi eventually becomes a more "bike-friendly" city.
