BIKE: My first letter

[Byrnes, Rick]

No one else has responded here, so I'll say something.
Mr Gilbreath,  you raise many good points.  I'll respond to just a few. 
I am not sure why you think we're the local government.... far from it!  
You've got to pick your battles judiciously.  No one person is ever going to
get the local authorities to change their position on cycling. It's better
to associate oneself with a good advocacy group. 
And  there's so many ways traffic laws are observed more in the breach than
the observance that common infractions are taken for granted.
Unless you're physically harmed by dogs, you'll likely get nothing by making
an issue of unleashed animals.  I'll go out on a limb and say that most
people, including policemen, assume a grown man should be able to handle
himself in situations where a small woman, or a child, would be in danger. 
Trying to ride on such busy streets as West Fifth or Sixth is just too
dangerous.  It's not worth the risk and I won't ride them either.   There's
safer streets.  
When you do ride on those safer streets, take the lane!   Make cars, trucks,
and buses go around you. But don't hog the entire right half, either. 
I don't know why you seem to get into those fights... but consider that
courtesy, in general, pays off better than stubborness.