Turtle!

Cycling, like many other sports, has its own set of rules and etiquette that every rider is expected to follow. There are of course the rules of the road that are designed to keep a cyclist safe while "sharing" the road with motorists. Then there are the rules for riding safely with other cyclists which I must admit I am still learning. The cardinal rule when riding in a group is this: never do anything suddenly! Riders will use hand signals and vocal commands to alert other riders in the group about auto traffic, potholes, road kill, etc. It's common to hear someone shout "car back!" as a car approaches the group or "stop!" as the group approaches a stop sign.

OK, so here I am the newbie cycling in the middle of a pack of fifty riders at the Waterford track last Tuesday. We're speeding around the track at about twenty-two miles per hour when I hear someone shout "turtle!". Turtle? What the hell does "turtle" mean? Am I supposed to pull in my arms and legs? Is this some new formation that I haven't been taught? Well, none of the above; instead, a rather large turtle had decided to walk across the track and someone at the front of the pack yelled out "turtle" when he spotted the eight inch reptile in the middle of the track. Cyclists swerved and I was almost on top of the hard-shelled road hazard before I realized what it was and that hitting it was sure to bring me into painful contact with the pavement. Luckily, the little guy had decided to "go turtle" and sit motionless as I veered to the right missing him by just a few inches.

So now I'm a little bit smarter about riding in a group. "Car back" means a car is coming, "stop" means there is a stop sign ahead, and "turtle" literally means turtle.