These is a censored compilation of thoughts that accompany my riding in dangerous car traffic. They are especially dedicated to Georgian drivers…
There are guys who can reconcile 3 contradictory things (which I not even one by one could reconcile with my personality):
they are superstitious, as they want to have certain combinations of numbers on their license plates that should bring them good luck
at the same time, they believe in god (but then – who is responsible for good luck and who needs worship by digits on license plates?)
and they drive like hell.
You can find them in every country, because, in general it is not a matter of nationality, but a matter of age and sex. Most of them are younger than 35 and driving a car for them seems to be like warriors on horses in B-movies, courtship and dealing with divers Freudian complexes at the same time. I am sure that soon after they get there driving license, depositing their deep-frozen testicles in a safe place for 5-10 years would not only reduce rape rates and impede war, it would safe the lives of millions of traffic dead and make thousands of car plumbers unemployed.
By the way:
With good reason, often the German exports of weapons are criticized. But I wonder how many people are killed only by those German cars that are unjustifiably strong and fast and martial. Of course, you also can kill with a 50-year-old Lada, but it is easier when you feel invulnerable and invincible in a German 200PS car-tank / tank-car that by tiny moves of your foot turns into a rocket…
So, now you have the picture of a young guy with special hairstyle and sun glasses before your eyes? At intersections the car trembling under pulsating bass boom-booms?
Let’s broaden that picture when we focus on Georgian drivers!
Of course, you find the revenants of those guys in any other country, those 50+ that breathlessly climb stairs but turn to warriors again in their SUVs, and you always find people beyond that stereotype who also do an excellent job in spreading fear and terror, but nowhere else (so far….) I found that diversity of people ready to kill, just to be at home 3min earlier to drink beer in front of their TV (or don’t they wait with the beer?!).
Men and women, old or young, all of them tend to drive too fast, too risky, too aggressive, too reckless in an incredibly high percentage.
So far, in my personal statistics, I said 3 out of 10 car drivers and 1(!) out of 20 truck drivers didn’t respect the lateral minimum distance to a bike. In Georgia this changed to 7 out of 10 and maybe 3-4 out of 20.
They overtake in situations where the chance to survive is marginal for everyone involved, but for them I am not even involved.
If they have a concept of the ideal line for their cars, my tiresome and annoying existence shouldn’t interfere with their aesthetics.
And if you as a bike traveller desire the same respect from them as those cows that unpredictably cross the streets, maybe you should behave similar unpredictable or at least weigh the same.
Male Georgian drivers need one arm outside their cars, both as air conditioner to cool down and as to show that they are cool anyway. The other hand is busy working the horn, so there are not enough hands left for the steering wheel.
This is NO excuse, just an explanation!
Even (male?) children copy this behaviour, which looks a bit funny when you see a fully-grown forearm hanging down in the correct angle (more or less vertical down along the car door) and from the back seat a child’s hand or arm protrudes a bit, imitating that grand pose.
Btw, when you see an arm coming out at the right side and you look for the head of the driver on the left, but there is none, don’t panic additionally – some cars are designed for driving on the left (what some Georgian drivers prefer anyway as overtaking is their obsession).
Ok, so in general, traffic is dangerous, more dangerous when you participate in it by bike and most dangerous when you do that in Georgia (compared to other dangerous countries I know so far, like Germany, Czech Rep., Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and, of course, Austria).
But only in Georgia about 10x (compared to 0 in all other countries) drivers would have accepted even killing me and 2x they would have succeeded if I would have relied on their reason or humanity:
One time some cars came on towards me and a guy wanted to overtake all of them. He saw me, on my side, in his way. He didn’t stop overtaking. He didn’t slow down, he didn’t move slightly to (his) right to leave me some space. He honked at me and flashed at me and to my great luck I could leave the street, as at that point where no holes or other obstacles on the side. I couldn’t believe it – he had calculated with my reaction as the only way to deal with that situation.
The other time I came downhill in a traffic roundabout. A car from the right was waiting. We had eye contact. But then there was no car behind me, so that creature became tired of waiting and just drove crosswise to my path a few meters ahead of me. Who ever sat on a bike with 30kg load and front bags knows that you need longer to brake, and you cannot make fast movements to evade. Did he also know? Wasn’t he interested in that? Well, he crossed fast enough, and I braked hard enough, combined with as much movement to the right I dared, I bypassed him without touching the car or the ground.
Both times my inner dialog of despair and accusation that accompanies my rides quite often got a note of aggression and fury. Ok, I admit, also hatred and dirty language.
Those who know me, also know my all-embracing disapproval of everything and everyone associated with that crime against nature, humanity and reason called car traffic.
That is:
those who design (big) cars,
those who make advertisements using phrases like “driving fun” or “freedom on wheels”,
those who plan streets, streets, streets, gigantomanic bridges, tunnels and highway-crossings as if space and resources were unlimited,
those who for their personal “freedom” and ease ignore or deny their effects on society, nature, climate etc.
those who think that all our lives for all times should be subordinated to noise, stink, speed, space requirements, in short: dominance of a minority and their short-sighted concept of what is important in our existence.
In the opposite direction you could see the wounds a goldmine made to the mountains.
On the way to Stepanakert we visited some touristic spots, mainly churches and monuments so it took us the whole day for the 320km from Yerevan to reach Stepanakert.
We saw some beautiful places, (with the zombie car children driving on a main square), heard a brass band playing the Radetzky march, had dinner accompanied by “black orange”-juice which in fact was blueberry juice and, on the way, tried to express in words the special atmosphere of Stepanakert.
then we came to the market where you could see lots of fresh, dried or pickled fruits and vegetables and bought something for lunch.
tried to rent a boat, but there were only water scooters and had lunch near the beach.
As I was in Spitak at 3pm I thought I can go on to the next town/village, Jrashen” , that according to internet information should have a hotel, distance 10km. After a while there came a road sign “9% on the next 8km” Still I thought that this is ok, because “was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen” would mean every elevation done today would be something less tomorrow. It was one of the few steep climbs of the day and after some km I was at 2000m and then it was clear that I did the pass instead of reducing the demands for the next day.
It was not too hard to find a way as I knew I would get back to the main road. The main road…. The way would have been 10km longer. But for the 15km over the “hill” I needed 90min, this is 10km/h. On the main road I could have biked with 20km/h (to make the calculation simpler). So, I would have had 25km and this would take 75min. Was the experience of the hill (exhaustion, great views, silence…) worth 15min? And if yes, would it also justify 30min loss? What is the limit?
15 min are ok and 30min would have been my limit of acceptance for today. But only because of cool weather)
My last Lari coins I changed to raspberries that I bought from a man who also wanted to change my last Lari to Dram. But I was not sure about how much would be ok, so I didn’t. At the border it was interesting to see the difference between the Georgian and Armenian officials, the latter were friendlier. But does it say anything? When I remember the border control in Batumi where the officials wished a pleasant stay and asked some interested questions, I say no.
The stairways and the park in front of the church give an impressing path to it. Before entering I got something to cover my short trousers and Nadia covered her hair.
The first to come was a family but the daughter even wanted to have me on their photo. So, no problem. The next was a man coming out of the woods and we found each other equally unexpected. He asked for a cigarette and walked away on the street. And then came a guy who just wanted to pee and maybe he even did not see me. While all that happened I just pretended to have dinner at a nice sight although it was obvious that I had carried up my bike 15 stairsteps and my stuff was ready for camping.
The night near the statue was not the best (an so are the photos) but ok. In the morning I needed this “Do, what has to be done!” to get up, pack up etc, all those things that had to be done.
And as these are a big number that would at the same time explain why there are no signs or crosses or the like besides the roads reminding on human road kill like in the countries I before crossed, simply because there is not enough space….