CYCLISTS
Today after the hour long ride to Black Mountain where I meet my old man’s group in the Black Mountain McDonalds at 10 every Friday I drove back to Marshall on the scenic highway beside the French Broad River and this is what I saw.
This scenic highway is a favorite of cyclists from Asheville, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays. They dress themselves up in spandex bicycling gear with special knobby soled shoes which clatter when they walk awkwardly into On Your Bike, a bike shop and coffee house in Marshall. When driving on this two lane road you have to keep your eye out for cyclists, often riding side by side, as you swing around a corner. The road is also used by dump trucks clearing up the debris left by the flooding of Helene almost a year ago.
I had heard indirectly that two cyclists had been killed in the Marshall area, but these two white memorial bicycles made this real to me. Apparently a dump truck driver in training had hit these two experienced bicyclists and killed them. This view of the river was the last thing that they saw. It stunned me.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 