The dude with the Dakine Tailgate pad who squeezed me off the road? He might use it to transport his SUP to Yoga. Buddy with the two-tray 1Up rack on his Telsa who passed me in the 40km/hr zone – in my car doing the speed limit – on the Dollarton like I was parked? He could be a roadie, groadie, or maybe just some guy with solid credit and a couple of e-bikes he wants to drive over to Stanley Park. The roof-rack sporting Subaru with the NSMBA sticker who doesn’t shoulder check? A hiker who likes to take his hybrid bike camping. 

But, the asshole in the F150 with a North Shore 4-bike rack who passed by so close that his mirror tickled my elbow? Definitely one of those asshole mountain bikers. There can be zero doubt. It’s not just that, North Vancouver designed and manufactured, North Shore Racks are made “By Mountain Bikers, For Mountain Bikers” or that they are so synonymous with the local scene that no one can remember when the brand didn’t exist. No, by their very nature of being totally useless for transporting anything other than mountain bikes, the $800-$1100 investment in a single-function product demonstrates a commitment to the best of activities. 

And so, like a uniformed police officer kicking the shit out of a peaceful protestor on camera, every time an NSRack sporting car, truck, or SUV puts me in an uncomfortable position as I climb up to Fromme, or pedal my daughter to school, or drive the speed limit in other peoples’ neighbourhoods, I know it’s a mountain biker doing it. There’s no level of plausible deniability. And as much as I probably don’t know them it’s doubtful that there are more than a couple degrees of separation between us right? Imagine getting killed on my bike, riding to enjoy the trails, not by some raging bicycle-hating ignoramus who thinks roads are fully funded by gas taxes but by a fellow mountain biker rushing home to grab their shit.

Slow down, bro. Slow down, and acquire some fucking empathy. You’ve presumably ridden on a road around cars at some point – it’s scary enough as it is thanks.