Dear Editor:

The Rotary club and local inns and hotels are now offering their guests and foreign workers old, new and in-between bicycles. I've been an avid bike racer, city biker and cross-country camper all my life.

These new summer citizens are showing me and all of us locals very new and, yes, somewhat dangerous, ways of riding that we must not only tolerate but appreciate.

Let me explain what I've seen the past four to five weeks:

1. Two grown male summer inn helpers from England navigating from Southport to Boothbay Harbor riding on the left-hand side of Route 27 — normal for them.

2. Even on the smallest hill, they can't learn or handle the shifting levers, so they walk the bike up the side of the road or on the sidewalk (and on Atlantic Avenue, the safest place for them to ride is on the sidewalk).

3. Dads usually lead the whole family, without looking back where Mom and the kids are trying to both enjoy the bikes and watch their in-front leader. None of the bikes have rear view mirrors.

4. Not all riders have helmets. I am totally guilty of this as I am 95 percent deaf and can now hear and see better without any head gear. My eyes are 20/20 and have been all my life.

5. The nearest bike shop, other than our famous Rotarian Doug Roberts' Oak Street location, is Bath Cycle. This means that no one really buys a bike lock, lights or proper fitting bike clothes.

6. Mopeds aren't coming — they're here! I've been a user for 10 years. That is another direct or indirect "red light" that we must learn to accept — with caution. Most mopeds can't go faster than 39 mph and all the driver needs is a valid car driver's license to rent or buy one. Route 27 can be very dangerous when the fog rolls in and because their are no bike or moped lanes.

A new good rule: Don't beware of the bikers, be aware of the bikers.

Robert Horne

Southport