Any time I overhear a compliment paid to Panola folks I want to pass it along to readers. I’ll have to admit, however, that this one surprised me:

“I have received more respect on the road as a cyclist than I did in Tupelo on the Natchez Trace,” David Smith said recently at a meeting of the Batesville Exchange Club.

A little background: Smith, 35, is president of the Regions Bank branch in Batesville and surrounding towns who is serious about cycling. He lives off Blackjack Road and often rides his bike to work — 17 miles. The trip takes him 40 to 45 minutes, he said, when he’s pumping for time.

Consider the roads along his route to town — Blackjack Road, Highways 315 and 35, all two lane, occasionally narrow, winding and hilly where motorists encounter bicyclists infrequently. The Natchez Trace, of course, is the limited access, tightly controlled route renowned as a bicyclist’s mecca.

 Smith’s compliment to Panola motorists is but the back story of his cycling. A former triathlete, the Batesville banker narrowed his focus to cycling as a fitness regimen that he simply enjoys. Cycling at a competitive level soon brought him into contact with other serious cyclists who — one thing leading to another — brought to his awareness of cycling fund-raising events, including the Bike MS: FedEx “Rock and Roll. The Rock and Roll covers 150 miles over two days and helps to raise funds for research to find a cure for multiple sclerosis and to support its victims.

Inevitably, Smith said, “Why-are-you-riding? stories are exchanged. Smith’s includes his mother, diagnosed with the mysterious illness in the 1980s.

“It affects people differently; there’s no cure, they don’t know the cause, it’s not inherited and it’s difficult to diagnose,” Smith said. His mother has managed the disease’s assault on her mobility, partially with the help of four or five steroid shots administered weekly, but, “My mom is tired of feeling like a pin cushion,” he said.

Perhaps cycling appeals because it is the antithesis of MS. “It’s about movement.

Smith has become a team captain for this year’s Rock and Roll event set for Sept. 11 and 12 in DeSoto and Tunica counties. He’s been joined by cyclists Cliff Olson and Cameron Parnell. Each team member is required to raise $300 to participate, but “it became a competition to see who could raise the most money,” Smith said.

So as the date for the Rock and Roll nears, you are likely to encounter these cyclists pedaling along Panola roads. Or others who may join their team. (“You don’t have to ride 150 miles,” to participate, Smith said.)

Or you may encounter other people riding bicycles who have nothing to do with Smith and his team or MS but who are taking advantage of a fun way to become fit.

Slow down and give the bicycle rider a wide berth, Smith said. A new Mississippi law requires motorists to give bicycles three feet of clearance, even if meeting another car at the time.

And whatever you do, Smith said, “Don’t honk!” A cyclist may immediately head for the ditch, he explained, thinking that the car’s honking horn is a dire warning.

Instead, we can build on the good reputation as neighborly motorists that we’ve already started with Smith.

Give him a wide berth and give him a wave.

(Even better, make your donation to fight MS so that Smith’s team gets credit. For more information about riding or donating to fight MS, contact him at 563-5691)