TORONTO — Two cyclists on the highway. A fully loaded rig barreling toward them from behind …

If you think this story is about to turn into a tragedy, you’d be wrong.

The cyclists in question encountered this scenario frequently during a three-week trip from Nanaimo to Winnipeg, and they were so surprised by the professionalism of passing truckers that they sent a letter of thanks to the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

Susie and Kanji Nakatsu, who hail from Kingston, Ont., wrote to CTA president David Bradley “to thank all the long-haul truckers for the courtesy that they showed us throughout our bicycle trip.”

Mr. Nakatsu, a professor at Queens University, confirmed that he and his wife wrote the letter that was e-mailed without a return address to CTA offices.

“Without a doubt this group of drivers was the most courteous and safety conscious on the highways,” they wrote. “One often hears negative comments about truckers’ driving habits, but our experience was just the opposite, leaving us with just positive comments about the long-haul truck drivers.”

The Nakatsus said most of the highways they used had paved shoulders to cycle on, but even still drivers tended to move as far to the left as possible to prevent them from being buffeted by the air turbulence. Whenever a rig did not give them more room, it was invariably because other traffic did not allow it.

It was not their first long cycling trip, and not their first experience with courteous truckers.

“In 2009, we were crossing a bridge into Valleyfield, Que., and it turned out to be under renovation,” Mr. Nakatsu told todaystrucking.com. “As a result, the lanes were really rough and narrow, and I pulled off into a space between highway pylons to let the traffic go by me. A trucker stopped his rig – and all the traffic in his lane – and gestured that I should get back in the lane and cycle across the bridge. He didn’t have to do it and it cost him some time, but I certainly appreciated his consideration.”

The couple plans to finish their three-part cycling trip across Canada with the final leg from Winnipeg to Kingston in the spring.

“We hope that other drivers, especially tour buses, follow the example of the professional truck drivers and look out for us little guys on two wheels,” he said.

Doug Switzer, vice president, public affairs for the CTA, told todaystrucking.com it was a pleasure to receive the e-mail.

“It’s not that common to get a complimentary letter, particularly one so effusive,” he said. “It’s generally more unusual to get laudatory letters than critical letters, in any activity. People with an axe to grind tend to put pen to paper. People who are happy or content usually don’t. So the norm is to get the complaints.”

He admitted that the issue of sharing the road with cyclists can be contentious.

“It’s not just the issue of wind buffeting the cyclists. We get a lot of attention from cycling magazines and cycling organizations about things like under-ride protection and side-guards,” he said. “On the highways it’s not always feasible for government to have fully paved shoulders. There’s a cost associated with that.”

Watching for cyclists is, therefore, an additional challenge for drivers – both on the highways and in the cities.

“You’ve got cars, trucks and bicycles all competing for the same space. Unfortunately, most of the time, the cyclist is harder to see, particularly if the truck driver has difficulty keeping track of all the cars around him, given the blind spots all around him. It’s difficult to see the cyclist as they wind in and out of traffic.”

Switzer said the letter from the Nakatsus shows that many drivers have their radars on when it comes to cyclists. “Hopefully some of the guys who were driving next to this couple will see their comments," he said.

Dan Dakin, editor-in-chief of Canadian Cycling Magazine, said the Nakatsus were riding through cycle-friendly territory on their trip out west.

“Of all the places to hear a story like this, it doesn’t surprise me that it was Alberta,” he said. “That part of the country is a little better for cycling. I think you’d be hard-pressed to hear a similar story in Ontario.”

Dakin said interprovincial roads and highways out west tend to have wider shoulders and vehicles are more used to seeing cyclists on the highways. In Alberta, for example, it is legal to cycle on highways. In many other parts of the country, particularly Ontario, truckers never see bikes on the highways.

Cyclists are wary of trucks, to be sure, he said, but the general consensus seems to be that some are worse than others to encounter on the road.

“When it comes to transport trucks, the big rigs, the 18-wheelers are fairly safe. The bigger problem seems to be with the smaller work trucks like dump trucks, for whatever reason,” he said.

Greg Mathieu, chief executive officer and secretary general of the Canadian Cycling Association, said the letter shows that the relationship between cyclists and motor vehicle drivers isn’t irreparably broken.

“I’m really pleased to hear that there are cyclists out there who feel they’re getting consideration from truckers,” he said.

Nevertheless, he doesn’t downplay the potential danger to cyclists on public roads.

“One of the greatest cyclists of our time, Jocelyn Lovell, got hit by a dump truck in the Flamborough (Ontario) area a number of years back. So there’s generally more of a fear factor for competitive cyclists. For that reason, they tend to gravitate to areas where there is less of that type of traffic.”

Lovell, who dominated Canadian cycling competitions in the 1960s and 1970s, is now a quadriplegic.

“There are a lot of advocacy groups, mainly provincial in nature, that are asking for at least three feet of room for cyclists,” he said. “We know that in Alberta and British Columbia they tend to put a larger amount of roadway on the side to allow for cyclists as well.

"So the (Nakatsus’) experience may be a little more regional than national,” he said.

As for the Nakatsus, they’re convinced the real danger to cyclists are motor homes and tour buses which, like trucks, are significantly wider than cars and create as much turbulence.

Drivers of those vehicles could take a lesson from the long haul truckers, says Mr. Nakatsu.