When faced with an empty page and a brain to match with a deadline looming large on the near horizon, I usually just take a look back over the past week or two and draw upon a few random thoughts or experiences hoping it comes across to you readers somewhat coherent. Here’s some random musings:
As many know, I do not own an automobile but make my way around our growing metropolis on a bicycle. There are not a lot of us full-time bike riders compared to the overall population; especially in a country where cycling is more often a way of exercise or adventure. We all have no doubt seen movies where cities in foreign locales show streets filled with bike riders, mixed among motorized scooters, who use their two-wheeled transports daily.
And South County towns, while some bike lanes exist, are not often bike friendly given some of the various street widths where we share the asphalt with two-way traffic. At these times, it is good to obey as many rules of the road as possible, but the practice comes with its own set of hassles.
I do not ride, as a rule, on the wrong side of the street, against traffic, but I did so the other day at the intersection of San Antonio Drive and Don Bates Way because I wanted to get a closer look at construction on both sides of San Antonio and there were no cars anywhere in sight, so I rode on the opposite side for a few hundred feet, even made a full circle or two in the four-lane street; no big deal. Do that on Broadway and you’re roadkill.
But obeying the rules often doesn’t jibe with many drivers who seem to want to give the right-of-way to every cyclist in town no matter the situation. Here’s one from one day last week. I was going north on Seventh Street and turned east on Bassett to South San Lorenzo, where there is a two-way stop, the signs on Bassett. There were two cars heading south on South San Lorenzo, so I was waiting for them to pass, per the law, when the front car stopped dead and both the driver and passenger waved me through the intersection: great.
I’m at a dead stop when the driver of a black SUV behind me honks her horn at me and yells and as this happens a car at the stop sign across the street decided to go and zooms across the intersection going west and now another car going north on South San Lorenzo goes through the intersection, and the whole time the car that should be down at Division Street by now is still sitting there with arms waving out both windows to go, and at this the lady behind just pulls into the oncoming lane, around me, and through the intersection and barrels east on Bassett. Seeing that the, now three, cars lined up on South San Lorenzo finally give up on me and head south; I look both ways and turn north to Broadway just as should have happened had drivers just treated a bicycle the same as a vehicle in those situations.
I could go on, so I will. When riding on a surface street, no matter the width, I try to stay as close to the right as I can giving as much room possible for cars to pass. That can get nerve wracking as I have had more than a few driver’s doors opened without the person first looking for a bike coming so close; and on Broadway and those blocks just off it, the drivers backing out of parking spaces often don’t have a full view of the street until their line of sight clears an SUV the size of a ship container, so I have dodged a few bumpers.
I freely admit to running stop signs when it is safe to do so; myself being the arbiter of what “safe” means exactly. I have had only two drivers honk at me when I’ve made some quick, and questionable, move and that ain’t bad considering the traffic I’ve encountered over the years.
I will allow one thing to those drivers who are prone to give right of way to a bike rider, even when the street in front of them is clear and the rider has a stop sign in front of them, and that is this: when I am riding at normal speed, I suppose around 10 miles an hour, I can bring the bike to a stop very quickly just a few feet before the stop limit line. That freaks some drivers out as they must be sure I’m gonna blow right through that intersection no matter the stop sign. To avoid this, I usually pedal the bike in reverse a couple spins when approaching to, hopefully, let them know I plan to down shift and stop; sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t.
But, enough of Bike Riding 101.
***
I was going to title this last section, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Columnist,” but that was too corny not to mention out of season. But I did meet Virginia the other night at a real nice affair down at SVF’s Orradre Building. While she is a bee reader (with a capital B, as in Sacramento), she somehow comes across this paltry addition to the opinion punditry of the world and, surprising given her outward intelligent aura, she seems to enjoy reading the thing.
I was flattered, and had the night not been such an involved one, I would have spoken more with her (Virginia is mother to one of the honorees of the evening, so she sat up front with the poohbahs, while I occupied a table in the rear); may haps she will return some day and the opportunity will arise for a more casual conversation.
Take care. Peace.
