(no subject)
My bike route has some interesting logistics to it.
I normally try to be a good bike rider. I wear my bright red helmet, I use lights when it's dark or raining, and I signal better than most car drivers and all semis in this town. There are times, however, when I am forced to pull unexpected manuvers or run undergrads into the ground. This almost always occurs on 24th street on my way to class in the morning. From home to class building, the route is almost entirely down-hill, particularly if I take the long downward slope that is 24th. This street is nicely untrafficed by cars, because it runs through the heart of campus and as such is restricted. However, this causes undergrads to think that crosswalks are for sissies, and dart out from behind parked cars unexpectedly. Luckily my ownly working break (the front one) squeels like a banshee, and this usually startles the lemming-like suicide cases out of whatever morning fog has convinced them that stepping in front of a bike going 17-20 mph+ is a good idea. I know the speed 'cause there's one of those nifty "you're going too fast" blinking radar signs that picks up my bike.
On my way home it's a different story; the lovely "it's all down hill from here" effect of the morning is, as reason would assume, reversed on the way home. Today I came to the admission that at certain times of the day, that time being anytime after 4:30, it is quicker for me to get off my bike and walk it up this one hill rather than remaining a "vehicle" and trying to get the traffic to allow me to make the unprotected left. When you're in a car you can nose out into the intersection and wait for the yellow. As a car, hitting you will damage thier nice new "my car must be painted with ponies 'cause it's a mustang" paintjob. When you're on a bike they don't seem to care and will cream you anyways. So I walked it today. This left hand turn takes me on to the one-block of my route which is on Dean Keaton, one of the only (maybe the only, now that I think about it) streets that goes through campus east to west. Thus it is hell.
Once I made it back onto side streets again, I watched a bike rider in front of me nip up into a parking lot that I'd never considered before; following him, I realized that this short-cut cut off the most punishing hill of my ride home. I hated that hill... you had to take a 90 degree left turn from a stand-still, because there was a 3-way stop sign with two blind spots. I actually whiped out there not that long ago. Now I'll never ride that way again. You learn something every day...
I normally try to be a good bike rider. I wear my bright red helmet, I use lights when it's dark or raining, and I signal better than most car drivers and all semis in this town. There are times, however, when I am forced to pull unexpected manuvers or run undergrads into the ground. This almost always occurs on 24th street on my way to class in the morning. From home to class building, the route is almost entirely down-hill, particularly if I take the long downward slope that is 24th. This street is nicely untrafficed by cars, because it runs through the heart of campus and as such is restricted. However, this causes undergrads to think that crosswalks are for sissies, and dart out from behind parked cars unexpectedly. Luckily my ownly working break (the front one) squeels like a banshee, and this usually startles the lemming-like suicide cases out of whatever morning fog has convinced them that stepping in front of a bike going 17-20 mph+ is a good idea. I know the speed 'cause there's one of those nifty "you're going too fast" blinking radar signs that picks up my bike.
On my way home it's a different story; the lovely "it's all down hill from here" effect of the morning is, as reason would assume, reversed on the way home. Today I came to the admission that at certain times of the day, that time being anytime after 4:30, it is quicker for me to get off my bike and walk it up this one hill rather than remaining a "vehicle" and trying to get the traffic to allow me to make the unprotected left. When you're in a car you can nose out into the intersection and wait for the yellow. As a car, hitting you will damage thier nice new "my car must be painted with ponies 'cause it's a mustang" paintjob. When you're on a bike they don't seem to care and will cream you anyways. So I walked it today. This left hand turn takes me on to the one-block of my route which is on Dean Keaton, one of the only (maybe the only, now that I think about it) streets that goes through campus east to west. Thus it is hell.
Once I made it back onto side streets again, I watched a bike rider in front of me nip up into a parking lot that I'd never considered before; following him, I realized that this short-cut cut off the most punishing hill of my ride home. I hated that hill... you had to take a 90 degree left turn from a stand-still, because there was a 3-way stop sign with two blind spots. I actually whiped out there not that long ago. Now I'll never ride that way again. You learn something every day...