Thursday, June 08, 2006
June is bike month.
I was stopped at Main and 10th on my bike ride home the other day (There's a cool trick you can do on the 10th ave bike route at Main going east. If you go like stink as soon as the light changes, you can make the Kingsway light too. They're always synchronized). Someone at the corner was handing out city bike maps to all the cyclists that stopped there (because June is bike month I suppose), kind of preaching to the converted, but oh well. I couldn't hear what she was saying because the convertible next to me was pumping out music big time (cars like to use the bike paths because they know they'll get through an intersection).
There's a new threat out there on the bike paths now that spring is here: other bikes. I've had two close calls the past two days. Both probably novice or seasonal cyclists.
The first one I could see from a ways back: a slow arc, barely making the turn, concentrating so hard on willing the underused old thing onto the side walk ramp opposite the she had no idea she was crossing the cruising lane where cyclists take advantage of the downward slope between Fraser and Clark to make some time.
The second one was a junkyard dog (old bike, creaking fenders, squealing chain, wire basket on the front) with an AM radio strapped on and playing. He was oblivious and pulled right into the cycling lane until I yelled 'Heads up'. But this came just after a more serious event from the ongoing threat.
Cyclist down at 18th and Ontario, where there's a traffic circle and a bend in the street. I stopped and looked. The cyclist was on the grass with two people beside him. He was lying on his side, just as I had been taught in the CPR class I took a few weeks ago, so he looked to be in good hands. The driver was standing a respectful distance away, in front of his dented SUV, talking on his cel phone. 'Put me through to Donna'. Probably telling them he was going to be late for work. Seeing this, the thought that came unbidden was: I wonder if he was talking on his cel when he hit him. I picked up the water bottle and tossed it on the grass beside the bike ( Another bystander reminded me that I might have just interfered with 'evidence'. Are we watching too much CSI?). I've been hit twice by cars, nothing as serious as this, and have actually been on the driver's side of the story as well. It was a strange feeling standing there.
I watched for a bit more, heard the siren of the approaching ambulance, and decided to carry on. Happy bike month.
There's a new threat out there on the bike paths now that spring is here: other bikes. I've had two close calls the past two days. Both probably novice or seasonal cyclists.
The first one I could see from a ways back: a slow arc, barely making the turn, concentrating so hard on willing the underused old thing onto the side walk ramp opposite the she had no idea she was crossing the cruising lane where cyclists take advantage of the downward slope between Fraser and Clark to make some time.
The second one was a junkyard dog (old bike, creaking fenders, squealing chain, wire basket on the front) with an AM radio strapped on and playing. He was oblivious and pulled right into the cycling lane until I yelled 'Heads up'. But this came just after a more serious event from the ongoing threat.
Cyclist down at 18th and Ontario, where there's a traffic circle and a bend in the street. I stopped and looked. The cyclist was on the grass with two people beside him. He was lying on his side, just as I had been taught in the CPR class I took a few weeks ago, so he looked to be in good hands. The driver was standing a respectful distance away, in front of his dented SUV, talking on his cel phone. 'Put me through to Donna'. Probably telling them he was going to be late for work. Seeing this, the thought that came unbidden was: I wonder if he was talking on his cel when he hit him. I picked up the water bottle and tossed it on the grass beside the bike ( Another bystander reminded me that I might have just interfered with 'evidence'. Are we watching too much CSI?). I've been hit twice by cars, nothing as serious as this, and have actually been on the driver's side of the story as well. It was a strange feeling standing there.
I watched for a bit more, heard the siren of the approaching ambulance, and decided to carry on. Happy bike month.
// posted by Bob Walker @ 8:16 PM 
