Mixed Message?

Or "Scare Them into Riding Their Bike!"

Sometimes, I wonder what people that like riding their bikes are thinking. Witness a headline I saw today; above. Associating maiming with bicycle commuting seems like a poor sales tactic to me. I'm sure all my readers have seen many similar headlines posted by people that think they are advocating for cycling.

I prefer the message that I've often cited here: "Cycling is Fun and Safe!" What's more, it's even safer if you are not riding like a clueless person. I guess motoring is pretty much the same way, We should keep in mind that 600 or 700 people get killed each year on bikes. Mostly they were doing something pretty dumb when it happened (wrong way, crossing intersections without looking and many more bad practices), even if the motorist finally got blamed. That compares to 30000 motorists that get killed each year in/on motor vehicles. I guess most of them were also doing something pretty dumb when it happened, so perhaps there IS balance in the Universe.

ABC Choices

Yes, That IS a Bulge. Illustrating the Value of the "A" Part of "ABC Quick Check"

Hmm, my rear tire's had a real SLOW leak for about three weeks now. Each morning, I pump it up from about 60psi to somewhere north of 100. Now, It's developed a "bump bump bump" with each revolution. The symptom isn't getting better.

Looking at it, there's a bit of an "owie" on the tread. Look at the picture carefully and you can see it - a reverse curve that represents a bulge in addition to the gray area that is perhaps coincidentally in the same vicinity. Ironic really, considering that Big Oak just got some new Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires. THIS is the same tire, and it's only got about 4K miles on it. In the past, if babied, these tires will go nearly 6000. What has German manufacturing come to? Crimeny, these things cost almost half as much as good Jaguar tires!

Well, considering that I've been an "ABC Scofflaw" in the past, I'm considering three options:

• Change the tire and tube (remember that slow leak) before tomorrow's ride. I do have an older, but still serviceable Conti in hand. Actually, I have two, but the sidewall weaving is coming off on the second tire while the first one is mere tired (no pun intended)
• Pump up the tires on Frankenbike and simply defer the issue
• Carry the extra tire along to work tomorrow "just in case" and hope that things will stay stable for one more day (our company will be shut down next week)
• Carry the tire along and change it at lunch time, cutting the risk of a flat on the trip by some unknown fraction

My loyal reader will bet I take option 3. We shall see. Stay tuned.

What's a Warning to Do?



CURRENT WARNING - Older Adults Should Limit Outdoor Activity - and How Old are "Older" Adults?

THURSDAY UPDATE
One of the above came out at 4:46PM this afternoon, precisely as I was halfway home on my bike. After the fact warnings are not too useful!

Sometimes government, at least at the local level, is phenomenally responsive. One might wonder about this sometimes. I'll give you an example. NCTCOG sends me email alerts when pollution levels get high. Things are, in theory, pretty bad when there is an Orange Pollution Warning. We're told to limit outdoor activity.

The alerts that have been issued SINCE "Bike to Work Day" look like the picture above. I asked the NCTCOG lady about those warnings, and particularly their mention of bikes as shown in the "before" warnings that are pictured below.

No, I didn't suggest they actually eradicate cycling from their suggestions, merely that they might want to consider what they are advising. Mostly, I get these after I have left for work and am checking my email at Starbucks on the way home. Yup, simply based on a semi-serious inquiry at BTW Day, NCTCOG has changed their email broadcasts. I was surprised, particularly after the response I got from Fort Worth when I made input to their bike plan.

Government response aside, has anyone in otherwise reasonable health ever suffered some sort of damage due to failure to limit outdoor activity during such episodes? For example, would the Cowboys or Rangers cancel a game due to a pollution warning?



Before BTW Day, We Older Types Were Supposed to Limit Outdoor Activity but Were Also
Supposed Bike or Walk Instead of Driving

Respectfully Meaningless

Sharrow on NE 75th Street in Seattle - one of the TOP Cycling Cities in the Entire USA!
I Watched - Every Person on a Bike I saw Rode About Where the Back Wheel Ends.
As "Linda A" Said - "Nobody Cares Where the Arrows Point"

This is a topic where I fear to tread. However, the "Institute for Sharrow Research" can remain silent no more. You see, sharrows are one of the subjects on which bicycle advocates MOST love to argue with each other. Which makes it dangerous for me to tread, for fear of being accused of ridiculing same. And hence the title of this post. I really DO mean that first word. I really like the post that Waco made over on Biking in Dallas - one of the best I've seen on that topic. He didn't get all officious on us. As Dragnet once said - "Just the facts, ma'am."

The problem with sharrows is that they're put in place to enable bicycle planners to claim they're connecting bike routes and making stuff better for commuters. Legally, they mean absolutely - NOTHING. Well, another problem with sharrows is that bicycle ADVOCATES seem to LOVE to argue about how far out the sharrow should be painted. Is this one far enough? Well, "AASHTO says" and so on. Perhaps that is the use for sharrows - it keeps ADVOCATES from further belaboring us with stuff that helps nobody.

Personally, I  find sharrows amusing. They come a close second to the "Share the Lane versus BMUFL" debate for useless futility. In either case, regardless of what the advocates decide when they argue with each other, most people on bikes ride close enough to the curb to scare such as me.

For myself, I'd like to see police simply understand the law as its already written - including the exceptions to the discriminatory "Far to the Right" (FTR) language. That'd be a MAJOR advance. So far, I have seen no evidence that the Bedford Police operate otherwise and I salute them. YOU GUYS ROCK! I hope that continues, because Texas law supports my right to ignore sharrows, "share the lane," OR "BMUFL" nonsense. My motorists ignore all that stuff too, so we're in solidarity - well except for a few rare idiots who most readers of this blog have encountered - or at least their cousins in spirit.

Helmetlessly Hurting

Yesterday, I wasn't wearing my helmet. I knew that not wearing it exposed me to the risk of a brain injury. I, too, have read the newspaper scare comments about cyclists eating (or is it drinking?) through a straw and (insert your favorite troll comment here). I've even hit my head before. As is usual in such cases, the event was totally unexpected, though foreseeable to any dispassionate observer. To modify a phrase to better suit the collision in question: "When an engineer and a filing cabinet collide, the cabinet always wins." Though, in my own defense, the cabinet suffered a dent and thus did not get away totally unscathed. When I donned my helmet for the ride home, I felt that cabinet's pain all the way home. Ditto for the commute today. Luckily for where I work, it did not QUITE rise to the status of a recordable incident. Darn that Safety Pyramid!

It Coulda Been Me

As a prelude to a future "myth" series post, take a look at the video. The cyclist was doing, IMO, EVERYTHING RIGHT. In other words, "it coulda been me." What's more, it was flagged on the "LCI List" ONLY a day ago. This one hits closer to home than most because there's a video and it really COULD have been me. I thank God the LCI is OK.

Thanks to Cyclelicious for noting this video.

IMO, it says you could do everything right and still get smacked. OTOH, it ALSO shows how YOUR motorists might well stick up for you. My own takeaway is that if you observe the Golden Rule, you might get lucky when another does not. Still, my own rule,remains "trust, but verify," when possible.

In other words, it's a mixed message - a cyclist operating safely and predictably gets smacked all the same, but motorists recognize the injustice and help him out. THIS is a message to the DOOMSAYERS from EITHER END of the spectrum. People are mostly good. As I'm fond of saying: "Cycling is fun and safe," though the cyclist in the video found it more "interesting."

Today, for the first time, I sign off as "Steve A, LCI #3054."

And I would LOVE to hear from extremists of Either Stripe. I thought not...

Texas Salmon a Unique Species?

Today, on my ride home, on one of the shaded streets I tend to favor when it is over 100F, I encountered a salmon. Actually, it was somewhat lucky I didn't run into a salmon. Ho, hum, some of you may be thinking, salmon are all over the place. I've even posted about salmon on bikes. Well, this was no "bicyclis vulgaris gutteria." This was a full blooded Texas Proud salmon. I didn't get a whole lot of details other than it was blue, 90's Japanese hatchback, and all of a sudden I was headed straight toward her grille.

I was just coming up on the ET mailbox which marks a right turn on my route. From the other direction came the blue car, driven by an older lady. As she completed her left and then kept coming until she straightened in a good lane position had she been in the UK. This is not a situation I practice for. If she were going off the road, swerving right would do me little good. If she realized she wasn't still back in England, swerving left would be even worse. I was too startled to yell. All I did was slow down and hope that it wouldn't hurt too much. For anyone reading this that likes riding the wrong way because it'll give you a chance to jump off your bike, all I can say is cycle a block in my shoes before you say such again. Actually, 50 feet is plenty.

As my pulse and blood pressure dropped after she suddenly realized she was about to encounter a cyclist head on and swerved back to the RIGHT side of the road, related thoughts passed through my head. We had a news feature this morning about "Hot Car Death." It hadn't crossed my mind that the milder form of "Hot Car Fuzzy" might represent a danger to me. Still, my favorite theory is that motorist salmon have formed a breeding population of Texas Salmon. These have been appearing frequently (like a couple of times a week) where they drive the wrong way down a freeway or toll road until the odds catch up with them. Great graphics.

Different Danger

Occasionally, the Danger DOES Come from Behind, Prompted By Something Ahead

In this blog, I've often noted "the danger comes from ahead." Mostly, that is true. Cyclists are rarely hit directly from behind in an urban or suburban environment. Even most news articles that so claim fail to note that the cyclist "hit from behind" was actually sideswiped by a motorist that didn't notice the cyclist off to the far right side of the road. This morning, however, I was reminded that danger can come from behind, and I was reminded that such danger can be more visceral than other dangers simply because the cyclist has no good way to know what is coming next.

I’ve been fortunate in my commutes, because they have generally avoided locales where I had to ride east, directly into the sunrise on westbound roads with heavy, high speed traffic or into the sunset in the same kind of traffic. I was reminded this morning just how fortunate I’ve been, when unusual circumstances led me to ride into the sunrise on eastbound Trinity Boulevard in east Fort Worth.

Motor traffic travels about 50mph along Trinity. It’s a four lane road with no shoulder or bike lane. It is the type of road I ride frequently with no problems whatsoever. What made it scary this morning; was many motorists did not slow down appreciably when the morning sun reduced their ability to distinguish objects (such as cyclists) up ahead. Thrust into this situation, I felt very vulnerable indeed, because my margin of safety was reduced – and by an unknown amount. Sure, I was able to see well enough to avoid any obstacles up ahead, but it was not clear that one of "those motorists back there" might not get blinded by the sun. As it turned out, this morning, everyone was watching well enough that things did not get ugly and there were no close calls or hard braking, but I have to say I breathed a sigh of relief when I made my left turn and headed north. The motorists were scary because they were unpredictable, or so it seemed to me. While they were every bit as courteous as MY motorists and drove well and politely, they were not MY motorists. They were dangerous. I could FEEL it.

I like roads and conditions where motorists see and notice me a mile or two before they need to pass. Such roads and conditions almost universally apply in North Texas, and in most urban areas where motorists can actually drive at high speeds. Even if a motorist is distracted or impaired, distance, and a cyclist riding where the motorist is going to LOOK gives the motorist lots of time to react without any drama or fuss. My riding lane position contributes to early motorist recognition and reaction. During the entire time of “the honk project,” I was never honked at due to a motorist being surprised by my presence. Honking was invariably due to misguided irritation at my mere presence, or due to a misguided attempt to let me know someone was going to go by. Knowing what my motorists behind are going to do allows me to focus most of my attention on the principal danger – hazards ahead of me.

Thinking back upon my misspent youth, four motoring circumstances where a properly and legally operating cyclist ahead of my car might have been most at risk included:

• When it was foggy – driving too fast for conditions
• When the windshield was partly obscured by frost or rain – driving too fast for conditions
• When sun obscured my vision – driving too fast for conditions (and this most recently occurred last week, though I was driving less than 10mph at the time. If you can't see, you CAN'T see)
• On twisty roads where a cyclist up ahead might be obscured – driving FAR too fast for conditions

None of these circumstances depended on my absolute speed; merely that the conditions mismatched the speed at which I was travelling. In all honesty, my conduct did not endanger cyclists any more than other road users; I was fortunate that no one happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

As a cyclist, I’d rather NOT need to be lucky. I cycle defensively and conservatively; albeit assertively. Route planning and knowing local conditions, like weather and light, help me avoid many sticky situations. Experience and training help a lot, as do modern satellite maps. Viewed rationally, the situation this morning was not risky enough that I felt it necessary to simply get off the bike and walk. It was, however, stressful enough that I didn’t feel my fellow road users were MY motorists. Instead, I was sharing the road with a scary truck operator I wasn't confident could clearly see what’s straight ahead. It was a reminder of what many people riding bikes experience on a daily basis. They are out amongst road users they see as dangers rather than simply fellow road users trying to get from point to point safely. I would not ride in such circumstances unless I had no other choice. This morning was a good reminder. I’ll try not to repeat it any time soon. It has increased my sympathy for people unused to cycling on regular streets with no special cycling infrastructure. Feeling secure, even if such a feeling is illusory, makes a real difference.