Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Normally, with a title like that, I'd be telling you about a monster SUV that tried to crush me. Not so this time.
I decided to ride the motorcycle in this morning after I got a late start; the bicycle would have been on the slow side, particularly as it was after traffic (which defines, to some extent, how late I was). No more than background levels of driver stupidity were detected for the majority of the drive.
I turned down Fremont Ave, which is a popular bicycling route (that's how I get into work on the bicycle myself). At 35th street, I usually swing into the left-turn lane to avoid the utter traffic craziness which is "downtown" Fremont. As I crossed 36th and was preparing to move into the left turn lane, a bicyclist I was about to pass suddenly swerved sharply in front of me, crossing my path to get into the left turn lane. It wasn't a scary moment, but it left me a little cross that this cyclist had pulled such a foolish stunt.
I pulled up next to her, and said, "you might want to look next time, I almost ran into you when you pulled out like that." We conversed for a moment, and she asserted that she'd looked, and not seen a car, and so decided it was ok to pull out. At the moment she'd pulled out of the bike lane, we were going about the same speed. She didn't look over her shoulder (and had no mirror), and didn't signal.
"Sorry, I guess I didn't see you, I was looking for cars," she said. I had a very brief internal forehead-slapping moment, and said, "bicycles and motorcycles have the same problem with visibility," or something. The light turned green and we both pulled away. I let her go first, since I figured (correctly) that she'd cross my path again to get over to the outside of the road. I waved as I went by, although I don't think she'd assumed I was angry (since I wasn't).
Note to bicyclists: watch out for all vehicles. I would have smushed her just as flat as a car would have.
Posted at 12:42 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater