Saturday, June 13, 2009
Down - and YOU Go Over THERE ----------- Cyclist Humor Needed...
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A little over a week ago, I had my first "accident" on my new commute to Alliance. "Accident" is in quotes because it was actually a fall on a wooden bridge deck on the Keller Bear Creek MUP. The ground was wet, and the deck dumped me over. Luckily, Keller has incorporated the "safety feature" of slick wood to minimize road rash & I wasn't crossing the bridge very fast. Later, I discovered that the wife of one of my engineers at work fell while running on the same bridge and broke a tooth. Forevermore, I'll have to resist the temptation to mention "Arkansas" when I see her. Enough of that - It's point "A" on the map & I was riding west. I imagine Keller will rebuild those bridges after someone scores a big legal settlement off of them. I ride the route between Bear Run and Rufe Snow because it's shorter than the road, is about half way to work, saves me two traffic lights, and it's cool (literally & figuratively), with wildlife bopping through the woods.
Fast forward to yesterday. Damp roads once again. This time I detoured to avoid the wooden bridge deck (I may be dumb, but even a flatworm is trainable). About point "B" on Bear Creek Parkway on the map, close to where I experienced my last close pass, along comes some guy in a mini van, pulls up alongside and helpfully lets me know "there's a trail over there." Well, it's been so long since someone said something like that to me that I almost fell off my bike, then thought of the fall, then fell upon the last resort of the speechless in an "expletive deleted" that I instantly regretted. The best comebacks I've thought of so far seem to be "there's a parking lot over there" and "FM 1709 is a few blocks up for you." Y'all probably can do a lot better.
The guy turned a couple of blocks later, to Roy Ln. I contemplated following to leave an explanatory note on his windshield & then decided it would be a waste of my time. Suggestions for graceful future responses are invited...
FWIW, Bear Creek Parkway is no longer like Google Street View. There's about a four foot wide unimproved shoulder on both sides, a double yellow centerline, and a MUP running through the park itself. I was riding roughly in the middle of the lane at the time, so the minivan was on the LH side of the double yellow when he offered his advice. Shades of ChipSeal & his helpful "cyclist friend."
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5 comments:
Ha ha ha!
A variation of "We paid for that expensive white elephant over there, you ought to be on it!"
Perhaps you could've inquired about his expertise in cycling.
Or you could go with a comment like; "You are an Obama voter aren't you?" or "Jesus loves you!"
The ONLY place I have gotten on-road harassment in Dallas is West Lawther Drive at White Rock Lake. It's happened more than once (always on a weekend with nice weather).
Bicycle facilities spawn anti-cyclist reaction, because the majority of their support comes from people who don't ride bikes, but would prefer to see them off the road.
This is a common phenomenon, documented in Dallas, Austin, Florida, Northern and Southern California, New York, Chicago, Madison WI, Seattle, and even Portland Oregon. When "tax-payers" build you a place to play with your toy vehicle, they expect you to not just use it, but to stay in it (see Steve's "Bike Box" video from a few days ago).
The point I keep trying to make, and that keeps falling on deaf ears, is that cyclists simply can not have their cake and eat it too.
PM: Columbus, Ohio also came close to "mandatory bike lane" law last year!
I had a nasty fall on a wet wood bridge about 10 years ago. There are a number of places where wood has been used on trail bridges here. It puzzles me why they'd even consider that with our humidity and mildew. But I guess no one has sued them yet.
I once had a guy pull up in the lane next to me at a red light and ask why I wasn't on the trail. I had to think for a second, where the trail was. There was one 1/2 mile away running perpendicular to the road I was on. I said, "Because the trail doesn't go where I'm going." I'm sure that pinged right off his concrete skull.
For the most part, I have a "no react" policy. When people honk or yell, I pretend I don't hear them. When they slow down and say stuff, I wave and smile and say "thank you" until they leave.
Typically, I don't experience enough harassment for it to wear on me. Yesterday was an exception and my decorum was pretty much out the window by the end of my ride.
Rufe Snow. My favorite road name in the Metroplex.
Whenever the traffic reporters says it, you think they might have left their upper plate in the glass at home. ;)
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