Losing momentum: An excuse not to stop, not a reason

Dionette Cherney (Right.) who was hit by a cyclist while crossing a San Francisco street has died from her injuries.

That makes me both sad and extremely angry.

This unfortunate lady’s death was totally unnecessary; it was rush hour, she was crossing in a crosswalk with a green light, and now she is dead because a cyclist decided not to stop but to push through the crowd of pedestrians.

This not stopping by cyclists has to stop; it is total bullshit. It is a stupid habit many bike riders have, and there is no logical reason for it.

I am not being critical of the cyclist who rolls S-L-O-W-L-Y through a deserted intersection on a residential street. I am talking of the failure to yield to pedestrians, or to other vehicles that arrived first at busy stop signs and red lights.

If anyone wants to argue that in both instances cyclists are breaking the law I will have to plead no contest. However, the big difference is that the latter is rude and anti-social; it pisses people off, and in this case someone has died because of it. 

Forget that 811 pedestrians were hit by cars in San Francisco last year, while only 18 were hit by a bicycle; that is not the point. Unless a pedestrian steps directly into the path of a speeding cyclist, no one should get killed or seriously injured by a bicycle.

Nearly every complaint I hear about cyclists revolves around the fact that cyclists hate to stop; or in many cases, even hate to slow down.

The reason; they will lose their precious momentum. Are they that fucking lazy that they can’t slow or stop and make the effort start again?

All it takes is get out of the saddle give a few hard pumps on the pedals and you are back up to speed again. The ones with the potential to do serious damage are the ones who have reached a level of fitness that stopping and starting again should not even be an issue.

I witness this bullshit behavior almost on a daily basis; riding on a local bike path. I see cyclists buzz past pedestrians without warning or any attempt to slow down; in many cases there are small children around who are totally unpredictable and extremely vulnerable.

There are a couple of places where the path crosses a street and you can hear cars approaching and if they are close you can even see them. Why anyone would ride a bicycle from a bike path onto a road with a car approacing is beyond my comprehension.

Yet I see cyclists not even attempt to stop but rather make a hard left, ride towards the oncoming traffic, forcing the car to swerve towards the center of the road. They then continue riding until the road is clear and do a U-turn to double back to the path.

If a car approaches in the far lane from the opposite direction, they pull the same maneuver and make a hard left into the near lane without stopping. In most cases the car will stop because the driver has no idea what this idiot is about to do. The cyclist then turns in front of the car without so much a hand signal, or thank you wave.

All this just to avoid losing that little bit of precious momentum. All types of cyclists, across the board; even people on cruiser bikes, wearing street clothes and no helmet, and not traveling at any great speed. But already they have learned that momentum must be maintained at all costs. It is a habit these cyclists have formed; probably at the same time they first learned to ride a bike.

It is a habit born out of laziness; what other reason can there be. Like all habits it can be broken, but only if there is a willingness to change on the of part the individual. If a person is riding a bike to stay in shape, stopping and starting again is increasing your rate of effort; it is a form of interval training.

Resist the urge to keep moving at all cost and embrace stopping and starting as part of your exercise regime.

If nothing else by stopping when a cyclist is supposed to stop takes away the biggest complaint both motorists and pedestrians have against us all. Yes, all of us; I'm sure I get less respect on the road because of the poor habits of others. As I have said before; stop handing them the stick to beat us with.

Slowing down or stopping when it is called for, and the resulting loss of momentum is not your enemy, it is a ticket to increased strength and fitness and greater respect from others with whom we are obliged to share the road

                         

Terminology

I just read a letter in a newspaper where someone described themselves as an “Avid Cycler.”

I’m sorry, if you call yourself a “Cycler” you are not an avid bike rider, which I think is what you are trying to say. The term is “Cyclist.”

You could be an Avid Recycler if you collect old newspapers, and plastic bottles; but that’s a whole different story.

Then I read an ad on Craig’s List where a person selling a bicycle described it as having:

“Covers over the wheels, so you won’t get your clothes wet when riding in the rain.”

They are called “Mudguards.”

Some still call them “Fenders,” which is mildly acceptable. At least we know what you are talking about; in this case I never would have known had there not been a photograph of said bike, sporting mudguards.

When I first came to the US in 1979, there was a whole different vocabulary for bicycle parts that drove me crazy.

People called a handlebar stem (Left.) a “Gooseneck.” If I ever saw a goose with a neck shaped like that, it was one sick bird.

A spanner was called a wrench; now some call it a spanner wrench. One of those words is obsolete.

Before we had freewheel cassettes, the old screw-on five and six speed freewheels were called a freewheel “Block.” In the US they called them a “Cluster.” And Americans would insist on calling a saddle, a “Seat.”

Now the fact that a saddle was attached to a seat post, which in turn slid into a seat tube on the frame, was neither here nor there. I wasn’t around for that planning meeting.

Some terms have never changed; Campagnolo was always abbreviated to “Campag” in the UK, in the US it is “Campy.” I never abbreviate the name, that way I am correct on both sides of the pond.

Tubular tires, (Or is it Tyres?) in the UK are “Sprints and Tubs.” Sprints referring to the sprint rims, and tubs being short for tubulars. In the US they are “Sewups,” which no longer drives me crazy, although it does make me a tiny bit uncomfortable.

Now the “Hipster” crowd have started calling them “Tubies,” which is kind of ‘cute,’ but what does drive me stark raving bonkers, is the fixie element referring to toe-clips as “Cages.”

They have always been “Toe-clips,” on both sides of the Atlantic. It was the one word that didn’t get bastardized in translation.

They have been abandoned by most branches on the sport for clip-less pedals. (There is a clue, right there.) Anyone who calls them cages should be locked up in one.

                       

Babies on Bike Ban

The State of Oregon has a new bill on the books,sponsored by State House Representative Mitch Greenlick.

The bill if passes it will make it illegal to carry children under six years old in a seat attached to a bicycle, or in a trailer towed behind a bicycle, under the penalty of a $90 fine.

Greenlick justifies the bill by stating “If just one child’s life is saved by this bill it will be worthwhile.”

I am left to wonder, where is the evidence to back up this idea the large numbers of toddlers are being killed or injured while being transported by bicycle.

There is evidence to show that the biggest cause of infant death is due to car crashes, is there a proposed bill to make it illegal for babies to ride in cars? The second biggest cause of death is drowning, so let’s ban swimming pools from households with young children.

This is just another example of a politician who probably doesn’t ride a bike, catering to a car-centic society by selling the idea that riding a bicycle on the public roads is inherently dangerous.

I’ll tell you what is dangerous, the precedent this bill sets if it passes in Oregon.

There are families out there who have only one car, or no car. How is a mother supposed to transport her children if no car is available?

The mother pictured above could be quite simply escorting her son to school and naturally has to take the baby along.

The trio is highly visible and there is no reason why they should be in any danger except for this strange notion we have that people be allowed to drive cars without paying attention to other road users. 

I see mothers with a child in tow on my local bike path, some have to ride city streets to get to the path; the mothers are getting exercise and I’m sure the kids love it too. It would be a damn shame if this was outlawed.

The chart above is from The Center for Disease Control’s 2007 statistics on causes of death to children under six years old.

More on this on Tree Hugger and on Bike Portland.org

                         

Running stop signs

Here is something you don’t see too often; 25 cyclists on a recreational ride stopped and ticketed for running a stop sign. It happened on August 28th in Woodside, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I'll admit I roll through stop signs all the time, especially in quiet rural or residential areas where there is not another person or vehicle in sight.

However, I do not “Blow” through at 20 or 25 mph, I slow to a speed where I could stop if I had to, but I don’t see the point of unclipping and putting my foot to the ground if there is no one else there.

On the other hand, if there are other cars or pedestrians there at the same time, I will unclip and come to a complete stop. I do this out of common decency. If I go to a movie theater I don’t push to the front of the line, I wait my turn. Why should I behave any differently on my bike?

Red lights are a different matter for me; I will not roll though a red light whether there is someone there or not. If it is early in the morning and there is not another car in sight, and I could be waiting a long time for the light to change, I will probably then move on. But never without coming to a complete stop and waiting at least a short period of time.

Cyclists will always argue that drivers of automobiles roll though stop signs, and run red lights all the time, and that no motorist was ever killed by a cyclist. 

Motorists for the most part will do exactly the same as a cyclist at a stop sign; if there is no one there, roll through. But if there are others already stopped, usually most will stop and wait their turn.

The same with traffic lights, motorists will push the “Orange” light to the limit and often going through after it turns red. But you will rarely see a motorist pull up to a red light and on seeing no one coming, go on through.

There are of course exceptions to motorist’s behavior in both these scenarios, but what pisses off the average person is when they pass a cyclist, then at the next stop sign or traffic light, he rides past the line of waiting traffic and through the intersection without appearing to slow down. I view this kind of behavior as extreme rudeness.

There are any number of bad motorists out there, but please, do me and yourself a favor. Stop using that as an excuse for behaving badly. Pointing the finger at others and saying, "Well he did it too," is something we all should have left in kindergarten.

If you run every stop sign and red light regardless of the circumstances of other traffic waiting there, this is a pattern of behavior you might want to think about adjusting.

Maybe the riders in the Woodside group deserved a ticket, maybe not. But when cyclists just blow though a stop sign without appearing to slow, it just plain looks bad.

Many see cyclists as a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous pricks, keep doing this and you prove it beyond all doubt.

                         

Charleston cycling advocate injured

Edwin Gardner (Right.) a well known cycling advocate for the Charleston, SC peninsula was struck by a Jeep Cherokee at 7:53 am Wednesday morning.

The last I heard he was still in a coma, in critical condition, after being dragged 15 feet and ending up lodged beneath the SUV.

The incident report said that Gardner contributed to the accident, the 21 year old driver of the Jeep did not. Peter Wilborn a Charleston lawyer who trains police officers on how to investigate and report cycling accidents, said:

"In my experience training police officers, a common theme I talk about time after time is 'Don't fill out an accident report until you've spoken to the cyclist.' Yet here it goes again. We have a determination of fault and we haven't even given the guy a chance to wake up from a coma,"

Edwin was riding his bike south on Lockwood Boulevard when he made a left onto Montague Street; (See map below left.) The Jeep Cherokee followed him and also turned onto Montague.

The report says Gardner moved to the right and the driver of the Jeep attempted to go around him.

The cyclist then rode back into the line of travel and struck the Jeep on the left passenger side.

I was not there, but I can only surmise what happened based on my own experience:

Edwin Gardner, an experienced rider, probably moved back over to the left to get out of the door zone of parked cars.

If Edwin rode into the passenger side of the SUV, it would have had to be almost on him when he moved out; an experienced rider would not do this.

If he struck the side of the SUV, how come he ended up wedged underneath it?  I think it is more likely he was struck from behind by the front of the vehicle. If this was the case, damage to his bike would confirm this.

This is pure speculation on my part but could this be just another case of a driver in too big of a hurry to get around a cyclist?

The story reported in the Post & Courier has the usual hate mongering comments from locals, who seem to almost celebrate the fact that a good man is lying in a hospital bed in a coma.

This is the whole crux of the cycling safety issue. As long as the general motoring public is allowed to spew out and perpetuate all this unfounded hatred; then no one sees the person on a bike as a fellow human being.

But rather as some sub-human species, criminal almost, to be mowed down if he gets in your way. And if he gets hit? Oh well, he asked for it.

What a sad, sad world we live in

Update: Sadly Edwin Gardner died from his injuries at 11:20 am. Friday morning, about the time I was writing this piece