The one upside of seeing your current governor in tightie-whities:
Seeing your friend happy on yr pink bike.
That’s mon ami Jeff, who looks cuter on my bike than I do.
I’ve been having some real bike adventures lately, including a major bruise incurred when this guy suddenly opened his car door into the bike lane when I was a foot behind it, making me crash into it.
“Are you okay?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear. “Watch it!” I said quite meanly, then rode off with a rapidly-developing black-n-blue on my arm.
I was gonna take a pic of my bruised arm for the blog, until it became apparant that it just wasn’t gonna turn that impressively discolored.
Since then, I’ve realized that people have a hard time taking you seriously if you ride up on a pink bike.
Good thing I don’t have a serious job –
A few tips on defensive bike riding from my brother who would have been the bike coordinator for the city of Austin, TX, but he got sick with chronic fatigue syndrome:
Riding early on Sunday morning on city streets when they are mostly deserted is a safer way to get used to riding in traffic or just a fun way to see the deserted city.
You might also find an ‘effective cycling’ (google it) course/book on the web or library. And a few dissenting opinions like http://bicyclesafe.com/eci.html
They all give tips about riding safely in traffic, if this is something you ever consider doing. Don’t be fooled by bike lanes. They seem safer, but are they???? I am not so sure. You still have to know how to ride in them and what to look out for. How to ride ‘defensively’.
Comment by Lisa — June 14, 2006 @ 4:34 pm
Wow! You’re freaking me out a bit! :P Thanks for the info — I also plan to take a defensive biking class soon :) I do think that bike lanes are safer — It’s less dangerous running into the open doors of stationary vehicles than to collide with a moving one…
Comment by Siel — June 14, 2006 @ 8:52 pm
yes, but the main thing is not to be lulled into thinking you don’t have to pay attention in the bike lane.
it seems the key is to stay as far away from the car doors as you can. Hug the left side of the bike lane. this may be counterintuitive as you don’t want to be hugging the driving cars either!
Comment by Lisa — June 19, 2006 @ 8:08 am