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The Cycling Chronicles III

Thursday, 30 April 2009

As a bike rider, I've been privy to the angry vents of other bike riders swiped at by cars, clipped, yelled at and generally mistreated by cars on the road... I've noticed that in everyone of these stories the rider is furious with the driver of the car and all stories end with either expletives or some form of threatened physical abuse towards the driver.

I think today confirmed that I am not an angry person by nature. I was riding along my merry way, passing a side street from which a car was waiting to turn into the main road I was on. I was sure that the driver and I made eye contact. I clearly had right of way... but somehow the driver missed me, or blanked out and drove straight into me as I was riding past. For the first split second I was extremely worried as the car didn't seem to stop even after the initial impact... but as I fell off the bike and onto the bitumen the car stopped and the moment passed. I didn't get up instantly... I was quite shocked to be honest! And grateful that I wasn't particularly injured (apart from my foot)... As I collected myself the window rolled down... "Are you ok?" asked the driver blankly? She was an odd looking woman... She seemed not quite there... And her son? next to her had the same slow, vacant way about him. "Umm... yes I think so" I said. She nodded and off they drove.

It wasn't until I picked myself up, and took a look at my bike that I realised my foot was very sore and bleeding, that I was shaking slightly... and that the front wheel of the bike had completely buckled and was essentially a write-off. I waited for the wave of anger to come... but it never arrived. Despite the fact I am now bikeless... and have a very sore foot... I can't help but feel sorry for the haunted looking pair who left me on the street.

Labels: bike, cycling chronicles

posted by genloz at 10:40 PM 0 Comments

The Cycling Chronicles II

Monday, 6 April 2009

My bike ride to work consists of a 4x15 minute sections, and a series of moments... Time passes more quickly this way I find... There are 3 major moments in the first 15 minute section...
The first moment is the first red light... Will I make it... Won't I... I usually creep through the red as the street isn't busy in the morning. The aim is not to stop.

The second moment involves a crossing lady. When I first started riding she used to smile at me. One day I saw a mum with her cute little daughter get off the bus about 15m from the crossing and cross the road right there. The crossing lady shook her head in disappointment and disbelief. Then one day I went through the red light on the crossing. No one was crossing. The crossing was empty... and the point of riding a bike is that you get the benefits of being both a pedestrian and a car! Ever since then the crossing lady has been giving me the evil eye. No matter how much I smile or say hi, she glares or avoids me... In her eyes I'm as bad as the 'bad mother'...

The third moment is the bus chase... The bus driver and I vie for first position along the main road... He takes over on the hills... I catch up when he stops. The aim is to be in front at the first section of the road where there's no bike path. If I'm in front he has to wait behind me as there's no room to overtake. If he's in front, that's the last I see of the morning bus!

I suppose these could be the reasons drivers hate bike riders - but it is lots of fun!

Labels: bike, cycling chronicles, moments

posted by genloz at 12:31 PM 1 Comments

The cycling chronicles

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Sometimes I live a little inside my head... Like when I ride to work I imagine that I'm effortlessly gliding through pristine wilderness on a vintage bicycle feeling refreshed, alive, and stylishly at peace with the world... Like the girl to the left... In reality of course I'm a heaving, bright red, mass of exhaustion, clambering down the road blindly at a snails pace. Occasionally cars stop and look sympathetically at me like I have some sort of terminal illness and someone once even offered me a lift - not my finest moment. To try and take my mind of this reality I devised a game to play on the roads.

It's very simple. The rules are as follows:

For a person I overtake that:
is much smaller than me/disabled: 1 point
is wearing jeans/heavy gear: 2 points
is bigger than me: 3 points
is wearing lycra bike gear: 4 points

For every person who overtakes me that:
is much smaller than me/disabled: -3 point
is wearing jeans/heavy gear: -2 points
is bigger than me: -1 points
is wearing lycra bike gear: -0 points
(and yes, I have been overtaken by a man with no legs, but he did have an exceptional 4 wheeled device and very muscly arms)...

Despite it being my invention and weighted in my favour, I'm still losing... but it's inspiring me to try and go that little bit faster... :-) Hmm... I probably shouldn't have written all that... Please dismiss as a brief interlude of insanity!

Labels: bike, cycling chronicles, game

posted by genloz at 11:09 PM 2 Comments