Friday, June 29, 2007
Ride On
It was a bit of an unusual ride in this morning. I waited at the corner for any other Bike Friday cyclists. None showed up.
I took the lane on Yonge Street when I was passing some parked cars. For the second time this week, a car pulled up close behind me. I turned around and yelled at him to back off. He did. I think he was just totally absorbed in a conversation with a passenger and tailgated me like he would any other vehicle on the street.
Then taking the hill down Yonge, where I can easily reach 50 km/h, a car pulled up straddling the line just behind me. He was going to squeeze between me and the car in the left lane. This is dumb and potentially unsafe, but wouldn't be the worst move I've seen. If he'd just wait 5 seconds, for us to be in different positions, it would be so much easier. I turned my head to say "no" to him, which usually works fine. He went anyways. I could see him smoking in his car, and then got a huge wiff of marijuana as he went by.
At the red light at the bottom of the hill, a guy yells to me, "Buddy!". I hear it as I zip past. I stop and roll back a few cars. He has his window down and doesn't look threatening. I'm kind of hoping he's going to ask me about riding his bike. "You're a good rider. I can see that, and that's great. But these guys out here are assholes. You're going to get yourself killed." I usually hear this from some idiot who thought I was in his way, but this guy seems nice enough. Frankly though, I don't want to hear it, especially if I don't know if the person has a clue about cycling in traffic. So I wave and ride on.
I should have asked him if he was about to get on the 401 and told him I was worried for him. Or asked him to write a letter for me to our politicians. I'm like George Costanza that way. I come up with all the best responses 5 minutes too late.
I had a little too much adrenaline pumping through my veins for one morning, so I decided to switch things up, and take my newly discovered offroad trail. It's only 2 km, but I needed a nice break. On my way there, a guy hangs his head out of a white van. Giving half a smile, he says "Ride on!"
Or maybe it was "Right on!". Either way, it was nice to hear. Yesterday, a guy gave me a thumbs up. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was the same guy as last year.
The air in the forest was cool and refreshing, and the surroundings make me feel far away from traffic and aggression at the top of the hill. It was like a short lived vacation.
I took the lane on Yonge Street when I was passing some parked cars. For the second time this week, a car pulled up close behind me. I turned around and yelled at him to back off. He did. I think he was just totally absorbed in a conversation with a passenger and tailgated me like he would any other vehicle on the street.
Then taking the hill down Yonge, where I can easily reach 50 km/h, a car pulled up straddling the line just behind me. He was going to squeeze between me and the car in the left lane. This is dumb and potentially unsafe, but wouldn't be the worst move I've seen. If he'd just wait 5 seconds, for us to be in different positions, it would be so much easier. I turned my head to say "no" to him, which usually works fine. He went anyways. I could see him smoking in his car, and then got a huge wiff of marijuana as he went by.
At the red light at the bottom of the hill, a guy yells to me, "Buddy!". I hear it as I zip past. I stop and roll back a few cars. He has his window down and doesn't look threatening. I'm kind of hoping he's going to ask me about riding his bike. "You're a good rider. I can see that, and that's great. But these guys out here are assholes. You're going to get yourself killed." I usually hear this from some idiot who thought I was in his way, but this guy seems nice enough. Frankly though, I don't want to hear it, especially if I don't know if the person has a clue about cycling in traffic. So I wave and ride on.
I should have asked him if he was about to get on the 401 and told him I was worried for him. Or asked him to write a letter for me to our politicians. I'm like George Costanza that way. I come up with all the best responses 5 minutes too late.
I had a little too much adrenaline pumping through my veins for one morning, so I decided to switch things up, and take my newly discovered offroad trail. It's only 2 km, but I needed a nice break. On my way there, a guy hangs his head out of a white van. Giving half a smile, he says "Ride on!"
Or maybe it was "Right on!". Either way, it was nice to hear. Yesterday, a guy gave me a thumbs up. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was the same guy as last year.
The air in the forest was cool and refreshing, and the surroundings make me feel far away from traffic and aggression at the top of the hill. It was like a short lived vacation.
Labels: bad drivers, bike paths, commuting, traffic, Yonge Street
Monday, April 23, 2007
A Manic Monday in the North End
Today started out with the sad news that a TTC employee was killed on the job inside the subway tunnel. The whole story isn't in yet.
This led to the closure of the Yonge subway for a few stops. Interestingly, the city closed Yonge Street to car traffic south of Lawrence to keep it clear for the bus shuttles. I went to the intersection of Yonge and Lawrence to see what this would look like. I even had my camera with me, but I was surprised to see things in general order, and traffic not really backed up. I didn't bother taking a picture.
The shuttle buses were packed, and were leaving from York Mills. When I arrived there, I could see more evidence of the strange situation.
There was a steady flow of people and more than enough to fill the shuttle buses.
After passing York Mills, everything seemed to be relatively normal.
Then came the afternoon commute. A powerful thunderstorm hit the Toronto area in the afternoon, so strong it reminded me of hurricanes I'd seen in Florida. Power was out along parts of Highway 7 near Leslie. Even after power came back, the traffic signals were still out, which had the expected effect on traffic (car traffic, that is).
Highway 7 was absolutely jammed in both directions. As you can guess by the position I'm taking this picture from, I'm riding on the sidewalk. I don't ride on highway 7 often, but when I do, I take the sidewalk. I can confirm that sidewalk traffic was flowing beautifully.
That wasn't even the end of this strange day. After arriving at Bayview, to head south, I saw more backed up traffic. I assumed it was because of traffic signals again, but this time a hydro pole ("hydro" = "power" for any non-Canadians out there) was dislodged and dangling over the road.
The fire fighters blocked off the entire south bound Bayview Avenue. I don't understand why they didn't do one lane in each direction, but maybe they knew something I didn't. Fortunately, I managed to convince them that my friend and I would be fine riding down the left side of the southbound lanes, so they let us through.
After passing the danger zone, we moved to the right, and rode two abreast down Bayview Avenue! How often can that happen?! It was so nice riding down Bayview that after my friend turned off, I went past my usual turning point, and just continued south on Bayview all the way south of Steeles to Cummer Avenue.
I was one of the few people who were able to enjoy this whole situation. As I approached some people waiting for the bus, they waved at me to stop. I looked behind myself, and since I was the only person on the road, they were definitely waving at me. I slowed down to give them the low down. They were stranded.
The trip really was unique and enjoyable. Not only was traffic virtually non-existent, but it's so relaxing to ride on the relatively leveled out arterial roads. Amazing ride.
This led to the closure of the Yonge subway for a few stops. Interestingly, the city closed Yonge Street to car traffic south of Lawrence to keep it clear for the bus shuttles. I went to the intersection of Yonge and Lawrence to see what this would look like. I even had my camera with me, but I was surprised to see things in general order, and traffic not really backed up. I didn't bother taking a picture.
The shuttle buses were packed, and were leaving from York Mills. When I arrived there, I could see more evidence of the strange situation.
There was a steady flow of people and more than enough to fill the shuttle buses.After passing York Mills, everything seemed to be relatively normal.
Then came the afternoon commute. A powerful thunderstorm hit the Toronto area in the afternoon, so strong it reminded me of hurricanes I'd seen in Florida. Power was out along parts of Highway 7 near Leslie. Even after power came back, the traffic signals were still out, which had the expected effect on traffic (car traffic, that is).
Highway 7 was absolutely jammed in both directions. As you can guess by the position I'm taking this picture from, I'm riding on the sidewalk. I don't ride on highway 7 often, but when I do, I take the sidewalk. I can confirm that sidewalk traffic was flowing beautifully.
That wasn't even the end of this strange day. After arriving at Bayview, to head south, I saw more backed up traffic. I assumed it was because of traffic signals again, but this time a hydro pole ("hydro" = "power" for any non-Canadians out there) was dislodged and dangling over the road.
The fire fighters blocked off the entire south bound Bayview Avenue. I don't understand why they didn't do one lane in each direction, but maybe they knew something I didn't. Fortunately, I managed to convince them that my friend and I would be fine riding down the left side of the southbound lanes, so they let us through.
After passing the danger zone, we moved to the right, and rode two abreast down Bayview Avenue! How often can that happen?! It was so nice riding down Bayview that after my friend turned off, I went past my usual turning point, and just continued south on Bayview all the way south of Steeles to Cummer Avenue.
I was one of the few people who were able to enjoy this whole situation. As I approached some people waiting for the bus, they waved at me to stop. I looked behind myself, and since I was the only person on the road, they were definitely waving at me. I slowed down to give them the low down. They were stranded.
The trip really was unique and enjoyable. Not only was traffic virtually non-existent, but it's so relaxing to ride on the relatively leveled out arterial roads. Amazing ride.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Car-captive
I've been growing a big metal box on my bum lately. It's quite embarrassing really. The box is actually so big that it entirely encases me (and up to four other people). It's a good thing I never claimed to be car-free. The main reason for driving has been related to work. I try not to discuss work here, so I'll leave my reasoning out of this, and it's not so interesting anyways.
I haven't started packing on the reserve fuel yet, at least not in a noticeable way. My pants that I bought over a year ago are still too big for me, but I guess I should expect small changes after only 4 days of passive transportation.
My car route home takes me along a road that I always avoid cycling on. It's a major arterial avenue where the speed limit is 60 km/h (most people do about 70 or 80 whenever they get the chance), with 2 lanes in each direction, and often a turning lane down the middle. I think it's good for me to drive once in a while so I'm reminded of how things appear from a car driving point of view.
Surprisingly, every day, I see at least two cyclists along this major road. In the more new-suburban area, they're almost always on the sidewalk. In the old-suburban area, they're usually on road. The only difference I can see is that in the new-suburban area there are more turning lanes, and cars move slightly faster.
The thing that worries me the most for cyclists along this road are the people who are constantly jockeying for position in the currently-fastest lane. These people are not necessarily weaving, but are constantly judging the speed of each lane, and switching as each one varies by 5 or 10 km/h. This seems to save brake pads rather than actually save time, but I don't think they see it that way.
In the car, a lot of people are driving like their cars are pieces in a sliding tile puzzle, moving left, right, up and down as needed to get their piece of the puzzle to the other side. The problem with tile puzzles is that the tiles are very close together. These people drive like it's imperative that they stay as close as possible to the car in front, or else the other tiles won't slide by properly. It leaves very little room for anything unfamiliar to happen.
When I'm in the right hand lane, I'm often thinking to myself that a curb-hugging cyclist could pop out from the right at any moment. I consider moving to the left lane, to avoid any chance of being close to a cyclist. But if I do that, someone else will just take my place. So I often stay in the right lane, ready to slow the cars down and pull far to the left when I see a cyclist. Maybe I overdo it, but I don't really care.
It's this car driving experience that reminds me that I'm making the right decision to cycle on the smaller streets, stop a little more often, and turn a little more often, but arrive with as little stress as possible.
Back to the last post's topic of lights: I know there's some mild debate over whether a flashing or solid rear light is best. I guess the argument for the solid light is that a bicycle is a vehicle and a solid light is what is legally required. The solid light adds to the impression of the bicycle as a proper vehicle that should be treated with respect by other road users. The flashing light is widely perceived to be more visible. At the very least it catches people's attention easily, even if it is more difficult to use to judge distance.
I passed a cyclist yesterday who was wearing a jacket with reflective stripes, had a flashing light on his seat post, and had a solid light near his rear axle. I suspect the solid light on the axle was powered by a generator. From 200 metres away or more, I saw the flashing light. As I got closer, I noticed his reflective stripes. It wasn't until he caught up to me again that I noticed the solid low-positioned light.
Right now, I have a solid light on my seat post, flashing lights on my body and helmet, and wear reflective gear. I think the most important thing is to get noticed well in advance, so the drivers snap out of their trance and prepare to pass safely.
Fortunately I'll be able to ride tomorrow. It is Bike Friday, after all. And the weather has been beautiful. I'll be waiting at the corner of Yonge and Lawrence at 8:00 AM in case someone out there wants to join me.
If you haven't had a chance to sign Tuco's petition yet, now's a good time! The petition is to "Promote Cycling in Canada". If you can pass it on to anyone you think might be interested, that helps too. Word is spreading, as I can see it's up to 714 signatures, and they're from all over Canada.
I haven't started packing on the reserve fuel yet, at least not in a noticeable way. My pants that I bought over a year ago are still too big for me, but I guess I should expect small changes after only 4 days of passive transportation.
My car route home takes me along a road that I always avoid cycling on. It's a major arterial avenue where the speed limit is 60 km/h (most people do about 70 or 80 whenever they get the chance), with 2 lanes in each direction, and often a turning lane down the middle. I think it's good for me to drive once in a while so I'm reminded of how things appear from a car driving point of view.
Surprisingly, every day, I see at least two cyclists along this major road. In the more new-suburban area, they're almost always on the sidewalk. In the old-suburban area, they're usually on road. The only difference I can see is that in the new-suburban area there are more turning lanes, and cars move slightly faster.
The thing that worries me the most for cyclists along this road are the people who are constantly jockeying for position in the currently-fastest lane. These people are not necessarily weaving, but are constantly judging the speed of each lane, and switching as each one varies by 5 or 10 km/h. This seems to save brake pads rather than actually save time, but I don't think they see it that way.
In the car, a lot of people are driving like their cars are pieces in a sliding tile puzzle, moving left, right, up and down as needed to get their piece of the puzzle to the other side. The problem with tile puzzles is that the tiles are very close together. These people drive like it's imperative that they stay as close as possible to the car in front, or else the other tiles won't slide by properly. It leaves very little room for anything unfamiliar to happen.
When I'm in the right hand lane, I'm often thinking to myself that a curb-hugging cyclist could pop out from the right at any moment. I consider moving to the left lane, to avoid any chance of being close to a cyclist. But if I do that, someone else will just take my place. So I often stay in the right lane, ready to slow the cars down and pull far to the left when I see a cyclist. Maybe I overdo it, but I don't really care.
It's this car driving experience that reminds me that I'm making the right decision to cycle on the smaller streets, stop a little more often, and turn a little more often, but arrive with as little stress as possible.
Back to the last post's topic of lights: I know there's some mild debate over whether a flashing or solid rear light is best. I guess the argument for the solid light is that a bicycle is a vehicle and a solid light is what is legally required. The solid light adds to the impression of the bicycle as a proper vehicle that should be treated with respect by other road users. The flashing light is widely perceived to be more visible. At the very least it catches people's attention easily, even if it is more difficult to use to judge distance.
I passed a cyclist yesterday who was wearing a jacket with reflective stripes, had a flashing light on his seat post, and had a solid light near his rear axle. I suspect the solid light on the axle was powered by a generator. From 200 metres away or more, I saw the flashing light. As I got closer, I noticed his reflective stripes. It wasn't until he caught up to me again that I noticed the solid low-positioned light.
Right now, I have a solid light on my seat post, flashing lights on my body and helmet, and wear reflective gear. I think the most important thing is to get noticed well in advance, so the drivers snap out of their trance and prepare to pass safely.
Fortunately I'll be able to ride tomorrow. It is Bike Friday, after all. And the weather has been beautiful. I'll be waiting at the corner of Yonge and Lawrence at 8:00 AM in case someone out there wants to join me.
If you haven't had a chance to sign Tuco's petition yet, now's a good time! The petition is to "Promote Cycling in Canada". If you can pass it on to anyone you think might be interested, that helps too. Word is spreading, as I can see it's up to 714 signatures, and they're from all over Canada.
Labels: bikefriday, politics, traffic