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Share the Road…You $%&@%!!

01.26.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Guest poster Jeff Hemmel blows off a little steam.

Normally I’d be grabbing a little post-ride snack right about now, maybe doing a little stretching. But instead I’m venting, taking out my frustrations on the only thing in sight – my computer.

What’s my problem? The idiot in the white car, that’s my problem. Namely, the idiot who felt the need to stay behind me, while I literally hugged the edge of the road climbing a drawbridge, then for some reason chose to pull alongside me and abruptly lay on the horn. Not a toot-toot, mind you, we’re talking a prolonged blare. I knew the car was there, of course, but the unexpectedness — and the sheer loudness — of the horn startled me.

Me, a guy on a bike, with a cement wall to my right, traffic on my left, already battling 25 mph winds, doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

Apparently the guy in the white car was no rocket scientist, so let me give him a little education. Startling a person on a bike isn’t the smartest move you’ll make in life. When startled, most people react with a jerk. (Yes, that term refers to you as well, but I’m referring to a sudden movement in this context). Maybe you liked how I wobbled, and how I had a brief moment of panic. But what if I had gone down? Trust me, moron, my body and bike are no match for your several thousand pound automobile and the surrounding concrete. Maybe you thought it was funny, or that you were making a point for motorists everywhere. But what you were really doing was endangering someone’s life, a move that would have far-reaching effects for both of us.

More to the point, I was in the right, you (substitute name for your favorite feminine hygiene product here). I was staying as far to the right as possible, riding straight and predictable. You had room to pass me, believe it or not, and even more room if you consider that no cars were in the oncoming lane at the moment. But evidently you were just annoyed that a guy on a bike was apparently holding you up.

Obviously I’m preaching to the choir here, but maybe we need to remind our non-riding friends of the law. I’ve got a few who have actually told me how annoyed they are at us bikers on that very same bridge. They seem to think they are in the right, but that’s not always the case.

Here in Florida, state law says you must ride as far to the right as practicable, not as far to the right as possible. That means I’m perfectly entitled to “maintain no less than 2 feet of clearance from the edge of usable pavement to have room to maneuver around obstructions.” Should you, White Car Person, feel the lane is too narrow for both of us to share safely, you need to realize it is me who is entitled to the lane, not you.

Should you feel the need to pass me, and I perfectly understand if you do, you also need to realize that under Florida law, you’re required to give me three feet of clearance. That means you wait until you have a clear road, then you go out and around me. I’ll double check, but I don’t think blaring your horn is part of the deal. Other states with Three Foot laws are Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, Utah, Wisconsin, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, and Maine. (Sorry all you Texans, apparently you don’t have one…yet.)

Bike Noob note: That’s right, the Texas Legislature passed a three-foot law last summer, but the governor vetoed it.

After our little altercation I did all the wrong things, of course. I called you some very interesting names, then tried to channel Fabian Cancellera so that I could catch you at the next traffic light. That’s not a good idea according to most experts. Had I caught you hopefully I would have calmly explained my side of the situation to help you see things differently, not, shall we say, tooted my own horn.

Of course, I couldn’t ultimately match your speed, and the light wasn’t in my favor. But I did enjoy you checking your rearview mirror when you realized I could actually climb a bridge a little faster than you thought…

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Categories // Safety Tags // bike vs. car, guest post, Hemmel, Safety

Old Lessons, Learned Anew

01.24.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

A very tough club ride today. Tough for me, anyway. The A group was going on a “reverse” dam loop, which would take them through some hilly neighborhoods. After last weekend’s short ride, where I did well on some hills, I figured it would be fun for the B’s to follow the A’s for part of their route, but turnaround early for a 33-mile ride. Seemed great in theory, but when we got out on the road, the going was tough. I relearned some old lessons today:

The Wind is Not Your Friend

Lots of riders would disagree. Treat the wind like hills, they’d say. Then you can get a hill workout even on the flats. Nuh-uh, not today. The wind was blowing briskly from the west-northwest, and was forecast to pick up throughout the morning. Temp was 52℉ (11℃), but most of us dressed for colder conditions.

About six miles into the ride, we’re on Barton Creek Blvd., a wide, smooth road running through a ritzy neighborhood. The road rises, falls, twists and turns over the hilly terrain. We had been riding against the wind up to this point, which was hard enough, but now the wind got stronger — 25 mph, gusting to 36, according to various weather sites after the fact. The wind grabbed the front wheel, and if you weren’t fully concentrating, could easily have knocked the bike over. As it was, it was hard to hold the line through the curves. An aero position didn’t seem to help much, and I rode the brakes through a particularly fast downhill section.

Later in the ride, I was on the shoulder of an expressway, crossing a bridge over a wooded valley. The wind grabbed the bike, and pushed it into the traffic lane — this on a road where the speed limit is 65 mph, and never observed. Yipes! I must have avoided being hit by a car, because I’m here writing this.

To get better on hills — ride hills!

Last week, we rode a somewhat hilly route. It was shorter than usual, because we had new riders along who weren’t ready for the grades. I felt good — I even attacked a hill that had given me trouble in the past.

So when planning the ride for today, I thought hills would be a nice addition. I started second guessing myself once I hit Barton Creek Blvd., because the A peloton was nowhere in sight. They do hilly routes all the time. But I made good progress against the wind, except for the aforementioned gust problems. At the end of the boulevard is “Hail Mary Hill.” It curves up toward a stoplight at a major highway, and we all stop to rest in a church parking lot. (The church is a Presbyterian church, and Presbyterians don’t say Hail Marys — but I get a kick out of the name coined by one of our club members, so I’m sticking with it. If you want to discuss the finer points of theology, I’m sure there are other blogs for that.)

Anyhow, halfway up the hill, I knew I was in trouble. I was in my 34 x 28 granny gear, trying to turn the pedals easily and “walk” the bike up the steep incline. I did it last summer, but today it felt as though my heart would explode right out of my chest. I think I had the strength in my thighs to keep going, but I had to stop. I walked the bike the rest of the way up.

Disheartening, because I know I can climb this thing. But I haven’t done it since September, and I haven’t been working hill repeats into my regular weekday rides during the winter months. That may have to  change. I was able to climb this same hill in September because I had done more rides with decent hills in them.

The quickest way to lighten your bike is to lighten yourself

I said I would get serious about losing weight this year. I’ve dropped three pounds since New Year’s Day, but that can be made up just by drinking lots of water. I think one of the reasons I had trouble on Hail Mary Hill is that I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I was in September.

It’s my usual winter weight gain, but it’s gotta stop. My wife is a fan of the Weight Watchers points system, and today we’ll be charting how many points I’ve been accounting for with my eating habits, and how they’ll have to change to get me to where I want to be. Meanwhile, every time I encounter a hill, I’ll envision myself climbing it with a bag of charcoal strapped around my waist. If I can lose the bag of charcoal, I should be in good shape. Stay tuned.

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Categories // Rides Tags // hills, Rides, weight, wind

What time do your weekday rides start?

01.21.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

Here’s a question from Bike Noob reader Ramon H. in the Rio Grande Valley of far south Texas:

Lighting the way before dawn.*

Currently, we have a small group that rides on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:15 a.m.  We ride for about 1.5 hours and we get back to our homes about 7 a.m. with plenty of time to get ready for work and go in at 8 a.m.  I thought that was plenty early, but now some other folks really want to ride with us.  However, they are asking us to move our ride to start at 4:30 a.m.  That got me thinking, at what time do your readers do their weekday rides and why?  I can start it off by saying that I love the morning rides because it gives me lots of energy for the work day ahead.  Also, it just fits better in my schedule.

Ramon, I haven’t bought a really good light to do a recreational or training ride in the early morning dark, so I’ll have to defer to Bike Noob’s loyal readers. Does your club do really early morning rides on weekdays? Do you as an individual get up well before dawn to work in a ride before going to work? We know commuters do this all the time, but getting up that early for fun strikes me as odd (although I used to jog before dawn, back when I jogged).

Feel free to weigh in on this. Is 4:30 a.m. too early on a weekday?

*Photo from Beginning Bicycle Commuting blog.

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Categories // Rides Tags // night, Rides

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