Bike Girl Is Invisible

There are many times when our fair protagonist, Bike Girl, must go under cover. In these instances, she attempts to travel unseen and undifferentiated from the masses. Bike Girl is actually the first female to be awarded the title Master Of Disguise by the ISA (International Spy Association.)

When exercising her prowess at the art of disappearance, it is a given that people do not notice her. However, in her daily life, Bike Girl is somewhat more noticeable. As readers well-know, she enjoys riding all over town in a dress. Any red-blooded male driver would notice a femme-fatale riding about town on a bicycle in a dress. But on one fateful day in June, one particular male driver proved otherwise.

To add to her visibility on this fateful day, Bike Girl was carrying a full pannier on each side of her rear rack. One pannier contained her extremely large, bright green purse. The other pannier contained a Spider Plant so large, it could not be contained by the pannier. This plant, larger than the most comical Halloween afro wig, spilled out of the top of the pannier and its tendrils blew behind Bike Girl in the wind. It was a sight to see, if you saw it.

As she towed her cargo down a road with a Class I bike lane, a vehicle overtook her on the left. As it did so it began to merge into the bike lane. Un-phased, Bike Girl expertly applied the brakes so as to avoid disaster. As the driver pulled into a parallel parking spot, Bike Girl pulled over, approximately 1 car length ahead of him.

(Bike Girl has learned that drivers are somewhat protective of their vehicles, so she made sure to pull over far enough away so as to get the driver's attention without appearing threatening. )

The driver, now suddenly seeing Bike Girl, jumped out of his car with a look of horror on his face. "What happened!?" he exclaimed. Bike Girl calmly told him, in a very sweet voice, that he had come within an inch of hitting her as he merged.

She explained, "We cyclists are very vulnerable on the road, so please watch out for us in the future and make sure to give us a little space."

The driver, like a schoolchild being gently scolded, replied that he was very, very sorry, and that in the future, he would watch more closely for cyclists. Bike Girl was satisfied with this response. She thanked him and rode on.

Later that evening, as our fair protagonist recounted the odd experience to her Significant Other, she wondered aloud what it would take to be more visible on the road. If a woman riding a bicycle in a bike lane wearing a bright pink dress and carting a giant plant cannot be seen, who can? Bike Girl often rides in spandex, but refuses to don one of the day-glo colored jackets or vests worn by some roadies. After the dress/plant getup, she's not sure even the day-glo would have helped.

What then is the solution? Bike Girl thinks vehicular cycling should be taught in PE class in middle schools. That way, a new generation of drivers will be aware of the proper ways to pass cyclists. Bike Girl would also like a series of posters on how to safely pass cyclists at the DMV. But if a driver cannot see a cyclist, even when the cyclist is making every effort to be visible, how can he execute a safe pass?

Bike Girl Loves Plans

Bike Girl loves plans. There is nothing more elegant than a well laid, and well executed plan. She also loves bicycles. In fact, she even named herself after bicycles (BIKE Girl people, BIKE Girl).
Because of those dual loves, and her current address in Los Angeles, one would think Bike Girl would be ecstatic about the Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan. It has a good name. It has bikes, plans, Los Angeles, and it's the Master of all plans. Bike Girl would love to peruse the plan and participate in the debate about the plan.

But unfortunately, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation does not want Bike Girl to comment on the plan.

The LADOT even went so far as to make sure that not a single meeting is in Bike Girl's area. It is no secret that Bike Girl has her base of operations in City Councilman Tom LaBonge's district. One would think that the "Bicycle Councilman's" constituents would want some say. But no meetings are in Hollywood. Plus, there are none in the hipster-cycling meccas of Echo Park and Silverlake. Nor is there a meeting in cyclist-dense East L.A.

Bike Girl could also submit comments online, but oh! only until November 6th. Bike Girl has a very busy schedule of bike riding, bike racing, bike wrenching, bike blogging, oh, and working. How could she possibly get through 212 pages, with 351 pages of appendices by then?

Our beloved protagonist is not the only one the LADOT does not want to comment on the Bicycle Master Plan. It has strategically timed the 6 month late release of the plan so that Neighborhood Councils cannot review the plan. Bicycling Activist Dr. Alex Thompson says the short deadline for comments makes it nearly impossible for his NC to react.

Bike Girl may even go so far as to say the deadline makes participation "infeasible."
Cyclists who want to participate in debate on the Master of all Los Angeles Bicycle Plans can e-mail West LA Councilman and City Council Transportation Committee Chair Bill Rosendahl at Councilman.Rosendahl@lacity.org. Ask for the deadline be pushed to January 4th, 2010.

Bike Girl Preferred The Pot Hole

Bike Girl got all dolled up over the weekend for a top secret rendezvous in Echo Park. She hopped on her extremely classy step-through and headed east. It should've been a simple commute.

But someone, or something, seemed determined to have Bike Girl killed.

That someone, Bike Girl suspects, is a lazy city employee. Likely one of Mayor Villaraigosa's pot hole repair special forces. Under the guise of making the roads safer, this mystery assailant appears to have turned an "innie" pothole, into an "outie."

Planted squarely in the Bike Lane on the eastbound side of Sunset Boulevard, is an asphalt mountain. This bump is about a foot and a half tall at it's peak, and takes up 7/8ths of the bike lane just before the Tropical Cafe.

Bike Girl only noticed the bump at the last minute. Had she seen it moments later, or reacted with any less than her typical cat-like reflexes, she may have suffered extreme injury...or worse.

In fact, shortly after Bike Girl discovered the bump, she heard that a Wolfpack rider fell victim to that same bump Monday night. Word on the streets is the rider, who thought he was safe in the bike lane, hit the bump and flew off his bike. Bike Girl hears he broke a finger and cut up his face.

Why an asphalt patch needs to be so tall is beyond Bike Girl's powers of comprehension. Bike girl urges cyclists to use caution in the eastbound bike lane on Sunset and to call 3-1-1 and report the problem. After all, according to provision 5 of the Cyclists Bill of Rights : Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.