Bike Girl Figures It Out

Bike Girl likes to keep an open mind, so she's been known to click over from time to time to see what sort of comments are being made about the recent Mandeville Canyon Incident. The most frequent complaint was that cyclists don’t obey the law and should therefore not be entitled to protection under it.

As a smug form of protest, Bike Girl has been obeying the law to the letter, both on her bike and when driving her car. She has noticed two things.

1. Obeying all traffic laws on her bicycle does not change the way drivers react to her, though it does give her a smug sense of self-righteousness.

2. Obeying all traffic laws in her car seems to make other car drivers even more frustrated with her than when she rides her bicycle.

While neither finding was surprising, when juxtaposed against the comments on the Mandeville Canyon incident, Finding Number 2 was slightly hilarious.

Bike Girl set out to quantify the phenomenon of law-breaking drivers by counting the number of drivers who turn without signaling, speed, and roll through red lights and stop signs. But in the middle of her extremely scientific survey, Bike Girl was astonished to see a fellow cyclist roll through a red light right in front of her.

The dangerous move did not do the Reckless Cyclist much good, because the smugly law-abiding Bike Girl was able to quickly catch up to her. When Bike Girl pointed out to the Reckless Cyclist's misdeed, she merely replied, "Oh well."

This took Bike Girl aback. This is a very similar response to one frequently given by Reckless Drivers! Bike Girl put her survey on hold to Ponder this. She rode home, smugly obeying all traffic laws, and put on her Pondering Cap.

Bike Girl decided the only way to find an explanation was through the use of Math. Bike Girl knows that according to the Transitive Property, if a = n, and b = n, then a = b. Therefore:

If Reckless Drivers = Jerks
And Reckless Cyclists = Jerks

Then Reckless Drivers are really the same as Reckless Cyclists!

This also implies that Jerks can either drive cars OR ride bikes!  Yet for some reason, cyclists are all characterized as Reckless, whereas all drivers are not. No one says, "We cannot improve infrastructure for drivers because they speed." Yet, there is hesitation by many drivers to accept the rights of cyclists. 

Even with her Pondering Cap on, Bike Girl cannot find any Math that explains this phenomenon.

Bike Girl Owns N Bicycles

(Photo by Gary Kavanagh)

Some noir protagonists sit in smoky bars downing whisky neat to pass the time in this cold, cruel world. Bike Girl has a different addiction. Hers involves slouching over a keyboard browsing craigslist for the perfect other bicycle.

Bike Girl once heard that the appropriate number of bicycles to own is N + 1 bicycles, with N being the number of bicycles one already owns. Anyone who knows anything about Math can see that this could lead to financial ruin. Or at least, a space issue in one's studio apartment.

Due to a lapse in willpower and the negative influence of a colleague, Bike Girl has made yet another impulse bicycle purchase. She now owns not one, not two, but four bicycles. (Three of which are functional)

Bike Girl justified the purchase, saying that by buying this bike, she would actually be paring down her collection. This bike was supposed to serve the functions of two of her other bicycles, which she promised herself she would sell. While parting with one of these may be possible, Bike Girl is extremely attached to the other.

It is not a particularly great bicycle, but Bike Girl's hopeless romantic side has formed an emotional connection with it. For one, it is Bike Girl's favorite color. For two, it has fenders which are good for the beach or for the occasional puddle. For three, Bike Girl rescued it from the bottom of a pile at the co-op and nursed it back to health with pure love.

While bicycles are certainly a wonderful functional machine for transporting people and things from Point A to Point B, they are also simply wonderful machines. But if Bike Girl continues to appreciate them as art pieces, friends, and souvenirs, she may have to find a larger apartment.

Haven’t had enough? Bike Snob describes the N + 1 phenomenon in this entry.

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.

Bike Girl Hears You Honking

While riding around town, Bike Girl sometimes finds it is necessary to turn left. Turning left is a basic part of navigating through the city no matter what your mode of transit.

However Bike Girl recently encountered a driver who seemed to be convinced that turning left is a right reserved only for cars. Here's how it went down.

Bike Girl had stopped in the left turn lane of an intersection. While she stood with one foot on the pedal, hips cocked to one side, sunglasses perched smartly on her nose to hide her sidelong glance at an attractive male cyclist in the right turn lane, a car pulled into the left turn lane behind her.

The driver immediately pounded on the horn, jolting Bike Girl from the slightly naughty thoughts running through her head. She looked up at the light, but it was still red. So she turned around, to inquire as to the reason for the honk.

Bike Girl didn't have to ask, because the driver was already yelling about how bicycles are not allowed in the middle of the street. Bike Girl smiled sweetly at the misunderstanding and replied that she was actually turning left, so the driver did not need to worry.

But the driver kept sounding the horn, insisting that cyclists are not allowed to make left turns in the left turn lane. Now many cyclists know that CVC 21202 allows cyclists to move to the left to make a turn. And CVC 21200 allows cyclists all the same rights as a vehicle. She calmly quoted those two provisions to the driver. The driver insisted she was wrong and that he was absolutely sure that what she was doing was illegal.

Much to Bike Girl's pleasure, the attractive male cyclist she had been eyeing rolled over to make her case. At this point the light was still red, and the driver's progress has not yet been delayed even a moment. Adonis on Two-Wheels corroborated Bike Girl's claim to the lane, but the driver still insisted Bike Girl was behaving illegally.

At this point Bike Girl encouraged the driver to call the police and offered to wait while they came. However, before the words were fully out of her lips, the light turned green. Bike Girl proceeded through the intersection, making her legal left turn and the driver revved his engine and immediately parked at a business right on the corner. He went inside to make a purchase, showing that Bike Girl in no way threatened to make him late for any purpose. Bike Girl laughed.

This and other similar encounters show the need for increased driver education about the rules of the road.

Bike Girl owns a 4-wheeled vehicle, and until she converted to the two-wheeled side, she was never aware of any of the rules regarding road-sharing with cyclists.

A non-confrontational, zero-expense, yet seemingly effective tool would be to include a question on the California Driver's test about sharing the road with bicycles. This question, if missed, would require the potential driver to read through the part of the vehicle code that contains the answer. This would draw attention to the section. Since the tests are reprinted semi-frequently, there would be no extra expense to include that question in the next incarnation.

Until then, Bike Girl continues to smile each time she's honked at. Because as Bike Girl's ally in the world of anonymous bicycle blogging, Bike Snob NYC says, "Your beeping means you can see me, and I’m not worried about drivers who see me."

Bike Girl Battles The Bus Redux

(continued from this post)

Bike Girl’s Metro contact came up empty on ways to increase bike access to busses. However, Bike Girl has heard a report that addresses her concerns.

History of Bike Racks: Apparently, Metro used to have bike racks INSIDE the Orange Line busses. Those racks were located in the rear of the bus. However, cyclists found it difficult to access the racks because Metro riders tend to congregate towards the rear of the bus. Metro also says it is dangerous for cyclists to try to move their bikes around while the bus is moving.

Danger: The Orange Line now has triple bike racks on the front of the bus. Metro decided to test out the system on the Orange Line because it is separated from other vehicular traffic. Metro decided that since cyclists whose bike is in the middle position often step into where traffic would be speeding around the bus in order to remove their bike, these racks are unsafe for use on regular busses.

So Now What: Metro says cyclists who want to use their bikes in conjunction with public transit should get folding bikes.

Personally, Bike Girl thinks that is a non-solution. But Metro appears enthusiastic.

In fact, according to the report Bike Girl heard, Metro is working on a program that would provide financial assistance to commuters who want to buy folding bikes. That’s according to Metro’s Bike Planning Manager Lynne Goldsmith.

Do these findings make Bike Girl’s commute across town using the bus any easier? No. In fact knowing that Metro’s best answer to the increase in cyclists is telling them to buy new bikes is discouraging to her.

Since Bike Girl seems to be able to beat the Rapid Bus across town anyway, she’s decided to stop trying to catch the bus, and just ride the 15 miles across town.