Comments for The Ride Report http://ridereport.bostonbiker.org Straight From The Street To You Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:39:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 Comment on Riding Wounded by teeheehee http://ridereport.bostonbiker.org/2008/09/10/riding-wounded/#comment-15 teeheehee Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:13:06 +0000 http://ridereport.bostonbiker.org/2008/09/10/riding-wounded/#comment-15 I recently took a spill over my handlebars as I applied too much front break to slow down and swerve around a lane-merging jogger. There was plenty of room, and I should have (usually _would_ have) slowed down only slightly to time everything right. Well, my elbow kissed the pavement the most, very little damage considering. Bike in good condition, too. It's been a little over a week now and the scab is finally starting to fall off at the edges. I still feel stupid. I should not be making that kind of mistake! I recently took a spill over my handlebars as I applied too much front break to slow down and swerve around a lane-merging jogger. There was plenty of room, and I should have (usually _would_ have) slowed down only slightly to time everything right.

Well, my elbow kissed the pavement the most, very little damage considering. Bike in good condition, too. It’s been a little over a week now and the scab is finally starting to fall off at the edges.

I still feel stupid. I should not be making that kind of mistake!

]]> Comment on Punching Cars by Old Lady http://ridereport.bostonbiker.org/2007/10/01/punching-cars/#comment-13 Old Lady Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:33:26 +0000 http://ridereport.bostonbiker.org/2007/10/01/punching-cars/#comment-13 whoa LOOK OUT!- don't hit the old lady and other commuting stories I ride my bike to school. I love it and I have ridden the roads of Boston for 40 years. But my route feels more and more dangerous. I pass over the BU Bridge ( currently under repairs - but that is whole post unto itself ) through Central Square and onto Union Square, heading towards Sullivan Square. It is a bumpy, pockmarked, potholed, truck filled, hazardous and then some, Greater Boston bike ride. People in cars flip me the bird and trucks squeeze me out and over. Glass, gravel, sand and yawning potholes as wide as tires are round cover the road surface. Not pretty sometimes. Lots of hostility. But the thing that nearly kills me daily is my fellow cyclists. They should signal. It should be a no brainer. No new equipment or batteries necessary. Maybe, it is a no brainer? You see, cyclists slide by me all the time,right and left, with no warning, without so much as a "hey! " And then zip in front of me and are gone - yeah, I am an old lady and I do not speed along. Still, I want to sit these cyclists down for a harangue " Dude!" I'd say, " Check it out - the laws of physics always apply! 24/7. Meaning two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time. No matter how cool your bike, or your outfit, or your shoes, or your sun glasses. Physics is blind. Listen. Follow this line of reasoning, will you? We are sharing the same streets and conditions. We are rolling around on a method of non polluting transport - and therefore we are quiet. And we are surrounded by infernal combustion engines - and therefore they are noisey. The roads are unpredictably bad. If I swerve to the left to avoid a pot hole or some broken glass and you are behind me, zooming along at top passing speed, slithering up to pass with out so much as a hiss- how am I to know you are in my space ? I do have a rear view mirror but I mostly keep eyes front looking for disaster. I will not hear you and if I swerve to avoid something and we tangle ? Whoooee we'd both be in a world of pain." But there is a very simple solution ? When you are one to two bike lengths away say " Passing on your left." How hard was that? You will be every bit as banged up as I if we collide. A little common sense mixed with common courtesy ? Let's do it. I have a whole bunch of kids waiting for me. whoa LOOK OUT!- don’t hit the old lady and other commuting stories
I ride my bike to school. I love it and I have ridden the roads of Boston for 40 years. But my route feels more and more dangerous. I pass over the BU Bridge ( currently under repairs - but that is whole post unto itself ) through Central Square and onto Union Square, heading towards Sullivan Square. It is a bumpy, pockmarked, potholed, truck filled, hazardous and then some, Greater Boston bike ride. People in cars flip me the bird and trucks squeeze me out and over. Glass, gravel, sand and yawning potholes as wide as tires are round cover the road surface. Not pretty sometimes. Lots of hostility. But the thing that nearly kills me daily is my fellow cyclists.

They should signal. It should be a no brainer. No new equipment or batteries necessary. Maybe, it is a no brainer? You see, cyclists slide by me all the time,right and left, with no warning, without so much as a “hey! ” And then zip in front of me and are gone - yeah, I am an old lady and I do not speed along.
Still, I want to sit these cyclists down for a harangue
” Dude!” I’d say, ” Check it out - the laws of physics always apply! 24/7. Meaning two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time. No matter how cool your bike, or your outfit, or your shoes, or your sun glasses. Physics is blind. Listen. Follow this line of reasoning, will you? We are sharing the same streets and conditions. We are rolling around on a method of non polluting transport - and therefore we are quiet. And we are surrounded by infernal combustion engines - and therefore they are noisey. The roads are unpredictably bad. If I swerve to the left to avoid a pot hole or some broken glass and you are behind me, zooming along at top passing speed, slithering up to pass with out so much as a hiss- how am I to know you are in my space ? I do have a rear view mirror but I mostly keep eyes front looking for disaster. I will not hear you and if I swerve to avoid something and we tangle ? Whoooee we’d both be in a world of pain.” But there is a very simple solution ? When you are one to two bike lengths away say ” Passing on your left.” How hard was that? You will be every bit as banged up as I if we collide. A little common sense mixed with common courtesy ? Let’s do it. I have a whole bunch of kids waiting for me.

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