Not a good start to the week. I had hopped on my bike Monday morning and traveled not two blocks, before almost being hit by a delivery van. I was in the left lane, waiting to go on through the intersection while the car in front of me was turning left. I waited patiently, as I didn’t want to try and cut around him and possibly get myself in trouble with all the cars rushing past in the right lane. When the vehicle in front of me made it’s turn I ventured ahead. That’s where this white van decided to cut right into me from the right lane because the bus in front of him had stopped. The vehicle was close enough to touch, so I smacked the side of it. He came to a stop so I pulled up to his window. I asked him ‘what the hell was that?’ I couldn’t fully understand his broken English, but I got enough of it to learn that he believed that I had no business being in the left lane. Cyclists were only allowed to travel in the right lane. I told him that this was completely untrue and we continued to argue. Finally, I could see the traffic building up behind us so I ended what was quickly becoming a pointless conversation.
Another cyclist rode by and, having seen the entire incident unfold, told the driver off. I can only hope the surrounding cars shared in his observation. Or else, we have yet another incident of drivers and cyclists not seeing eye to eye on the rules of the road!
My ride home was much safer, but equally as miserable, as the rain was coming down pretty good. I somehow lost my front fender a few weeks back and I sure felt it on Monday evening, as a nice little fountain of water was consistently shooting into my face. To top it off, my usual rain gear was in the wash, so I was forced to wear my backups, which are hardly as waterproof.
It seemed all too fitting that it was a Monday.
Oh well, today already seems better. The sun is out and my ride in to work was problem-free. And every day that passes, we get more and more progress to a cycling-friendly world. Have a look at this article, discussing how a Bulgarian architect wants to build a cycling infrastructure in the sky, trapeze-style, over the cars. It seems like an interesting concept but from a practicality point of view, there’s much to work on. As some of the commenters discussed, how would one get on and off? And would you be unable to pass anyone? Here’s my worry – what about falling off? Sure, the bike and tire is locked into the ridge, but what about the rider? Still, I like mind-expanding, out of the box thinking and maybe this will kick-start some more creativity in how we can better coexist.
Speaking of riding among the telephone wires, check out what Ziptrek Ecotours is doing for the Olympics. That’s right a free ziptrek in downtown Vancouver!
