Some time ago, Jerry Merkey asked when I would finally get off my hind end and ride to work. That was today. The shoulder feels great. The bigger mental obstacle was just getting on the bike and off the Fat Italian Ass after several months (August 15th, to be exact) of recovery from various broken body parts and surgery. Things in January were still a tad sketchy with the shoulder and I didn't feel like hitting a patch of ice and giving Taos Orthopedic more work to do at my expense.
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Proof that at least I put my bike there
to take a picture. |
Interestingly, the fact that I got off my bike to take that picture led me to see that the county put up a sign for Northbound sidepath-riding cyclists to get off and walk across the street at the north end of the bridge. There have been at least a couple crashes (one described
here) and several near misses when fast bicyclists (and at least one crash at this spot involving a normal-speed cyclist) riding down-gradient on their way home from the south side of the bridge ran into traffic turning and crossing at West Road. This sign, in combination with the
offramp that puts cyclists onto West Road so we can cross Diamond and get into the northbound bike lane, are good safety and convenience additions as these suggest that northbound cyclists should either merge with traffic or slow to a walking speed if staying on the sidewalk so that motorists see approaching bicyclists in time for both to react to each other without anyone kissing Mr. Pavement.
In honor of spring and the riding season fast approaching, "Let's be careful out there".
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Dismounting, or at least slowing, makes sense
when motorists are expecting pedestrian speeds |
4 comments:
Good to see some improvements for cyclists in Los Alamos. I would just always go with car traffic past the VAPs to E Jemez then on the bridge and finally into the bike lane to avoid the awkward northbound pedestrian bridge exit. I was always happy to assert my right to use a full lane of traffic :)
Glad that weather is nice for commuting up there. February is about the cut-off before it gets too warm to commute down here in Baton Rouge.
Ben B
Hi, Ben! Good to hear from you. I hope all is well on your end.
Italian? Spencer is an unusual Italian surname. Ditto for Khal. Back in Ocean Shores, I'm getting called out as a sexist (for referring to Elizabeth Warren as "shrill"), so I'm unusually sensitive to fine PC points at the moment. Personally, I think I'd rather be "shrill" than a "horse's patoot" as I referred to our Canadian Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, or a "troglodyte," as I referred to John Cornyn.
OTOH, my critics have no real reason why Gray's Harbor County went for Trump, despite having voted straight D since 1928. The "they voted against their own best interest" argument seems a little lame, though I confess I don't understand the phenomena.
Hi Khal
Glad you're back to commuting. I often ride north on the bridge sidewalk on the commute home when weather/traffic makes it a safer alternative for my old man commuting style. I have never noticed the "dismount" sign. By the time I get close to it, I am assessing traffic coming up West Road and on Diamond and not reading signage. I always use the new ramp to get onto West Road from the sidewalk. Just this evening I witnessed a cyclist following me wearing dark clothing and no helmet speed right across the PED crossing on West Road without slowing down or even looking for traffic because the PED signal indicated it was safe to cross. Oh well. Can't save the world.
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