A good day to ride
"Every day is a good day for riding. Some days are just better than others." (Anonymous)
Today was a good day to be a bicycle commuter. A tanker truck carrying diesel fuel overturned in a major intersection today and closed down the intersection for about 8 hours. Since this intersection is normally one of the busiest intersections in the valley, having it closed resulted in traffic being messed up for miles around.
However, since I was on my bicycle, I didn't have any problems. In fact, my normal 1 hour commute only took me 45 minutes today. I sailed past long lines of motorists stuck in traffic. At stop lights, when the light turned green I was able to continue on down the road even though the first car in line still couldn't move.
I don't mean to be smug, but this was one of those times when it was definatly better to be commuting by bicycle.
A good day to ride
Sounds like a win for the cycle commuter. I'm curious how you went about sailing past traffic without putting yourself at increased risk. It always makes me nervous passing cars on the right-- they aren't looking for you and who knows what a pissed-off motorist is going to do.
The route is everything.
My route includes Emerald Ave, from Americana all the way out to Meridian. Emerald has a wide shoulder/bike lane that makes it fairly easy for motorists and bicyclists to share the road. I don't pass at more than about 5-10 mph, so I can watch for motorists about to do something. At controlled intersections I don't pass the first motorist in line if that motorist could make a right turn across me. Whenever I cross a side street where a motorist could be turning across my path, I slow down and make sure that it's clear.
Most people in the area are pretty reasonable when it comes to dealing with others out on the road. Very few people will intentionally try to run you down. If nothing else, there would be too much paper-work involved.
Work to Live : Live to Ride : Ride to Work
Passing on the right
I usually stop behind the car in front of me at an intersection rather than pass a line of cars on the right. My reasoning is that the odds are good the car(s) are going to encounter me again soon after I pass them, so why multiply the number of times they have to overtake me? Motorists aren't going to deliberately run me down, but on most roads I'm at higher risk being overtaken than not.
In the case of gridlock my reasoning probably isn't valid. I rarely deal with gridlock, but in an extreme case I'd probably do the same as Dwight. But man I'd be nervous. And I question folks who claim they consistently "beat" cars because they can maneuver better through heavy traffic. In most cases I think they're setting themselves up to be squished.
Passing...
It's a "vibe" thing...the only close call I've had in the last five years was in the twilight last week on Eagle Rd. as a soccer mom in a minivan turned left onto a school drive and almost hit me...My red lights were flashing and my headlamp as well...but dammit, she had to pick up her kid from something. It's interesting to note that for all the cyclists here in the TV, we really aren't noticed as much as we could be. I did ride alongside her into the school parking lot (I was headed that way anyway, but she didn't need to know that), and I gave her the Navy SEALS "two fingers on my eyes -- point to you" salute and told her to "keep her eyes on the changing road conditions." Then I gave her a smile and went on my way.
Moral: You can never tell who is going to be the delivery-boy of your next noggin knocker...so keep both eyes on the road in front, and sprout a couple in the back of your helmeted head just in case.
It doesn't pay to be a pain-in-the-tookus to scofflaws, but a few firm words followed by a cyclist's smile go a long way in the "hey, I need to share the road" indoctrination that motorists need to receive.
BTW: I remember that oil spill on Eagle/Fairview...I had to Google map my wife home through the back way...we're new to the area and use Fairview daily...that was a real...er...treat.