When biking down the street with parked cars, I always try to look ahead and see if there is a human in the car. If there is a human, I try to always make sure that I can clear their door.
I saw a human in a parked car the other day while riding, and cleared the car right when the woman swung the door open (which, if I had been riding closer to the right, would have nailed me). Right as I wizzed by, she went ‘oops!’.
OOPS? LADY YOU COULD HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY HURT ME. How about checking for oncoming traffic before swooping your door open?
But hey – as a cyclist, we need to be the observant ones.
So this sign is to remind :
1. Drivers to glance in their rear view before kicking open the door
2. Cyclists that riding too close to parked cars is dangerous
But what I really like about this sign is the exclamation mark. I mean really? We all know that means the cyclist is swearing at the driver.
Oops, my a$$.
Or could that exclamation point mean something else? What do you translate it as?
By the way, this sign is part of an awareness campaign in Seattle. woot!
Click here to see all the traffic sign posts!
Dang, foxy biker babe, hollahhh
So here I am, showing off my new head condom (no, I don’t mean the helmet), I mean the wrap under the helmet. All the padding in my helmet wore off, so I needed something to protect my delicate girl skin.
Also rockin’ my regular accessories and my favorite cycling jersey that dad brought back from Italy for me.
So while cruisin’ down the street, getting annoyed at a dood drafting me the entire time (bad headwinds by the ocean), I roll into King Harbor in Redondo Beach. The bike lane cuts through a pier with stores, with a ‘walk your bike’ section. I usually do walk my bike, or at least unclip a foot and go really slow (high pedestrian traffic’) when I notice two things:
1. Lots of police. Therefore, I get my butt off the bike asap (Yes, they will and CAN ticket you!)
2. A table laden with biker friendly food (water, bananas, crackers, etc)
No Food For You
I stopped by the table, wondering if some kind of supported bike ride was going on. I stared at the sign ON the table, and realized it was the catering for House M.D., a show I actually watch and like. Then I look around and see a sign that says “you are being filmed!”.
Once I identified the following..
1. the food is not for me
2. police are probably there for filming
3. i may or may not be captured on film
4. Hugh Laurie is not within range
I bailed. Damn you, Hollywood, all up in my bike laaaaane!!!
Here are some nice pictures I took on my way home from the hills of Palos Verdes (click to see larger size):
Long stretches of road and lovely scenery
View from the top - worth the hills
p.s. A freakin’ bee hit my face while riding
So the other day I was biking on a ‘civilian bike path’ (aka people walking all over the BIKE path and ‘cyclists’ trolling around) and a mother and her two children were on bicycles up ahead from me.
Incapable of going more than 5 MPH
Now, my first thought was – ‘yay! Momma takin’ her kids on out a bike ride, all exercising together and cycling’. Then I did my quick ‘safety check’. Both kids had helmets on – momma did not! Granted, she was on a bike that is incapable of going more than 5 MPH, but as a role model, shouldn’t she be wearing a helmet?
Then I started to observe cyclists while driving around town – no one wears a freakin’ helmet in Los Angeles!! Especially those under 25 years old. This was confirmed when I posted to my Facebook, asking the same question. People SCOFFED! SCOFFED!!
Do you put a condom on when you have sex with strangers? If not, then you are probably the type that doesn’t bike with a helmet!
Let’s compare how going “bareback” with disreputable partners* is like cycling without a helmet:
WHERE ARE YOUR HELMETS?**
As promised, here is a picture of how a helmet can be sexy, vanderkitten style:***
Liz Hatch, you make helmets look great!!
And I feel obligated to ensure ya’ll know your helmet should be “standing at attention” (hardee har har), not slopped back half hazardly so your forehead can get some air:
This is why helmets are perceived as dorky
* I am not calling your own personal bicycle a disreputable partner. And if it is, please get it checked out and/or maintained.
** Do not google images using keywords like ‘naked cyclists’ or ‘bareback cyclists’. The results are really ugly. I will have nightmares tonight.
*** Please note that wearing a helmet will not make you look like her. Ever. Or I would be wearing a helmet 24/7
