"Right Hook" scenerio inadvertently demonstrated

Pat Grant, of the League Cycling Instructor list, inadvertently took some excellent footage of an attempted right hook in progress. Riding up on the right in the lee of a motorist, or being overtaken by one at the last minute if you are already at or approaching the stop line, puts one in a treacherous situation. You cannot count on people to use their turn signals (at least in New Mexico) so the cyclist is  riding in the motorist's blind spot, assuming for the moment the motorist is even aware of the cyclist. At just about the five second mark of this video, you can start to see the right front wheel turn to the right. That's all the warning Pat got. Pat escaped disaster due to his low speed and as a last minute fix, the air horn.



John Allen, in the video below, is shown (on the Mass Bike Law Officer's Guide page) leaving the bike lane in such a situation and merging into the travel lane behind a car, which is the safe thing to do. In Pat's case the car overtook the cyclist in the bike lane very close to the intersection. In such a situation, I would advise the cyclist to either merge behind if practical or slow down and observe the motorist, not riding into the intersection until one is certain of the driver's destination path. If I get to the stop line when traffic is stopped, I move an additional bike length forward so I am in front of the driver rather than to the side. Just keep your situational awareness hat on and be thinking several seconds ahead and asking "what will I do if...."



This is the most common crash/near miss situation that folks have discussed with me in Los Alamos, especially since we finished the southernmost sections of bike lanes on Diamond Drive (i.e., south of Orange/Sandia) due to the numerous side streets and parking lot entrances located there. Bike lanes are nice where there are no turning and crossing problems, but they otherwise put you to the right of right turning motorists and also less visible to left turning motorists. Beware, and as the Saavy Cycling program advises, "don't let the paint stripes do your thinking for you".

Be aware and stay outa the "coffin corner".

Three Feet Is Not Enough to Avoid a Dooring

Relevant to our one door zone bike lane in Bombtown.

My old Porsche 944 Turbo, a two door coupe, had almost four feet of door if fully opened.
Here, the centerline of Neale's bike is about 40" from the side of the car. 
Old North Road bike lane configuration shown, and was entirely in the door zone.

Editor, Bicycling

In the June issue, Susi Wunsch ("Square One", pg 21) tells prospective riders to "Keep at least three feet between your bike and parked cars to avoid opening doors...".  This is not adequate distance.

Our 4 door Subaru Impreza driver's door projects 37.5 inches from the side of the car when open. A truck or coupe can have even larger doors.

A rider, to avoid hitting a door or suffering a loss of control due to grazing handlebar contact, must be sure his or her right handlebar tip clears an opened car door.  Elsewhere, on bicycling.com**, Bob Mionske tells cyclists to avoid "...the 3- to 5-foot area next to a parked car." I would personally choose the larger number as a minimum, as do many other experienced cyclists, to make sure you have a margin of error.

** http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2013/02/08/avoid-the-door-zone/

 In this video, Preston Tyree coaches students through a good door zone avoidance drill.Thanks to Ian for reminding me of this video.

Skies Clear for Ride of Silence

Like a parting of the seas, the heavy thunderstorms lifted promptly for the Ride of Silence in Los Alamos. Thanks a million to Lily Cohen for doing all the heavy lifting to get this off the ground, to the riders who participated, and to LAPD for sending a representative. It was particularly important to have this ride up here. We have been blessed with relative safety in Los Alamos County, but recently lost one of our own when Rob Oakes was taken out elsewhere in New Mexico by an errant driver. Thanks also to Lily Cohen and Lori Erickson for sending me pictures to post. There is more coverage at the Daily Post and in the Los Alamos Monitor, although for the Monitor, I think you need a subscription to read it online.

 

Stuck inside a Subaru with the Bike Week Blues Again

As luck would have it, I injured my foot about a month ago. It kept getting worse, so when a local podiatrist had a cancellation yesterday, I decided to have it looked at. A few minutes of ultrasound showed a damaged tendon sheath surrounded by a lot of swelling and fluid that needed to be removed. A local anesthetic and a needle meant for a horse later, I hobbled out with instructions to stay off my feet the rest of the week. Bummer for bike week. So if you see a grumpy old guy in a car looking wistfully at anyone on their bicycle for the next couple days, its probably me.

Reminder: Ride of Silence is Tomorrow, 15 May

Lili Cohen has organized the Los Alamos Ride of Silence. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Ashley Pond. The ride is a quiet, slow paced requiem for fallen riders. More info here about New Mexico rides and hope to see you at Ashley.

Tuff Riders co-founder Rob Oakes
Photo purloined from the Los Alamos Daily Post
See article at the Post link below for details

Do it for Los Alamos cyclist and Tuff Riders co-founder (per Kristin Pederson) Rob Oakes.

Los Alamos

Contact:

Lily Cohen   <-- u="">Send email

Distance:
7 miles
Notes:
Meeting at Ashley Pond at 6:30 pm on May 15th

Extra Bike Ed class at LANL

For those readers who work up here at LANL, I don't know if there are still openings for the Tuesday lunchtime Bike Ed class that I am teaching. If not, feel free to register on the waiting list. I told the Wellness Center I would do an additional class later this month if demand exists.

Meanwhile, if you are not riding your bike to work, perhaps you can ride this baby to work. With  tip of the hat to Slim Pickens...

400 ppm: Yet another spin on Bike Month, 2013

Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared Milestone

Source: New York Times

From the New York Times: "...The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported on Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years..."

As Ian Cooper and Andy Cline have either said or implied, we will need a National Bike Decade and similar kinds of thinking to bring our geochemical experiment with climate change under better control.

Or don't bother. Humans, like other catastrophes, will cause major extinctions on earth, including our own demise. The earth and biosphere will recover as it always has after previous major events such as bolide impacts. But if we want to prolong our own stay here and slow down the pace of change we need to adapt to, some thoughts: 1. ZPG. Yep, use a condom after one or at most two kids, especially you high maintenance first worlders. Seven billion people driving SUVs won't work. 2. Drastically reduce our energy footprint with steps like eating lower on the food chain (vegetarianism) and on local production, living in smaller, more efficient homes, and ditching the high output gas guzzler for something with a much higher effective mpg, such as a smaller, electric car, a bike, an e-bike, or communal transit, whatever that looks like in the future. 3. We need to invest in renewable energy R and D so we can replace fossil fuels with elegant, sustainable solutions. Add a carbon tax for good measure, since we are presently dumping the costs of fossil fuels onto the future while harvesting the benefits now. 4. Re-think our settlement patterns so they are more sustainable. Exurbs make no sense if you have to commute to the Inburbs.

The cynic in me says "here's to 500 ppm". I suspect its right around the corner. But cynicism should not get in the way of just riding your bike.