Oh the Facebook of it All

An interaction on Facebook has me all worked up this morning. A friend made a complaint, and friends chimed in with shared frustration. The drivers who weren't actually experiencing the interaction were jumping to anger over the reality that bicycles are occupying space on the road. Here's what I'm thinking. I want to resurrect the human status of cyclists by sharing my experience, and also recall the legality of the choice. 

{Did I mention I ride bikes? You guys know this because you're here and probably got here because you know me personally or you ride bikes. Not everyone agrees with my choices, but we can at least civilly disagree.}

When a driver and I disagree about a lane use issue. The exchange is typically punctuated by honking. Sure, that's predictable, but I invite you to an experiment. Try this. Set your 3 year old in the driver seat of your car, obviously not running or in any way powered on. Just set the child in front of the steering wheel's horn button. Now, go stand in front of the car facing the same direction of the vehicle with it behind you. Wait, and then see what happens. 

Often in-motion lane use arguments are much more brutal: A bus driver passes and tips my helmet with the mirror of the bus, nearly spilling me into a rash of poison ivy in the culvert of the road. The mini van mama screams obscenities through an open window while honking and cutting into the lane in front of me to turn right. A one-ton truck driver discards the remnants of a fast food drink, including cup, and then accelerates heavily to leave me in a puff of exhaust. All of these examples have happened to me this year. Everyday I ride my bike, I have an encounter like this.

Please pause and think about the last time you were walking and somebody threw a drink cup at you, screamed obscenities, or just straight up hit you. What was that like for you?

It happens to me every single day that I ride my bike. My humanity wants me to believe this type of interaction isn't normal and doesn't characterize the morality of the individual. I try to lift the interaction out of the well by responding with a super-big smile and wave, "Have a good day!"

(Would you shoot a person who is smiling and waving? It's my only defense on my 20-lb bicycle against a 3,500lb vehicle.)

This is a real fear. Regularly, cyclists are physically assaulted. A driver has pulled a gun on me while riding my bike. I happened to have been pregnant at the time.

People who ride bikes are people. In my case, I'm a mom of three kids. I manage a team of engineers for a major corporation. I also teach yoga for peace, and math to little kids. I pay taxes on my car, my home, and my income. 

When I ride my bike, I am not trying to take anything from you. I'm trying to get to work. When I ride in a peloton, I am not trying to prevent you from using the road. I'm getting a workout. Any delay you experience will likely be short, and I appreciate you waiting until it is safe to pass. 

Jump Track

Adventures on a Friday included:

1. Cake for breakfast
2. Jump track

But what is our gang sign?

In two separate pregnancies, I imagined twin daughters. Instead, these two smart, handsome boys charmed my life. They fight with the worst of them, but they also have lifelong, built-in buddies. The sun was shining on us today.

Surrey Bikes

We went to Disney last week - it was wonderful. We saw wildlife, rode Space Mountain, and hung out by the pool. Far and wide, my favorite part of the weekend was pedaling around on a Surrey Bike. These things are not made for hills, but my boys are getting taller and stronger.

If the neighbors have a pimped out golf cart, I want one of these!

NC HB959 - FOUR Feet Please

As a driver, I don't want to share my lane with anything else. The lane I am traveling in at the time I am traveling is mine. I feel the same way when I'm on a bike. I appreciate it when a driver gives a full pass by taking measures to pass me as if they are overtaking any other vehicle.

Wait for a clear view and passing distance, cross all the way into the other lane, and then cross back into the forward moving lane. 

Gosh this sounds nice. If we use this as a basis for passing, it becomes easier to understand a two column pace line. It's a shorter pass, and it's easier on the athletes. And man, yay. Thanks for being courteous. Well, you can imagine that rarely happens. You can tell when a driver also rides bikes.

A really exciting law change came up in North Carolina. House Bill 959 has granted us a number of safety protections. The first of these laws went into effect on October 1st, and allows drivers to pass bicycles or mopeds in no passing zones with at least 4 feet of clearance. 

The rest of the changes take effect on December 1st, and include a law requiring cyclists to have a rear light (in addition to the already required front light) or wear reflective clothing that is visible from at least 300 feet, the official recognition of the right hand turn signal, and harsher penalties and fines for drivers who cause a cyclist to run off the road, change lanes, or crash.

Are you ready? I'm ready.

A photo posted by @heartspoken.ninja on Mar 8, 2016 at 2:44pm PST

Bike to School

The ride to school today has been a long time coming. I thought they would just naturally want to ride their bikes because the freedom is so great. Turns out, getting driven is easier. Traffic as it is, I have been inclined to oblige their whims.

Our new place tho? Totally bike-able. Boy has been asking for an apple watch which I told him (a) he could have if he could keep up with all of his things and (b) he would need to have if he was biking to school all the time.

And so this day happened. Some people look forward to first steps or graduating from kindergarten - this is my proud mama moment. My son biked to school for the first time.

Bambi the Buck

The deer in this neighborhood are bizarre. There are so many, they're nearly tame. I find them eating the flowers in the front yard in the morning. Not one, not two, but six or seven or nine. When I drive the street, they look up and then carry about their graze. I have a garden with an 8' fence with no vegetation and hoof prints. There's a nuance to this domestication tho. When I bike up the street, they bolt.

This bizarre thing happened on the way home from school the other day. My son (on bike) makes his way up the street first. Between him and child #2, a car is approaching - and Bambi appears. He's spooked and headed full throttle towards the fence. Nothing is going to stop him! (except the fence) The fence stood its ground, and Bambi flipped back into the street. He's fully panic-stricken. He's in a seizure state of fear. His movements are violent and uncontrolled. He's grunting and growling at himself while somersaulting forwards and back.

We step back and watch, hoping he'll get it together and letting him have his space. It takes 45 seconds? a minute?, but he does catch his feet on the ground. The first grip sends him up the street towards us. The single speed tandem is too heavy to try to manipulate into a shield, and I worried. He flipped and fell again. Another 10 seconds of deer terror, and he finds his way the other direction into the woods.

And this is the day I met my new neighbors! I mention this because this really happened. This weird scene is not a metaphor or a moral story. Only Bambi's name was made up. It's a story about a freaked out buck. Oh deer.

My People

This is post-Fat adventures. Before this picture the scene was different.

It started when I told my daughter that I was ok with skipping it this year. I wasn't feeling it, didn't want to get out, etc. She was justifiably shocked. This is my favorite event and all. She didn't go crazy or anything, just restated her enthusiasm. That's all it took. You can see one child still wearing his Fred Flinstone tie and baby girl wearing her Betty Rubble get up.  We kind of rocked that Flinstones gig. I was happier for going.

So, when this photo happened, I was totes stoked for reals. Yo.