And The Sidewalk While You're At It
It's fall, with the morning weather becoming uncomfortable for a bike ride, so I thought I would reflect on my experiences riding around my city, by which I mean 35 mph thoroughfares and 25 mph residential streets. For the last year I've been using a pair of electric bike as a car alternative, shuttling around with groceries, library books, or a small child on the back of one as I scoot around my neighborhood and beyond, rolling over pavement and sidewalks, depending, feeling like a kid and strangely self-conscious about taking over the a lane of traffic during rush hour as run 28 mph through the school zones, and rolling off and on of the sidewalk onto the street to make way for pedestrians or obstacles like trash cans or debris.
It's fun, but we don't live in a bike (or even pedestrian friendly) society, and my city is no different. Yesterday I saw a man on a bike almost get hit by a car. The driver was being aggressive in a Dodge Charger and was barging through slow traffic to squeeze through a gap. What they didn't know is that the reason others were slowing down was because a man on a bike was riding the wrong way on the street. The Charger was aimed right at the man for a split second before bouncing away down the street. The man hit the curb with his bike and stumbled off the bike, making an expression like he was surging with adrenaline.
I had barely time to think about it or react before the whole thing was behind me, and I wondered if the man was going to be OK. I had seen a similar spill where a man was thrown over his handlebars. I was able to pull of and went back to check on him. He was ok. But last year, a man was killed on a bike on the main artery of the city, an eight lane, 45 mph stretch of over and underpasses, mostly commercial, where pedestrians will often run across, trying to find a gap in the oncoming traffic -- sometimes driving at 55-60 or more -- I have seen mothers push strollers with kids in tow, scurrying across the Boulevard, and elderly adults in motorized scooters. I can't blame them, there are no pedestrian walkways, and only one crosswalk in a whole mile and half that spans the end of a creek that splits the whole city.
It was there that a man was killed, about a year ago. I was driving my kid and recall the police out on the street holding a white flag. I realized what that meant, and drove back by a day later and saw a family standing in front of a roadside memorial. I never got the actual details, but I remember it because I had just picked up the ebikes and had a real sense of "what the hell am I getting myself into here"?
My wife and I had been a single car family since COVID, when I got rid of my car payment on a 2015 sedan, and relied on her 2012 crossover to get the kids around. After a few years of that it got old, and my wife wanted her car back. It took me six months to find a car, but while I was figuring out what I didn't want to buy, a deal on a couple of ebikes came up on Craigslist that I couldn't pass up.
Some guy in area, a wealthy retiree, had bought the bikes for him and his wife, but she had ridden it once and said no more. He was selling the bikes and other toys: kayaks and other things better left for younger bodies, apparently. The bikes' odometers measured several dozen when I picked him up, but right now, here at the end of the season, have hundreds of miles on them now, about 1300 collectively.
I'm not going to brag about the deal, except to say that it was close to 50% of retail price. I ordered a passenger kit for one, which I use for the little one, and the other has a basket that can handle two or three grocery bags, or handle a trip to the library or hardware store. And I can say that I am actually very happy to ride the bike on errands whenever I can, because the speed of the bike, (10-28mph,) is fun to drive anywhere I can take it.
That usually includes the road, or the sidewalk, or, when needed, across a field over through someone's front yard. If I'm by myself, I'm usually right out in traffic, running the bike's e-assist as high as it will go, to the point where I just have to barely turn the pedals to keep the motor pushing as high as I can for the short ride. When I have my daughter on, I keep to the sidewalks, with the dial down to a 12-15 mph pace.
For all the city's done elsewhere to install bike lanes, there are still noticeable sections of the main thoroughfare that don't have sidewalks on them. Local school kids tromp paths in front yards, but it's a bit rough for me to cart through on 22" tires, let alone with an elementary school kid on the back, so for about half a mile or so I crank it up with her on the back and ride in traffic.
Riding an ebike is a weird hybrid space between pedestrian and a motor vehicle. You have to watch out for both. I find that I can be a bit lax with the traffic laws and get a way with Idaho stops and the like, stopping at red lights until it's clear, then zipping off through the intersection while the stopped cars sit there idol, like idiots. I wait for the pedestrian crossing when I have to, taking advantage to cross when traffic is flowing, or when it's not.
It's not like I'm not one to wait my turn. If I'm riding on the road I'll stop and wait behind a line of cars, but if I can roll up on a sidewalk to pass a line, or take advantage of a pedestrian light to get to the other side of the street, I see no problem with it.
I think it's probably more dangerous riding on the sidewalk at speed than it is on the road. It doesn't depend what side you're on, because people making right turns will always try to kill you. If you're riding on the right you have to be on the lookout as your approach an intersection that you plan on driving straight through. You have to make sure people see you, know that you are driving straight, and that they don't have their turn signal on. It's probably the most dangerous spot on the bike.
Coming on the left side of the street you have to stop at intersections, because people will be looking left for a gap that they can squeeze through, and aren't expecting a fast moving object to be coming at them from the right. I always stop until I can make eye contact with the driver, or if the oncoming traffic is sufficiently dense that they'd be suicidal to pull out into.
I was going to call this article "I'm the guy on the e-bike that you cursed out", because I was just flabbergasted that someone decided to yell "get off the fucking road" to me even though I was going at least 25 in the 35 mph zone, even though they were in front of me, and that it was probably during the time of day that the 25 MPH SCHOOL ZONE lights were flashing. I just wanted to chase them down and tell them that I have as much of a right to be pedaling my ebike on the road as they do with their oversized, jacked up pickup. Now I'm tempted to put on a yellow safety vest and be real conspicuous and slow. Maybe I'll settle for a share the road on the back of a jacket or something.
One of the things I like about biking is that it's a lot more personal riding a bike around than behind the wheel of a car, where the windshield abstracts everything, other drivers are just their metal machines. Rolling by a pedestrian or another biker and having that in-person exchange as you pass each other is more natural, more like the way we're supposed to live.
In about 30 minutes I'll head on the bike to pick up my daughter from school. The school is out of our zone, so doesn't give us bus service, but it's close enough that I can ride her there in 10-15 minutes. By car it's about five. In the afternoons, as schools approach dismissal, a host of parent cars will assemble into a double lined gauntlet as they wait for the bell. Students' names hang from hangers on rearview mirrors, and some parents will sit idling a half hour or more before pickup to get a good spot in the line. Those who laggard are forced to sit out on the main thoroughfare, hazards blinking, the line of cars making it extremely hard to see oncoming traffic and hazardous to make a left turn across traffic.
Me, I roll up to the corner on my bike with five minutes to spare, and out walks my darling with the rest of the walkers, hops on and off we go.
So part of me is sad with the changing of the seasons. My daughter enjoys our bike rides also, they're more fun than the car, even if it takes a bit longer to get there. And I'll admit I love it when she squeezes me for warmth on those chilly days. Daylight savings time will probably put an end to our rides one way or the other, and it won't be until spring before it changes back.