Today I went for a ride. The plan was, and still is to ride my bike to school at least once a week. It’s only about 4 miles. I had intended to ride to school today for a math lab with Roger at noon. (Algebra is still a little fuzzy.) Alas, I was still in bed at 11:30 so I didn’t get out of the apartment until 2:30- only an hour and a half after the lab was over.
Regardless I took the bike to the Post Office, a couple of blocks from school, where I have moved my P.O. box. Not too difficult at first, still I had to think a lot from the start. I think riding a bike requires a lot more thought than any motorized transportation. You have to watch cracks, holes, glass and of course the cars. They tend to stalk you just a little. I don’t have my speed yet and my knees hurt when I’m not careful. However, the area is pretty flat on the whole, especially when you’re traveling east-west. I had been on the road less than a minute when I heard a tiny clank and looked down to see something bouncing on the ground. I turned around to see if a part had fallen of the bike. It turned out to be the key to my Kryptonite lock. I had put the key in the lock about a year ago so that I could find it when I decided to ride again. What a pain that would have been if I hadn’t gone back to check that out. The ride was mostly uneventful until the end. Except for being crowded a couple of times by cars. I’m fairly sure that if I’m killed on a ride it will be by someone trying to send a text.
I remembered a lot. Asserted my position. I rode predictably. Had to take a detour or two when I was out of position to make a left turn and lacking the burst of speed to compensate.
Went from the Post office to the Bank at Ventura and Laurel Canyon. From there, I headed home. Ventura was jammed on the way home so I had no real trouble keeping pace with cars. I went down Whitsett to get away from all the traffic. As I worked my way left behind a car to make a left turn onto Woodbridge, things got hairy. A van was stopped ahead in the left opposing lane waiting to make a left in at the intersection in front of us. Unknown to the driver I was following in the Accord, there was a car behind the Van in the right lane traveling on its merry way. I could see it because I had moved to the left later in the sequence of events. I also had a height advantage from being on a bike. I had prior knowledge that probably no one else had. Regardless, the driver of the Accord, without being able to see into that lane decided to just go for it, starting her left turn from a looooong way back, which is probably what saved her. The big old Lincoln, maybe a Mark VI of my mother’s era, slammed on the breaks locking up the front wheels and skidding a couple of feet to the left, and the Accord gunned it to get through without a collision. You could hear parts of the old Lincoln clanking and straining from the sudden exertion. They probably came within a foot of each other. I’d bet there was some damage to their suspension. The two geezers seem pretty stunned but, straightened out and I guess went on their way. I, still with my better visibility, looked past the van to be sure the coast was clear, made my left through the stinky cloud of tire smoke and rode home. The Accord turned up the nearest alley. I don’t know if it was to hide or that was the destination. I would certainly want to hide if I was she. I’m pretty sure she was talking on her phone as I passed. Hmmm…
There’s a lot that can go wrong on a bike and still I love it. The effort and danger, speed and exposure. I’ll have to stay on the smaller streets in hopes of not dying so soon. And smaller streets will make it easier to text while I ride. Still not sure if I’ve found the comedy.
