jimmy.thewhatwhat.com » bicycling

My first accident

Jimmy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:00:32 +0000

Last week I had my first automobile-bicycle incident. At the end of a weekend that was just shy of 50 miles, I was riding from College Park back to Silver Spring. While riding down University, I stopped at the light for New Hampshire and made eye contact with the woman driving a yellow Nissan Xterra behind me. She kept her distance. After about two blocks, nearly to Carroll, she was still behind me. Then, as I’m cruising down University I see this yellow flash come from my left and pass directly in front of me. Squeezing my brakes, I came to a slow plow-down-the-passenger-side of her vehicle, leaving a justice-scrape from the clips. As I continued my journey, I pushed forward the mirror and finished with a springy bounce backward toward the pavement.

Remembering in an instant how a certain friend fell and her shoes stayed clipped, I twisted my legs as the pavement approached to release my shoes. It almost seemed over before it had begun. Next thing I knew I jumped to my feet and pulled my bike onto the curb. My knees were scraped. That was all. I was pretty certain. I exchanged information with the driver and got back on my merry way to Silver Spring with blood dripping down my shin.

My wound, a couple of days later. I shaved around it so that I didn't rip out my leg hair when I changed bandages.

I didn’t have time to stop and clean up before meeting Preston at Starbucks. Maybe I should have started cleaning my leg in the bathroom rather than the sitting area of Starbucks.

Looking back, I’m pretty certain that the driver thought I was moving much slower than I actually was. She likely thought she could blast past me and turn before I got there. Instead, she just turned directly into me.

Lesson for drivers: cyclists are likely moving much faster than you think, not pedestrian speed. Typically they are moving 18 to 25 miles per hour. Occasionally faster.

Lesson for cyclists: drivers don’t realize how fast you’re moving.

Cycling

Jimmy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:37:14 +0000

Last night while driving home after dark, I saw flashing lights alongside Georgia Avenue in Woodside. Initially I thought it was a bicyclist. A little closer and I could see that it was not moving like a bicyclist. Then I saw arms waving around. But it was moving; it wasn’t someone trying to flag anyone down in an emergency. As the person got into my headlights, I saw what it was: a unicyclist. I never thought someone would use a unicycle as an actual form of transportation except for this guy. I wish I had turned around and gotten his picture.

Bicycles are not allowed on the DC Metro during rush hour. Maybe the midnight Georgia Ave unicycler found a loophole?

They will adapt

Jimmy — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:05:26 +0000

As noted earlier, I have started listening to my iPod and riding a bicycle, both with the added benefit that it makes it difficult for panhandlers to approach me. But they have been a little more aggressive recently. They try yelling over my music or waving at me before I bicycle past them. I have started to listen to my iPod while riding, but it is only a matter of time until they adapt and begin yelling before I speed past them.

By use of this photo I am in no way suggesting that Seven of Nine or Jeri Ryan is in any way homeless. I am personally unaware of her current financial and/or housing situations.

Things to yell from a stretched H2

Jimmy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:45:26 +0000

Recently while bicycling, I was pulling up past a stretched Hummer H2 at a stop light, and heard what very well may be the only thing that can be appropriately hollered from the window of such a classy vehicle.

“Nice badunkadunk!”

I’m not quite certain how these teenaged girls could have ascertained this information having only seeing me from the anterior.

Things I would like to do on my bicycle before I die

Jimmy — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:37:23 +0000

Get a speeding ticket, and not where there is a speed limit set explicitly for bicycles. I could be lame and do it in a school zone.
Chuck a paintball a car that cuts me off.
Get a DUI.
Find the fine dining industry’s threshold for smelling/dressing like a cyclist.

More things I learned from riding a bike

Jimmy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:59:40 +0000

There are an alarming number of cars with missing windshield wipers. You never notice rogue wiper blades until you run over them with 2-inch wide tires.
Everyone is concerned about me catching a cold or pneumonia if I bike in cold rain. Or in the cold. Or in the rain. I didn’t know people still believed that old wife’s tale. Especially since I work at a company that grows viruses.
Some people, particularly suburbanites, would rather honk at me than slide over to the empty lane on their left.

Do the test

Jimmy — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:01:02 +0000

www.dothetest.co.uk

Bike vs. iPod

Jimmy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:55:40 +0000

Another advantage of riding a bicycle: you can zoom right by the homeless people and they don’t even try bothering you. Far more effective than listening to my iPod. With an iPod, you have to be all “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m listening to my expensive iPod.” But when on a bike you zip right by before their forty-marinated brains have time to realize what’s going on.

Biking

Jimmy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:18:28 +0000

I’ve learned a lot since I started using a bicycle as my primary transportation, particularly when it’s a folding bike:

People talk to you. A lot. Most questions are either about the specifics of a folding bike: how much I paid for it, where I purchased it, etc. Some people even ask me random bike questions, like where the closest bike shop is.
People stare. It can be awkward.
The further into the suburbs I am the more oblivious drivers seem to be to my sharing a road with them. Suburbanites are angered and confused by the concept of their Tahoes and Escalades having to share the road with a 24 pound vehicle.
Biking burns a lot of calories. Even in temperatures well below freezing I keep plenty warm with just a jacket and gloves. Pants and shoes were not mentioned because they are assumed.
Everyone thinks I should install an electric motor.

My new ride

Jimmy — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:44:21 +0000

After living successfully for over six months without owning a car, I decided that I finally need to purchase a bike so I can get around town quickly. Because my bus only allows a folding bike, and because only folding bikes are allowed on the bus and metro during rush hour, that’s the route I went. Â Because of the wheel size and because of how low to the ground everything is, it is certainly not a good bike for distance, but so far it has proven to be useful for getting around.I am proud to report that my helmet does not mess up my hair as badly as I thought it would. Â Looks like I won’t be needing aÂ hairmetÂ after all!