Hi all,
I know this has been discussed time and time again, but hey - it's never real until it happens to you.
In the spirit of Bike to Work week last week, I began doing my 13 mile commute via Bike. The first half or so is within nicely bike-laned Orange County local road, but the last half is "Laguna Canyon Road." Canyon road, as in narrow, one lane in each direction, and windy. That's what initially put me off, but with the advent of Bike to Work week, I decided to give it a shot. And I did pretty well last week. I was dead tired by the end, but I figured I just needed to get used to it.
This morning (Monday), week 2, went well. But this afternoon, things got ugly. Everyone else was worried about the danger of the traffic around me - wrong. I have had no incidents up to now, but this afternoon, well, picture this:
A nice long downhill, a single lane in each direction. Nothing on both sides. Traffic comes in clumps. No cars in front, as far as the eye can see, one approaching from behind. I'm enjoying the downhill. I glance down at my wheels, watching them spin. Then I hear a KA-THUNK, and my front wheel receives a severe shock - a jolt forcing it to the right. I struggle to maintain control (at 25-30 mph). As I glance up, I catch something flying off to the right. The car is speeding away, and I notice people looking at me. There's honks, and waves. I had just been assaulted.
I called the cops and asked what could they do. An officer came down to record the incident, but he couldn't do much, he said. Without a) an ID on the car, b) me being able to ID the person in a line-up, and c) me actually seeing him throw the bottle, there's nothing he can do. I thanked him and sent him on his way.
Now what? I hate to let an incident like this stop me from bicycling commuting, but oh my god - that's frickin' dangerous to have bottles being thrown at you like that. As much as I hate to say it, not much we can do though, hm?
Details: I was dressed in my usual cycling garb (bright yellow/black trimmed jersey, cycling shorts), on my Trek MTB with slicks/panniers - so I was looking the cyclist - somewhat at least. I guess maybe it's safer to be in more populated areas, that way people aren't tempted to do things like this, hm?
I tried catching up w/ the car, but there's no way I could on the 55mph road. By the time I hit the first light, he was long gone.
I know this has been discussed time and time again, but hey - it's never real until it happens to you.
In the spirit of Bike to Work week last week, I began doing my 13 mile commute via Bike. The first half or so is within nicely bike-laned Orange County local road, but the last half is "Laguna Canyon Road." Canyon road, as in narrow, one lane in each direction, and windy. That's what initially put me off, but with the advent of Bike to Work week, I decided to give it a shot. And I did pretty well last week. I was dead tired by the end, but I figured I just needed to get used to it.
This morning (Monday), week 2, went well. But this afternoon, things got ugly. Everyone else was worried about the danger of the traffic around me - wrong. I have had no incidents up to now, but this afternoon, well, picture this:
A nice long downhill, a single lane in each direction. Nothing on both sides. Traffic comes in clumps. No cars in front, as far as the eye can see, one approaching from behind. I'm enjoying the downhill. I glance down at my wheels, watching them spin. Then I hear a KA-THUNK, and my front wheel receives a severe shock - a jolt forcing it to the right. I struggle to maintain control (at 25-30 mph). As I glance up, I catch something flying off to the right. The car is speeding away, and I notice people looking at me. There's honks, and waves. I had just been assaulted.
I called the cops and asked what could they do. An officer came down to record the incident, but he couldn't do much, he said. Without a) an ID on the car, b) me being able to ID the person in a line-up, and c) me actually seeing him throw the bottle, there's nothing he can do. I thanked him and sent him on his way.
Now what? I hate to let an incident like this stop me from bicycling commuting, but oh my god - that's frickin' dangerous to have bottles being thrown at you like that. As much as I hate to say it, not much we can do though, hm?
Details: I was dressed in my usual cycling garb (bright yellow/black trimmed jersey, cycling shorts), on my Trek MTB with slicks/panniers - so I was looking the cyclist - somewhat at least. I guess maybe it's safer to be in more populated areas, that way people aren't tempted to do things like this, hm?
I tried catching up w/ the car, but there's no way I could on the 55mph road. By the time I hit the first light, he was long gone.