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10.16.2023

A Scale of Loose to Clenched

A few months ago, my car got broken into. Unbeknownst to me, there was a viral TikTok video about how to hotwire my particular brand of car, which caused a rash of break-ins across the US. I do not watch TikTok, nor would I have watched a "how to hotwire a car in 5 seconds" video, nor did my car dealer send me anything warning me that this was an issue, so I was caught very unaware when it happened. I won't get into all of the details; the short story is that it was inconvenient and expensive and I was without a car for about 10 days. However, the good news is that four of those days were weekends and I had group trips planned so I did not need the car then. 

For the other days, I went back to my pre-pandemic method of biking to the train station! I used to do this every day but when the pandemic hit, first I drove to work and then when I started taking public transit again, there was no early train from my station so I had to drive to a further one to get to work, and then there were earlier trains but I was out of the habit. So the vandalism was a blessing in disguise and since then, I have ridden my bike to work about 99% of the time that I have gone into the office! This increases my weekly riding by about 12 -15 miles per week. 

Marina Green, San Francisco

This also spurred me to ride sometimes on the weekends, or do a longer loop after work on my way home. However, riding in a city is sometimes more of an adventure than you bargain for and there are some things that cause my butt cheeks to clench a little bit and I thought I would share with you my clench scale. Think of it like a normal scale of 1 - 5, with one being loose and comfortable and five being clenched and tense. Here are a few examples. 

1 - Loose and comfortable. Riding along on a nice bike path, or very smooth street, road or trail with no cars, the weather is good, the birds are singing and everyone is in the lane they are supposed to be in, going the direction they are supposed to be going, calling out etc. 

2 - Small pucker. Bike path or lane where cars are using their turn signals and giving me at least three feet of room, if not more. But there are groups of people taking up the whole path, or that have dogs with a leash that covers the entire space or with kids that are unsure of which way they are walking, so I have to take it slow and be careful. Or getting to a four way stop where everyone is stopped, but now that I am there, even though they were first, they wait and then they wave at me to go first and my armpits start to sweat from the pressure of having to get going from a stop in front of everyone, even though I am the slowest vehicle, and I grunt my way across, hoping that nobody gets impatient and just decides to gun it through the intersection. 

3. - Sweaty and tight. Google tells me to turn left at the next intersection when I am on a five lane street in the far right lane and it is rush hour. I contemplate veering left across four lanes to get to the far left lane but when I look up ahead you realize that the left lane takes me onto the freeway. I do not get into the left lane; instead I drop an F bomb at Google and go find the grocery store to buy ice cream. 

4 - You could bounce a quarter off of it. Dude comes from the left turning lane, across three lanes to turn right on a green light with no blinker or any warning, as I am attempting to go straight at said green light. I literally stop myself by putting my hand on his jeep as I nearly careen into him. He does not stop or give one of those "I'm so sorry, I did not see you" hand waves. Luckily I was just getting going on the green, so I was not going too fast yet. After this I ride through a tunnel on a street that Google told me to take, and there is not only no shoulder, but this is also the main thoroughfare for the semi trucks going to unload in the Oakland shipping yards, so I am passed by several of them while I am in the tunnel. I put all my energy into pedaling through as fast as possible and hoping that my little red blinking light is bright and these semi drivers are patient and awake. 

5 - Clenched and tense. Dude opens his car door without looking first, almost sending me ass over teakettle in the middle of a busy pothole laden street with no bike lane, causing me to swerve into traffic. Then I narrowly miss getting hit by a bus that is pulling over to pick up passengers. The bus clearly did not see me, nor did they use their blinker so I would know they were getting over. I get ahead of the bus and 30 seconds later they are passing me again, and I feel the wind from their bulk as they speed by, about six inches from my left elbow. Add pouring rain to this and I may need to make an appointment with a proctologist. 

So yes, some days are kind of fun and others can be a litany of near misses, sweaty armpits and holy-crap-what-did-I-just-dos. Yesterday I saw three cars run red lights on my two mile commute home. These were not turning from yellow to red lights; they were fully red and the people just decided to ignore the rules. Having said that, I just learned that the following states have a law called the "stop as yield" law, which means that bikes do NOT have to stop at the stop signs, but can instead yield (it seems many Oakland car drivers follow this premise too), and in some cases, can even treat red lights as stop signs, and can go when it's safe/clear. FYI, as you can see, California is not one of them. I do wonder how well these states do with educating car drivers of these rules. I also wish that I knew this before I rode across Washington! 


So...next time I tell you that today was a five, you will know exactly what I mean! 

Have you ever ridden a bike in an urban area? Do you have any pucker stories? Do you live in a stop as yield state and if so, did you know about this rule? Do people follow traffic rules where you are from? 

24 comments:

  1. When I lived downtown, I would ride the nice ride bikes to work. It was just over a mile and I went on roads with dedicated bike lanes so I felt pretty safe. But I wore my helmet because why would you not wear a helmet? I often see bikers on busy city streets where people can be driving like nascar drivers (a la today's post over on my blog) and yet they are NOT WEARING A HELMET. What is wrong with people?? I am super judgy about this and Phil often jokes that I would do a citizens arrest over lack of helmet us. But come on, people.

    I will admit that I almost doored someone yesterday when getting out of the car at the park. I did not see him but it is easy to get distracted with 2 kids. I felt terrible but he had cleared my car by the time I opened my door - it was just closer that I would have liked.

    I do get annoyed when bikers don't follow the rules of law. We are not on that list and yet I often see bikers blowing past stop signs and red lights. I don't know how they even know if a car is coming with how fast they are going!

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    1. I am pro-helmet as well. When I was in Alaska there were not very many people wearing them and it was a little strange, as I feel that although there are a handful of people not wearing them here, it is more the exception not the rule. Of course, if I were to not wear a helmet, it would be on a dedicated bike path where there were no cars, although I don't see why you would not wear one just in case no matter what. I am with you on the citizen's arrest, and while you are at it, please handle the people who blatantly throw trash on the ground, or don't pick up their dog poop.

      I have almost doored someone before too; it happens. However, as drivers we do need to try to be more aware, especially when we are parking on a street where the bike lane is in between us and the traffic. I am always more cautious when there is no bike lane, but I do tend to hope for more safety when there is a dedicated bike lane.

      I get annoyed when anyone doesn't follow the law! However, I will admit that when I ride my bike to the train at 4:55 in the morning, I purposely take the less traveled street that has stop signs and I do a slow down, look both ways, go procedure. I can see their headlights and I do slow, but I do not stop fully. You can arrest me now. (PS I would never do that in the afternoon when there are cars though!)

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  2. I am so stressed when I have to drive with bikers on the road. It always looks SO dangerous and we don't have enough biking lanes where I live.

    Add pouring rain to this and I may need to make an appointment with a proctologist. This is hilarious writing, but also - YIKES! This sounds very stressful. As does having a car broken into?! I'm so sorry this happened :(

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    1. It is sometimes stressful to drive alongside a bike for sure. However, I think that if people (cars and bike people!) learned the rules, maybe things would be better. For example, a bike is allowed to take up the entire lane. Or two cyclists are allowed to take the entire lane sometimes. However, when driving, that is so annoying, as it is hard to go around them. BUT to defend the cyclists, sometimes on an uphill where it is windy and there is no shoulder, you are working really hard to get up the hill and it feels so scary to have the cars passing and some of them don't give you any room, so if you feel safer to take the entire lane, that is sometimes the only option. Drivers are impatient (I am one of them sometimes!) and will do stupid things to get around bikes, but sometimes the bike just needs a minute (and sometimes the cyclists are jerks...) and will pull over as soon as they can.

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  3. Ugh. I know that car break ins are common but they're still really scary. Grr that someone targeted your car model and posted the "how to" on tik tok.

    I've noticed that some places are very strict about bike and pedestrian laws and some places are very car centric. I live in a car centric area, and because of this I'm just not comfortable riding my bike in traffic.

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    1. I think I live in a bike centric area, but I don't think that we are necessarily strict when it comes to enforcing the rules. Actually, funny story, a bit off topic, but I was in Washington DC with some friends when I was maybe 19 or 20 and we jaywalked across a street where there was nary a car in sight while two ladies stood placidly at the crosswalk. As we walked away we heard them say, "they must be from California." Haha. I never knew that was a stereotype of Californians, that we are jaywalkers! Also, we have a lot of people here; do we ALL jaywalk!? I don't think so (have you ever been to Sacramento? The drivers are very respectful there compared to the Bay Area). Anyway, I guess we are not strict about pedestrian rules.

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  4. This is the best comfort scale I've ever seen. I have ridden a bike in an urban area twice -- once when I was 16 and in France with my French club; I think even the most urban areas were fairly rural, so it didn't feel like a big deal. But then when I was in my early 20s, I went to Copenhagen with my then-boyfriend and we rented bikes and rode them in the city center. It was TERRIFYING. I don't think it helped that I hadn't been on a bicycle for a good decade at that point. There were so many cyclists and so many cars and I was at a level 5 clench the entire time.

    I did not know about the "stop as yield" law and I hate it, thanks! I feel like the best way for cyclists and cars to coexist safely is for cyclists to follow traffic laws. I get that it is probably much less convenient for them to do so, but I get so stressed by cyclists who may or may not stop at a stop sign! (My state is NOT on that list, either.)

    I'm really sorry to hear about your break in. That sounds scary and upsetting. What a nice silver lining you've found, though.

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    1. I think the stop as yield law means that if there are no cars, bikes do not have to fully stop. However, if there ARE cars, it is back to the regular laws where you take turns and/or you stop fully. It does not mean you can blow through the stop sign while three other cars who were there first have to wait for you. So in that case, I do think it kind of makes sense, although I get your point about the traffic laws. I guess you could say that why don't we have that same rule as a car driver then? If there are no cars at a stop light, can't I just go? Well let me tell you, there are plenty of car drivers who do that here anyway!!

      I agree with you re Copenhagen. I have never ridden a bike in Europe but when I was in Amsterdam it was intimidating to just walk on the street! So many bikes and nobody wears a helmet and with that number of bikes, I don't even know what the rules are!!

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  5. Our town is supposedly 'bike friendly' with all these biking lanes and what not BUT YOU WOULD NOT CATCH ME USING THEM. People cannot drive. I also will never forget once these bikers yelling at me to pull my car up closer to them when I had stopped behind them at a stop sign. They kept waving at me to go ahead of them or next to them and THERE WAS NO ROOM. There was turn lane next to me and if I pulled up next to them I'd have been in that. I was like ummm I am giving you space and I am waiting for you aka sharing the dang road. People always run the light at the end of our road because it is a 5 lane road and everyone is in such a hurry they can't let us turn out. Every time I am the person hitting my horn and yelling "you just killed a family of four,' So mostly I just have road rage.

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    1. That is strange about the cyclist asking you to move up. I wonder why? Maybe they were taking a break, although that seems a bit strange to do it in the middle of a four way stop. Or maybe they were trying to turn left and needed to get to the other side of you? That seems a bit strange.

      I did have to have a chat with some drivers the other day. I was on the bike, trying to turn left at a signal and I was in the middle of the turn lane. The light cycled a few times and never turned green for me. Finally I dragged my bike over to the side of the turn lane and asked the car behind me to pull up so the light would sense them, since it did not seem to be sensing me. They were confused at first but I did a "do you have any grey poupon" roll down your window gesture and finally they did and I explained and they moved up and the light turned green. Whew!

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  6. There is no way I would ride a bike in Charlotte! The traffic is already terrifying! I have friends who do bike and I know that they have to be extremely careful because no one respects bikers on the road. I dated a guy years and years ago who would ride his bike to work and I'm honestly not sure how he never got hit considering the route he was driving! I agree that this is probably the best comfort scale I have ever seen!

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    1. I think I am lucky to live in a place that is (mostly) bike friendly. However, there are bad drivers everywhere, even when you do have a bike lane. And like Lisa mentioned above, sometimes you are a good driver and a good person but you just accidentally don't see the bike!! I do feel a bit vulnerable but I think that won't stop me from having adventures... there are many pros too!

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  7. Ah, you have expressed riding in a city exactly! I wouldn't ride in Calgary, but here there are bike lanes on all the main roads. The only scary part for me is when I'm riding through the orchard area - there are a couple of big windy downhills with NO bike lanes, so I just have to hope for the best!
    Sorry your car got broken into!

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    1. Yes! We have similar roads. I had to ride up one of those the other day and it was a little sketchy. Trying to ride uphill on a windy shoulderless road is...fun? NOT.

      Actually, I will have to pick your brain soon, as I do plan on hopefully riding from Vancouver to Canmore next year (if things go according to plan!!) with a continuation onto the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail. However, much of that will be on dirt/rail trails so hopefully I can avoid the city streets!

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  8. I have done a lot of urban riding in my city, and sometimes now I am shocked that I never came to grief on certain roads I used to ride on. A lady was killed by a semitruck on one of the roads I used to take to work, it was *not* a cyclist friendly road. I also used to do a lot of road cycling and now would not go on some of those roads. I still commute by bike when I can around my city, they recently introduced a 20mph speed limit which drivers HATE but which does make cycling nicer.

    FYI I found driving in Oakland terrifying due to the number of cyclists and pedestrians everywhere. But also, I like seeing pedestrians and cyclists so felt comfortable driving very slowly. I always figure that it's drivers responsibility to protect cyclists where we can... cyclists and pedestrians are far more vulnerable on the road than drivers. Even if the cyclist is "in the wrong" I don't want to be involved in an accident that changes/ruins/ends someone's life.

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    1. It is interesting that you say that about Oakland as I felt that way when I first started driving in San Francisco but have not felt the same in Oakland. Maybe you just get used to it? However, in San Francisco I felt that there were so many things -- people, bikes, delivery trucks, motorcycles, people double parked, homeless people jaywalking etc. etc. etc. Now I it just feels normal though, and when I go to Sacramento or some other low paced place, it seems so slow!

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    2. Actually my most terrifying drive was as a passenger in San Francisco when the driver tried to pull into a parking space and almost hit a cyclist while doing so. I was angry on behalf of the cyclist.

      I Imagine you get more familiar with roads when you live somewhere - I didn't drive in Oakland or SF much so I bet either one would be overwhelming. Living in Portland was great for cycling as we had dedicated cycling routes/streets - I wish they would do that in more places! It felt like roads were either for cars or cyclists which felt much safer than trying to combine the two.

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    3. They are starting to take some four lane (two each way) streets and make one lane into a bike lane, which is pretty nice, even if it is not the entire street. However, I feel like they are doing it more when they repave, which may only be every few years, and so it is definitely a work in progress!

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  9. Do you by any chance have a Kia? Two summers ago we bought my son a Kia, and right after that those TikTok videos came out. just this past summer the company sent us a free steering wheel lock, which my son probably never uses (he probably feels like he's safe in his little college town- but you never know.). Anyway, what a pain!!!
    So... a little over a year ago I got in an accident (my fault, long story) and had no car for a couple weeks. I rode my bike to work, and on some days my husband rode his bike and I drove his car. On one of his bike commutes, he was actually hit by a car. Luckily everyone was going slowly so he wasn't hurt- there was a little damage to his bike which the driver paid for. I love the idea of riding my bike, but I just wish it were safer! Be careful out there.

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    1. I have a Hyundai and it was Hyundai and Kia that were targeted!!!

      Ohmygoodness re your husband and the bike accident. Gah, these kinds of things are what makes me wary at times, but I refuse to let fear keep my from living my life. HOWEVER, I do try to be as careful as I can! There are definitely bad drivers everywhere and of course the possibility of getting hit/hurt is always out there, but I try to be as safe as I can to avoid it!

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  10. My neighbor's Saturn was stolen like this, also apparently based on a stupid TikTok thing. Thankfully the car was found, unharmed, about a mile away. He was without a car for a few days until it was found.

    Your descriptions are hilarious and also terrifying.

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    1. I am glad his car was found! I think that it is more of a game for young people to see who can steal the most cars than actually real thieves. Or at least that is my understanding of it. Luckily my steering wheel must have locked up or something and they did not take the car!!

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  11. I started riding my bike to work once a week (it's only 1.75 miles) on a semi-busy residential road and I wear a helmet. I feel mostly safe (although there have been cars going faster than the 34mph speed limit).

    I do follow all the traffic rules though and it gets me antsy when other people don't - I understand drivers who do not know what to expect from bicyclists because of that. Did you know that you have to pass a "bike test" in Germany (in Elementary school) where you learn how to properly participate in traffic as a bicyclist? I think that should be mandatory everywhere ;)

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    1. It is these instances when I think that I must be part German, because I think that the bike test is a great idea! I think it would be good for any faster moving vehicle where you have to coexist with cars possibly. People here don't have to have any training whatsoever, and I think it shows. I was walking to work the other day and this guy on a scooter wearing black comes zooming down a one way street in the dark with no lights on the wrong side of the road and runs the red lights. In my mind I am thinking that is just an accident waiting to happen and as a driver, those people who come out of nowhere from an unexpected place on a dark street really make me nervous! I would hate to hit a guy in my car and even if it was not my fault, I would be traumatized!

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