Toecutter
What would DoG do?
I'm riding toward home in the berg, makin' good time and running to make the postal office store before the truck shows up, so I'm in hurry mode. Old Town Clovis is not a good place to get in too big a hurry, but I have a couple of tricks.
On the main thoroughfare, there's a series of three traffic signals that are one block apart each. Since it's only two lanes each way and left turns are allowed, northbound and southbound traffic is controlled in one direction at a time. If one misses the light, it's about a four minute delay during busy times. You don't speed much or cheat the light, as the local PD is thick as flies and they have installed "Rat boxes" on the signals, which makes it easier for them to catch violators.
My trick there is to make a right turn against the red, then run one block parallel to the east, and turn back left at the street where the third light is, able to make another right and be on my way, saving a couple of minutes that I could be wasting here instead!
So, if in a car, you have to be the first one to the red or the other cars block the right turn action. On a bike, one can sneak by the right side down the gutter, which is what I was intending to do, since there was a car in the right lane ahead of me. I drifted right and, just as I was getting ready to overtake the car that was rolling to an apparent stop, he dives hard right into the gas station that sits on the corner. No signal, no lookie, no clue. Totally blocked any escape path I might have had.
In what seemed like a microsecond, I was stopped and watching him finish his turn, both brakes on and clutch pulled in, as he looked back, finally, and gave me the "I'm sorry" wave. I think he might have heard the noise from my rear ABS clunking, cause it made a couple of "Pops". I swear I'd have to be bare-footed to have enough feel to apply it smoothly enough. I'll trust the computer to handle it for me back there.
I probably wouldn't have gotten into a pinch anyway, since I was waiting for him to get past the point of no turn (into the gas station) before I passed. I'm never in enough of a hurry to count on another driver doing the right thing to keep me alive, but this could have been considered "A close call". At work, we have a safety meeting each morning where we discuss somebody else's close calls, and try to take something useful away from the session.
So, I share with you all in hopes of a collectively safer future.
[SIZE=8pt]A Public Service Message from the Toe Patrol[/SIZE]
On the main thoroughfare, there's a series of three traffic signals that are one block apart each. Since it's only two lanes each way and left turns are allowed, northbound and southbound traffic is controlled in one direction at a time. If one misses the light, it's about a four minute delay during busy times. You don't speed much or cheat the light, as the local PD is thick as flies and they have installed "Rat boxes" on the signals, which makes it easier for them to catch violators.
My trick there is to make a right turn against the red, then run one block parallel to the east, and turn back left at the street where the third light is, able to make another right and be on my way, saving a couple of minutes that I could be wasting here instead!
So, if in a car, you have to be the first one to the red or the other cars block the right turn action. On a bike, one can sneak by the right side down the gutter, which is what I was intending to do, since there was a car in the right lane ahead of me. I drifted right and, just as I was getting ready to overtake the car that was rolling to an apparent stop, he dives hard right into the gas station that sits on the corner. No signal, no lookie, no clue. Totally blocked any escape path I might have had.
In what seemed like a microsecond, I was stopped and watching him finish his turn, both brakes on and clutch pulled in, as he looked back, finally, and gave me the "I'm sorry" wave. I think he might have heard the noise from my rear ABS clunking, cause it made a couple of "Pops". I swear I'd have to be bare-footed to have enough feel to apply it smoothly enough. I'll trust the computer to handle it for me back there.
I probably wouldn't have gotten into a pinch anyway, since I was waiting for him to get past the point of no turn (into the gas station) before I passed. I'm never in enough of a hurry to count on another driver doing the right thing to keep me alive, but this could have been considered "A close call". At work, we have a safety meeting each morning where we discuss somebody else's close calls, and try to take something useful away from the session.
So, I share with you all in hopes of a collectively safer future.
[SIZE=8pt]A Public Service Message from the Toe Patrol[/SIZE]
