To turn or not to turn....

Ok, on with the cycling soap opera.  Today wifey and I rode in together as we are often likely to do.  Things went really well today.  We left a bit early, took a slightly slower pace that wifey likes, traffic was light, it was a nice cool morning, etc.  And just to be clear, I'm not calling the wifey slow, I might normally ride 15-17 mph....wifey prefers 13-15 mph.  You'd think I'd learn to like this since it means you don't arrive at the office all sweaty!

Anyway, we were just rolling through Rock park and getting ready to exit the bike path.  This would involve the route dashed in red below.

We would be heading south and make a sharp (90 degree) left turn to leave the path and head through the parking lot to get to Rock Blvd.  That's were the drama begins!!!!

Shockingly, there are other people using the river path this time of year.  Meaning we probably encountered 10 other people on bikes along the entire 5 miles of path we use and maybe 20 people walking (or sleeping) along the path.  One such user was on a bike approaching us as we were just about to make our left turn.  I'm using the word approaching very generously.....she was on a bike and was probably approaching 2mph.  She was probably 20-25 ft south of my 90 degree left.....

I have to admit I wasn't quite sure what to do.  I thought she might be stopping (she was going that slow) so I signaled a left turn (arm out) and made my turn.  I knew wifey was behind me and I figured she would probably wait.....she is patient and polite of course.  I heard her tell the woman to go ahead, followed by the woman saying "no you go ahead".  After wifey rolled through, the woman added "since you're in such a hurry!" to her comment, to wifey's back.

So here's my issue that's gonna bug me all day.  I know I/we were turning left across a lane of traffic.  However, I wasn't off to the races on this, diving through the turn in front of her....we had just passed two (rather inattentive cyclists) heading north so we might have been rolling 8-10 mph.  I felt like I/we had plenty of room to turn considering her speed, but I do feel bad that she was offended.....and possibly because after her comment I hollered back, "It's not a stroller, it's a bicycle."

So what do you do?  Do you stop in the middle of the trail and wait for her to pass at 2 mph?  You know you wouldn't do this if you could make the turn in a car.....but it becomes a bit more personal on a bike.  Either way it's bugging me.

Aint it the truth!

I found these at the RTC workshop yesterday.  Now if only we can read both of them and view them from the other guys perspective!  It doesn't take much, just a little common courtesy, patients, and common sense.

Roadside Memorials.

I just noticed yesterday that the roadside memorial at 4th and Washington has been spruced up.  In fact, if you didn't know better you'd think someone was decorating for the holidays.  I won't forget this one anytime soon since I happened past the scene of the accident about 2 minutes after it happened.  In this case it was motorcycle vs. taxi.  Any other analysis aside.....the guy on the motorcycle lost.

I know some people think this type of memorial is tragic, sad, disturbing, or even an eyesore.  To me it's a reminder that a real person died here.  It was probably preventable if either (or both) parties had just taken a bit more time to make sure the intersection was clear.

I don't have a great transition here.....I guess I could talk about a number of cyclist I follow on this route each morning who blow through stop signs and the danger they put themselves in.  It could be a segway into how the driver they tick off might take it out on some innocent cyclist later on who does stop for stop signs, and how messed up this is.

What it really reminds me of, with the holiday season upon us, is that perhaps we should give the gifts of courtesy, patients, and kindness on our daily commutes.  Doesn't matter if your in a car, on a bike, or walking.  It sure would make one part of everyone's day a little better!