From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.misc
Saturday, 26 April 2025
When I got my copy of Cyclecraft, I thought I'd read it
beside the computer and review each section, but there was
never any computer time for reading.
Eventually I thought of putting it into my go bag and
reading it in waiting rooms, making notes on slips of paper.
There was never any computer time for transcribing the
notes.
But on Monday the fourteenth, I had an idea I wanted to
post, and on Tuesday I started writing it up, but had to
stop in mid-sentence for another trip the the emergency
room. (I'd gone to the pharmacy for the antibiotic
prescrbed Sunday night, and when crossing Center Street to
come back, recalled reading about walking through
intersections when out of it from lack of sleep.)
The advice to ride through intersections applies to
situations like crossing Winona at the end of McKinley. One
can't see traffic on Winona until completely out of the
tunnel, and after getting a twelve-stitch laceation making a
panic stop, I started riding up the ramp onto the side walk,
dismounting, and walking across.
But it takes forever to get overlapping holes big enough to
walk across, and one has to remount on the walkway and wait
for another hole to re-enter the street, *and* get up to
speed before entering the roundabout.
When being driven home a while back, I was surprised when
Steve took McKinley instead of Argonne -- as I mentioned,
you can't see a thing from inside the tunnel under the
railroad, and I would never take McKinley in a car. (To
balance, I never, ever ride up or down Argonne on a bike.
The street is very narrow and very steep, and it's
impossible to get out of the street; it might as well be
tunnel all the way up.)
But upon exiting the tunnel, he started to turn right, and
from that position, he could see clearly, and it was easy to
turn left when the opportunity arose.
I've been doing that ever since, and it's ever so much
easier and safer than walking.
But when one is on a walkway, dismounting before crossing is
mandatory. On two separate occasions I managed to switch
from starting up to stopping a split second before it would
have been impossible to avoid running into a sidewalk rider.
The second time was scarier, because I was on a bike myself
and would have joined him in the helicopter. (Both were
going fast enough to do serious damage.)
(I do drive, but driving through the tangled interstates
around Fort Wayne is for young people with good reflexes.)
4:56 30 April 2025
Just back from an eye exam. The above seems to be complete
in itself, so I'll send it before starting to cook supper.
--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2