From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

When I was out yesterday, I found a new hazard that I hadn't experienced before.

Around here, all of our major boulevards are due directions on the
compass -- north, south, east, west. Something that I'm used to as a
motorist within a couple of weeks of the equinoxes is the effect of sun
in my face just after sunrise and just before sunset, and difficult to
see. In particular, sun behind signal lights.

Yesterday, I was out just after sunrise, and found that when I was
looking over my shoulder to check for traffic, the sun was right in the
place where I was looking. I got my hand up enough to shade my eyes, and fortunately, the lane was clear, but it was a new twist on checking
behind me.

As it is, my neck isn't as flexible as it used to be, and as a result,
it's harder to check for traffic, anyway.

Smith
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From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

On Tue Sep 22 07:46:40 2026 NFN Smith wrote:

When I was out yesterday, I found a new hazard that I hadn't experienced before.

Around here, all of our major boulevards are due directions on the
compass -- north, south, east, west. Something that I'm used to as a motorist within a couple of weeks of the equinoxes is the effect of sun
in my face just after sunrise and just before sunset, and difficult to
see. In particular, sun behind signal lights.

Yesterday, I was out just after sunrise, and found that when I was
looking over my shoulder to check for traffic, the sun was right in the
place where I was looking. I got my hand up enough to shade my eyes, and fortunately, the lane was clear, but it was a new twist on checking
behind me.

As it is, my neck isn't as flexible as it used to be, and as a result,
it's harder to check for traffic, anyway.

Be careful out there, people no long stay to the right if they're slower traffic. I have watched people passing on the right SHOULDER at speeds approaching 90 mph. We're losijng members too fast the way it is.
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From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

cyclintom wrote:

Yesterday, I was out just after sunrise, and found that when I was
looking over my shoulder to check for traffic, the sun was right in
the place where I was looking. I got my hand up enough to shade my
eyes, and fortunately, the lane was clear, but it was a new twist
on checking behind me.

As it is, my neck isn't as flexible as it used to be, and as a
result, it's harder to check for traffic, anyway.

Be careful out there, people no long stay to the right if they're
slower traffic. I have watched people passing on the right SHOULDER
at speeds approaching 90 mph. We're losijng members too fast the way
it is.

Thanks for the reminder.

One thing I have to remind myself of is that even if I think I have very
good traffic skills, I need not to get over-confident, or take
unnecessary chances. One thing I realized a couple of years ago -- even though I can generally merge across lanes of traffic (even when there
are 3 lanes), traffic patterns at any specific intersection may not
allow for that. Thus, I've learned that there are times when the best
way of getting a left turn is to ride through the intersection on the
right, then put my foot down and rotate the bike, where I wait for the
light to turn green for the cross traffic.

And of course, watching carefully for the knuckleheads with big engines
and big attitudes that consider a bicycle to be an intrusion on their
space. Another lesson that I learned years ago is to be especially
careful around vehicles with bumper stickers and decals. Even if the
stickers aren't political, that's often a way of territory marking.

My last couple of rides have been gray and rainy, and today was the
first time I needed my arm warmers when riding at sunup. No unwanted
glare, and no problem with seeing motorists.

Smith
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