Pedestrians

I know being a driver I hated bicyclists. I would shout the same stuff all the time, "You are NOT a car!", "You do not have a bumper, my car will win!", etc, and keeping this in mind, I try to be as courteous to drivers as I possibly can while on my bike. On the flip side, as a pedestrian, I hated bicyclists as well. I had nothing clever to yell at them because all that I could muster would be a high pitched squeal.

With these things in mind I have found that I will always feel like an asshole riding a bike. I have been made aware of the CA bike laws, read some literature on it and talked it out with friends and family and have come to this conclusion while riding.

"In the event that I get in an accident, a car will win, and a pedestrian will lose. I want to be a winner."

So as unethical or non-law-abiding as it is, I tend to ride primarily on the sidewalks. Mostly out of sheer terror. Maybe one day my feelings will change. Not to mention as I ride downtown, it is nice to ride in the opposite direction on a one way street. Another perk to not having a car.

I try to be as cautious and vocal as possible, Letting people know when I am coming upon them and such, but I find that a lot of people, when walking, lose all sense of observation. On more than one occasion I have had people walk TOWARD me as I am trying to avoid them on the sidewalk. I will keep to the right and they beeline for me, so I slow down and move to the left and then they will change direction and start coming toward me again. Once, a little old lady was doing this dance with me near a bus stop and I stopped my bike completely and she got mere inches from my front tire before she realize that SHE was going to crash into ME.

Being the morning, and rush hour, I have come to expect a certain amount of undercaffinated zombies on the streets, but what has shocked me as of late is the over-reaction to me. I once had a woman stand in the middle of the side walk and tremble as I came toward her.

I made sure to slow down, and stay very close to the side of the sidewalk closest to to the street and even smile at her as I passed her. She seemed to not trust my choices.

I have found myself being more aware as a pedestrian now, though. I try to stay to one side of a sidewalk, I try to stay clear of the ramps onto sidewalks and I try not to walk more than two deep when walking with a group. most of these are nice not just for bikes, but for people with strollers, joggers, or people who "obviously" need to get somewhere faster than you.

I have to keep telling myself that it isnt a big deal. Cars arent out to get me, pedestrians are not intentionally getting in my way to piss me off. other bicyclists are not judging me. I have never felt so insecure.

But my ass does look nicer.

Starting Out

In Mid-July of this year, me and my beloved Petunia got in our last disagreement. Petunia is my 99' Mercry Sable LS. She was a good girl, but over the past few months she has been having some problems. Maybe it was my fault, I dont know a lot about cars, and I can admit I didnt take the time or the money to give my car the kind of attention a car of that age needed. So, long story short, I parked her. She has yet to be driven since. She just sits and gets filthy dirty.

And I have NO regrets.

A good friend sold me his bike after I figured out that I live relatively close to my job (under 5 mi) and that between my wonderful boyfriend, my amazing best friend, and my brother (he is pretty cool also) I could pretty much get anywhere outside of my normal 9-5 job.

It has been a little over a month since I have been carless. I feel that I should start blogging about the adventures that I have had and will most likely continue to have now that my major form of transportation is my legs.

I will have to say that my favorite part about walking/riding through San Diego, is that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. I am constantly reminded by the ocean, the trees, the architecture, the shops and stores, and the people of the unique elegance of my home. I have never been so happy to walk 5 miles in the heat (and I use the term heat very loosely since it rarely gets above 85 degrees).

So, from getting to work, to rehearsal, and maintaining a vibrant social life, getting around is definitely not easy, but it is not impossible.

Here is my new baby.

It's called a "Skinny Benny" and my first inclination was to name it "Benny" based on that fact, but since my boyfriend is named Ben the phrase "Oh, I rode Ben into work" just seems inappropriate. I figure the name will just come to me at some point, just like all my previous vehicles (The Bat-mobile, Old Man George, and Petunia) did after a decent amount of time.

So far me and The Bike (which will be it's temporary name) have got along really well. I do need to start looking into proper maintenance on bikes, and I am really dreading my first flat tire, but I keep telling myself that its not something that I cannot handle. Plus, I am fairly certain that it cannot be any worse than a flat tire on a car, and I have totally dealt with that in the past. (I wonder if I can get Triple A for bikes?)

So there's my starting out. I will hopefully keep up with this blog as much as possible. I know I have stuff to post to this already, but I need to digest this first, haha.