No, I don't mean cyclists becoming roadkill, although we're certainly at a disadvantage to an automobile being driven as a weapon.
Even cyclists have to dodge furry friends on occasion... Particularly squirrels, who seem to be programmed with a healthy "darting" reflex. When a squirrel is in my way, I just look way up the path and don't try to react to which way the squirrel jumps, because I don't think even he knows where he's going, as long as he changes directions five times. This explains the term "squirrel" for a rider who can't ride in a straight line.
Anyway, thanks to this photo, I now know what happens if you actually hit a squirrel just right. WARNING: Not for the faint of heart.
http://img.moonbuggy.org/bicycle-roadkill/
22 May 2009
17 April 2009
SNOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!
Spring snowstorm hits Denver! Inch upon inch of heavy, wet, slushy stuff! Well, at least the grass and trees will be happy... And I'll probably have to mow as soon as the snow melts.
Any snow event in Denver makes for fun traffic shenanigans... Like the Jeep Wrangler that left a parking lot right behind me. I was a little deprived in the traction department, and I think the Jeep figured he'd scoot around me and then get back in my lane to make the right turn we both needed to make. He got past me, all right... He then mashed on the Stop Pedal and did a nice pirouette to the left in front of me. At least that took him out of my way. He got back facing the right direction... And had to fall in line right behind me, where he started off anyway.
Cheerio,
Garrick
Any snow event in Denver makes for fun traffic shenanigans... Like the Jeep Wrangler that left a parking lot right behind me. I was a little deprived in the traction department, and I think the Jeep figured he'd scoot around me and then get back in my lane to make the right turn we both needed to make. He got past me, all right... He then mashed on the Stop Pedal and did a nice pirouette to the left in front of me. At least that took him out of my way. He got back facing the right direction... And had to fall in line right behind me, where he started off anyway.
Cheerio,
Garrick
28 March 2009
Crosswalks = Death Traps for Bicycles
Denver is blessed with a nice network of dedicated, paved trails, such as those running along Cherry Creek, the South Platte River, and the C-470/E-470 limited-access highway. Last weekend's ride found me using all of these. For the most part, these trails either avoid or pass over/under crossing streets. At worst, you may have to cross one street at a crosswalk. By Park Meadows Mall, however, the C-470 Trail essentially goes diagonally across an intersection at Yosemite as shown by the red line in the aerial photo below.
Normally, I'm heading southeastward through here, so I'd be coming in from the upper-left corner of the photo. I then have to cross the right-turn-only lane (which has limited visibility due to a wall next to the trail), then cross Yosemite, then spin a quick 270 to the left to position myself to cross the other street. Again, there's limited visibility here due to walls running adjacent to the sidewalk. After crossing the intersection southbound, I go on my merry way on the trail again.
I HATE this intersection. No, really, I can't stand this intersection. High-speed, cross-town bike traffic really gets shoehorned through here in a less-than-safe manner. However, as the roads are configured, you have no choice but to make three crossings. Alas. In any case, I've managed to make it through here every time without incident... Until last weekend.
Since one has to cross two streets at the same intersection, it typically works out that a cyclist has to wait for two traffic lights. Every time I've gone through, I've had to wait at the northeast corner waiting for northbound Yosemite to get a green signal. Last weekend was no different. Since I was hanging out at the corner, I even pushed the pedestrian-crossing button to get the WALK signal.
So the southbound crosswalk signal changes to WALK, and westbound traffic has a red signal (it's easy to see that signal from the corner). However, as is my custom, I check for crossing traffic. Usually, the conflict comes from a northbound driver turning right to head eastbound. However, that's on the far side of the intersection, and those drivers are staring right at me before they turn. If I'm not sure I have that driver's attention, I can always hold up near the centerline and just yell at him as he passes in front of me. No biggie.
In this case, however, as I move toward the crosswalk entrance I can see a westbound driver to my left who is signaling a right turn. Now, I recognize that a solid red signal means one should stop prior to the painted crosswalk. However, this driver isn't exactly slowing to make that happen, so I wait and shout "STOP" in his direction. Sure enough, he blows through the crosswalk and stops with his REAR BUMPER about midway through the crosswalk. Grrr. I pass behind him, pound on his trunk lid, and go on my way. This isn't a situation where a refresher course on the Rules of the Road will be well-received.
To the drivers (there have been many) who have told me, "Get on the f%^$ing sidewalk!!!", I have this response:
GET. A. CLUE.
The most dangerous thing I do on a bicycle is to ride on a sidewalk or take a crosswalk. Each and every grade crossing where I'm not out in the flow of traffic like a car is an opportunity for bad things. In the absence of dedicated bike facilities, I'll use the road like a car, and I'll be safer for it. The situation above is one where there really isn't much choice. Next time I'll try just heading southbound on Yosemite, doing a U-turn on the south side of C-470, then come back up Yosemite to rejoin the trail. I'd still have to cross lanes of traffic in both directions, but I'll take a merge over a right-angle crossing against turning traffic any day.
Normally, I'm heading southeastward through here, so I'd be coming in from the upper-left corner of the photo. I then have to cross the right-turn-only lane (which has limited visibility due to a wall next to the trail), then cross Yosemite, then spin a quick 270 to the left to position myself to cross the other street. Again, there's limited visibility here due to walls running adjacent to the sidewalk. After crossing the intersection southbound, I go on my merry way on the trail again.
I HATE this intersection. No, really, I can't stand this intersection. High-speed, cross-town bike traffic really gets shoehorned through here in a less-than-safe manner. However, as the roads are configured, you have no choice but to make three crossings. Alas. In any case, I've managed to make it through here every time without incident... Until last weekend.
Since one has to cross two streets at the same intersection, it typically works out that a cyclist has to wait for two traffic lights. Every time I've gone through, I've had to wait at the northeast corner waiting for northbound Yosemite to get a green signal. Last weekend was no different. Since I was hanging out at the corner, I even pushed the pedestrian-crossing button to get the WALK signal.
So the southbound crosswalk signal changes to WALK, and westbound traffic has a red signal (it's easy to see that signal from the corner). However, as is my custom, I check for crossing traffic. Usually, the conflict comes from a northbound driver turning right to head eastbound. However, that's on the far side of the intersection, and those drivers are staring right at me before they turn. If I'm not sure I have that driver's attention, I can always hold up near the centerline and just yell at him as he passes in front of me. No biggie.
In this case, however, as I move toward the crosswalk entrance I can see a westbound driver to my left who is signaling a right turn. Now, I recognize that a solid red signal means one should stop prior to the painted crosswalk. However, this driver isn't exactly slowing to make that happen, so I wait and shout "STOP" in his direction. Sure enough, he blows through the crosswalk and stops with his REAR BUMPER about midway through the crosswalk. Grrr. I pass behind him, pound on his trunk lid, and go on my way. This isn't a situation where a refresher course on the Rules of the Road will be well-received.
To the drivers (there have been many) who have told me, "Get on the f%^$ing sidewalk!!!", I have this response:
GET. A. CLUE.
The most dangerous thing I do on a bicycle is to ride on a sidewalk or take a crosswalk. Each and every grade crossing where I'm not out in the flow of traffic like a car is an opportunity for bad things. In the absence of dedicated bike facilities, I'll use the road like a car, and I'll be safer for it. The situation above is one where there really isn't much choice. Next time I'll try just heading southbound on Yosemite, doing a U-turn on the south side of C-470, then come back up Yosemite to rejoin the trail. I'd still have to cross lanes of traffic in both directions, but I'll take a merge over a right-angle crossing against turning traffic any day.
26 April 2008
My Review of AutoWeek article "Mazda readies new Mazda 6 for late summer arrival"
Originally submitted at Autoweek.com
Mazda's redesigned Mazda 6--larger and with more power than versions of the car sold in other markets--goes on sale late this summer.The changes make the 2009 Mazda 6 the company's third vehicle designed specifically for North American customers, the CX-7 and CX-9 crossovers. Other markets will get...
Glad I got mine when I did
By Garrick from Denver, CO on 4/26/2008
Pros: Informative, Easy To Understand
Best Uses: Making Purchasing Decisions, Staying Informed
I'll guess I'm echoing many other reviewers when I say this: I'm dismayed that "my" Mazda6 has been reduced to yet another Bloatmobile with no utility-oriented variant. I'm glad I got my manual-tranny '6 wagon when I did.
Mazda can say all the US market wants is the sedan, and maybe that's true of rent-car fleets, but in so doing reduces itself, to my eyes at least, into just another mainstream manufacturer.
How's this for a wacky idea... If Mazda had the courage to ONLY offer the hatchback version, I think it would open a lot of American eyes to what a non-truck "could be" in terms of utility. This would be akin to the US Treasury stopping the printing of dollar bills, which would "force" us to use dollar coins. While both bills and coins are available, you can argue all day about how coins are better (and cheaper) than bills, but if bills are available, people will keep using them because that's what they've always used.
Mazda, I'm disappointed in you. At the very least, offer a "real" stickshift with the V6.
My '6!
Tags: Mazda6 wagon
(legalese)
27 December 2007
Another dead blog?
I suppose my blog is going the way of 99 percent of all blogs... I haven't been keeping it up-to-date. Sorry folks...
05 November 2007
Happy End of Daylight Savings Time
Saturday, I took the kart out to The Track At Centennial for one last hurrah with Daylight Savings Time. Once we go off of DST, the sun just goes down too damned early, so my karting opportunities will be limited.
Today the track was run "uphill," or counterclockwise, which was nice because it had been downhill the last 3 or so times out. And the session started with... a whimper. After a couple of easy laps to get the water temperature up, I started hammering it and got rewarded with stalls out of every other corner. Aaargh! This happened the last time out, but I thought I fixed it! How, I have no idea, but still...
This time, I limped back to the pits and noticed ENORMOUS vapor bubbles in the fuel lines. As in, no liquid between the tank and the filter. Huh? I thought this was a flooding condition. Maybe I just need to manually get the bubbles out. Okay, I'm an engineer, I can figure this out... The trouble was, I just couldn't evacuate the air out of the suction line upstream of the filter. That's when the lightbulb goes off... I have a leaking suction line! It's fuel starvation, not flooding!
This is when I find out for myself that karters are a helpful bunch... There were few other test-and-tune runners out there, but I went over to the guys running Arrow karts and begged some used fuel line from their mechanic. Success! Suddenly the suction line would stay full, and the stalling disappeared.
I managed to get about 10 decent laps in before I felt like I was going to fall out of my seat (man, I need to get one of those wrap-around style seats). I came in to rest and found that my wife had called... She was on her way to the track with the kids! She had never seen me at the track before, so that was cool. She even snapped some photos, including the attached. You'll notice as I'm headed toward pit exit that (a) I'm looking over my shoulder, which I still spend way too much time doing on the track, and (b) I have the lovely "X" on my rear number plate. That's my self-imposed "I'm a n00b" mark. Someday I'll drop that and affix number 29 to the bodywork to look more like a Real Racer. Someday...
As the sun went down, my wife drove a stint in a rental kart and concluded that she'd like to do it again sometime. She may not be thrilled with my second childhood driving karts, but I'll be happy with her acknowledgment that it actually is fun.
Fastest lap: 0:59.67 (best ever "uphill")
28 October 2007
Don't Start Something You Can't Finish
Finally, a cycling-related post. It was a beautiful, sunny, near-windless, upper 60's day, so after raking leaves I hit the road. This is where I expect to get most of the fodder for this blog.
It seems that, at least once on every ride, I see something that makes me frown and shake my head. Maybe it's someone driving in the bike lane or doing a "third-gear stop" (Did you willfully disobey the big red octagonal sign, or are you merely not paying attention? Okay, maybe I rolled through it too, but I have to do more than point my right toe to get going again).
Sometimes, if that "something" happens quite close to me, that frown is followed by a shout and an exaggerated "WTF?" shrug.
If it's a motorist who ticks me off, I'm gonna let him have it. Of course, said motorist typically motors off without any meaningful exchange having taken place. On occasion, an inconvenience like traffic or a red traffic signal causes that motorist to sit still for long enough that I can have a chance to express myself. Today was one of those times.
I was going past Cherry Creek State Park on Dayton. To my left was Cherry Creek High School. In this area, Dayton is one lane plus a bike lane in each direction, with the two directions of traffic separated by a raised median. Approaching a gentle left curve, I can see a pickup pulling out of the school parking lot. Rather, he creeps out of the lot and sits blocking the opposite lane waiting for me to pass. It's the classic "politeness trap" in which a motorist thinks he's being courteous, but in reality he's putting himself in danger, and ultimately me too if a vehicle rounds the corner from the other direction and finds this F-150 stopped across his lane. I don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity while those two drivers sort out what to do. A cyclist is a much softer option for a driver to hit rather than T-boning (or being T-boned by) another vehicle.
In the end, no other vehicle comes along, but as I ride in front of the Ford, I give him The Shrug and ask him if he WANTS to be T-boned (with the hands making the "Time Out" signal). So, then the Ford pulls in behind me, and we come to a stop at the next traffic signal. He rolls down his passenger window and the exchange goes something like:
Me: "Come on! Why'd you stop in the intersection like that? You wanna get T-boned?"
Him: "Okay, next time I'll hit you."
Me: "No, I was way over in the bike lane; there was plenty of room! Either go or don't!"
Him: "I'm a cyclist too! I was giving you room."
Yes, the driver is wearing Lycra. He must've driven to the parking lot to start his ride.
Me, as the light turns green and he drives off: "Okay, thanks, I appreciate it."
At this point, I realize my point has been completely missed. What I'm trying to tell the guy is, if you can't complete your motion through an intersection right away, don't enter it in the first place! If you do, you're liable to get stuck in the middle of it and cause gridlock (at best) or get nailed (at worst). The one exception to this I can think of is waiting to make a left turn at a permissive signal ("left turn yield on green ball") while oncoming traffic is passing through the intersection. This puts you in a position to clear the intersection quicker at the end of the cycle or when there's a suitable gap in traffic.
Another good example of the politeness trap: Multi-lane road, say 2 lanes in each direction, traffic is backed up at a signal such that it almost blocks a driveway. Driver in the right lane stops short and waves out the driver waiting in the driveway. The idiot who accepts this invitation then pulls out and gets vaporized by the guy whizzing through in the left lane. D'oh.
Today's song: "Purgatory" by Assemblage 23
It seems that, at least once on every ride, I see something that makes me frown and shake my head. Maybe it's someone driving in the bike lane or doing a "third-gear stop" (Did you willfully disobey the big red octagonal sign, or are you merely not paying attention? Okay, maybe I rolled through it too, but I have to do more than point my right toe to get going again).
Sometimes, if that "something" happens quite close to me, that frown is followed by a shout and an exaggerated "WTF?" shrug.
If it's a motorist who ticks me off, I'm gonna let him have it. Of course, said motorist typically motors off without any meaningful exchange having taken place. On occasion, an inconvenience like traffic or a red traffic signal causes that motorist to sit still for long enough that I can have a chance to express myself. Today was one of those times.
I was going past Cherry Creek State Park on Dayton. To my left was Cherry Creek High School. In this area, Dayton is one lane plus a bike lane in each direction, with the two directions of traffic separated by a raised median. Approaching a gentle left curve, I can see a pickup pulling out of the school parking lot. Rather, he creeps out of the lot and sits blocking the opposite lane waiting for me to pass. It's the classic "politeness trap" in which a motorist thinks he's being courteous, but in reality he's putting himself in danger, and ultimately me too if a vehicle rounds the corner from the other direction and finds this F-150 stopped across his lane. I don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity while those two drivers sort out what to do. A cyclist is a much softer option for a driver to hit rather than T-boning (or being T-boned by) another vehicle.
In the end, no other vehicle comes along, but as I ride in front of the Ford, I give him The Shrug and ask him if he WANTS to be T-boned (with the hands making the "Time Out" signal). So, then the Ford pulls in behind me, and we come to a stop at the next traffic signal. He rolls down his passenger window and the exchange goes something like:
Me: "Come on! Why'd you stop in the intersection like that? You wanna get T-boned?"
Him: "Okay, next time I'll hit you."
Me: "No, I was way over in the bike lane; there was plenty of room! Either go or don't!"
Him: "I'm a cyclist too! I was giving you room."
Yes, the driver is wearing Lycra. He must've driven to the parking lot to start his ride.
Me, as the light turns green and he drives off: "Okay, thanks, I appreciate it."
At this point, I realize my point has been completely missed. What I'm trying to tell the guy is, if you can't complete your motion through an intersection right away, don't enter it in the first place! If you do, you're liable to get stuck in the middle of it and cause gridlock (at best) or get nailed (at worst). The one exception to this I can think of is waiting to make a left turn at a permissive signal ("left turn yield on green ball") while oncoming traffic is passing through the intersection. This puts you in a position to clear the intersection quicker at the end of the cycle or when there's a suitable gap in traffic.
Another good example of the politeness trap: Multi-lane road, say 2 lanes in each direction, traffic is backed up at a signal such that it almost blocks a driveway. Driver in the right lane stops short and waves out the driver waiting in the driveway. The idiot who accepts this invitation then pulls out and gets vaporized by the guy whizzing through in the left lane. D'oh.
Today's song: "Purgatory" by Assemblage 23
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