Bike lift? I want one on 4th approaching Normandie!

Alright folks, time for my very first poll! In Vancouver, it looks like they’re contemplating putting in a bike lift to assist cyclists climbing a steep grade hill. CBC News reported the story; and there’s a pic showing how it works. Apparently it’s a little pedal on a rail in the ground that you put your foot on and it pushes you up the hill. At least I think that’s how it works. Cost to the Canadian tax payer? $1.5 million.

What’s your opinion? Is this a waste of money or the due right of tax-paying cyclists everywhere, like bus lifts for the handicap?

Would you install a bike lift on steep-grade hills in Los Angeles for cyclists?

My Blue Huffy

Stuff I have to fit on my bike…

Also known as Day 4…

Bicycling is unlike driving in many ways, obviously. One of the less obvious, perhaps, is that you can’t take a lot of stuff around with you. You have to cram everything into one self-sufficient little backpack and maybe an extra bag.

Today was a yoga day, so I had my backpack and my yoga mat bag.

As you can see, that’s a lot of stuff to carry around. The backpack goes in my rear side saddle bike basket; the blue bag gets slung over my back. I look like a homeless person carrying everything I own, when actually, I’m carrying very little.

Up way too late…

I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but it’s just a few minutes past midnight, and I have to be up in 5 hours so I can hop on the bike again. That’s another crummy thing about commuting: if you tend to enjoy hitting (no pounding into oblivion) the snooze button, you are SOAL, which I will be tomorrow. =(

The Black Volvo (Day 3 or Day 378–commute by bike)

To start the morning, I thought I’d link you all to an interesting article by Stan Sesser in the WSJ about taking the metro to cultural destinations in Los Angeles. I feel a little scooped, since I’ve been doing this for more than a year, and like the writer, I’m a professional not a “failure”, as he cites is the preconception of anyone who takes the bus in LA. Anyways, it’s an interesting and short little read.

Check back later this afternoon for an exciting post about how I didn’t get run over today!

Update: for those of you in the Berkeley area (or in DC) these gals have written some interesting points on taking the bus in those cities.

Here’s the story of me not getting run over or the story of me almost getting run over or the story of the man and woman in the volvo who almost committed manslaughter. Call it what you want.

I’m on my bike, of course, traveling West on 4th Street, having just crossed La Brea. 4th Street generally ends about three blocks after La Brea, due to the large apartment complex of Park La Brea. The road becomes very narrow there because many people park on the street (in both directions) and there really is just enough room for one  car to go safely. If two cars are oncoming to each other, one usually slows and let’s the other safely pass. There is enough room, but it’s tight.

So as a cyclist, when you are on a narrow road, one of the things you don’t do is hug the curb. Any second, a driver can open their car door, and you’re toast! Also, you’re more visible if you ride in the center of the lane. Also, there is a stop sign at every block of this stretch of 4th. One of the things you’re also taught as a cyclist is that in tight traffic areas, or places with lots of stop signs, it’s safer to be seen–so ride in the middle of the lane, not on the side.

So I’m riding in the middle of the lane, and this guy and his gal in a black volvo (wish I had the license plate so I could call ’em out for this crap), are behind me, and they decide they want to pass me. Now here’s the deal, I’m fine with cars passing me. I mean, I’m on a bike! Of course, you’re going to go faster. But when there’s a stop sign every 20 feet, what is the point of you passing me until you can do so safely? So first he tries to pass me by pulling up alongside me at the stop sign, so he’s basically parked on the wrong side of the road. Since I stopped there before him, I continue to pull out across the intersection, and a few seconds later, so does he. Then he decides he’s REALLY going to pass me, or not. He starts to pass me, but instead of pulling in front of me fully, he starts to bank right, basically forcing me over until I almost run into the cars parked on the street.

At this point, I’m fearing for my life because he’s about to run me over, all so he can pass me. So I yell out at him, “What the F*** are you doing? Either pass me or don’t, but don’t run me off the road!”

Now, usually drivers don’t stop when I yell at them. They just laugh and keep driving. Not this time. They actually stop (did I mention they’re now in the middle of the road, traversing both lanes going opposite ways?) and the passenger (the girlfriend, I assume) says, “We’re looking for parking.” And I’m like, you almost ran me over and your response is “We’re looking for parking?!” Then she tells me to “calm down” in a very rude tone. At that point I actually swore at her and kept riding on. Forgive me for not keeping my temper, everyone. I wish I had said to her, YOU ALMOST KILLED ME AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?! Listen, it’s not that bicyclists are people who swear a lot naturally, it’s just that we almost get run over on a daily basis, and usually the only way to get someone’s attention so they see us when they’re about to mow us over is to yell and scream and wave our arms and, yes, scream a profanity or two. It does help to get someone’s attention if you swear at them.

I wish I had told her that what she and her boyfriend almost did would have been considered at least manslaughter in a court of law. I mean, they’re trying that guy from up in Coldwater Canyon for manslaughter. So here’s my daily lesson for drivers who want to be nice to cyclists: if you want to pass a cyclist, please make sure that you have enough room to do so that you pass them fully before braking and that you aren’t immediately slamming on your brakes when you get around them. This would make me and cyclists everywhere very happy. In return, we won’t swear at you for almost killing us. Thanks! =)

On another note, the past few weeks I have noticed quite a few younger (as in my age) men who are quite attractive cycling on my route. I’m trying to think of various ways to spark up conversation or initiate contact beyond them passing my slow ass in the street.  Submit your ideas for ambushing the cute cycling guys in the comments section, and I’ll try them out and tell you how they go. Heck, I’ll even try and videotape them if I can get a collaborator on my schemes. Anyone up for that job?

Can’t wait to hear all your ambushing ideas!

Day 2 Continueth…

Well, well, well…Tarfest “Marathon”…

So I push myself out the door, crank up the tunes, and head West on 4th towards La Brea. (I’m going to skip over the part where I almost ran over a pedestrian because he didn’t look both ways before crossing the street and stepped out RIGHT in front of me, while I was going at least 15 mph. NOTE TO PEDESTRIANS EVERYWHERE: When you were little, your mother or father or someone taught you to stop and look both ways before crossing the street FOR A REASON! Okay, enough said.)

So heading West on 4th, waiting for the traffic light at La Brea to change and let me turn left and head down to cross Wilshire, but OF COURSE, there’s a marathon that has Wilshire closed off at La Brea. Freaking A!

Rather than bike down to see if I could cross (which, if I couldn’t would make me late to class) I turned around, rode back to Highland, and cut South to 8th Street and across to La Brea. Does anyone know a blog or twitter account out there that lists all the possible route issues for bicyclists in particular?

Well, tonight I need to do laundry, so I’ll update you on what it’s like pushing a massive cart of clothes to a laundromat. Maybe there will be pics too!

Update: I’m in for the night, everyone. I’ll tell you about laundry tomorrow…

Day 2 beginneth…

One of the most irritating things about the metro system or biking in LA is how early I have to get up to do anything. I know 8am doesn’t seem early, but it’s Sunday, and sleeping in a little would be heavenly. But alas, ballet class starts at 10am, and I like to get there a half hour early, and it’s a 30 minute bike ride. Yuck. It’s only a 5-minute car ride. =(

Inaugural Post–Day 1 or 376

This inaugural entry is titled Day 376; however, it’s actually been longer that this experiment has been underway. Below is a short history:

In the Summer of 2008, during what I call my “photography season” (because I have a weekend gig during spring/summer doing portraiture of little children in their dance recital costumes), I decided that, due to the ailing nature of my 2000 Hyandai Elantra, I would attempt to make it to all my shoots without driving, as well as to work, the dance studio, etc. I would only drive once a week, for errands and such.

I did end up driving to a couple of shoots, but I also “metro’d” to Orange County from Koreatown, LA, and did a lot of carpooling. I also began, at that time, riding my bicycle to work (at LACMA) which is  a fair 5 mile straight-shot from my apartment. No biggie, right? Well, in August/September the experiment began to wear on me, and I began driving into work more and more. On September 4, 2008, I was on my way to work at approximately 10am. As I turned into the underground parking garage at the museum, a speeding motorcyclist broadsided my vehicle (going so fast that his motorcycle flipped over the top of my car and landed several yards away). I’m not going to go into the details of the accident, i.e., whose fault it was, etc. (I do believe he was at fault–especially since he ran into me–but I could never prove it in court, unfortunately.) Anyhow, after a two-week-insurance-paid vacation in a rental car, I became one of the many officially transportation-less in Los Angeles, CA.

Well, the experiment became reality. For more than a year now, I have suffered the pains and triumphed in the joys of frequenting the Los Angeles County Metro system and of being a bicyclist trying not to get run over in LA.

This blog has many goals: first, to give others out there who think they can’t abandon their cars occasionally and walk, ride, or take the bus in LA the empowerment to believe they can. Secondly, perhaps my thoughts and daily observations of the trials of the LA transportation system will help (in some way, maybe???) make it better. Third, I know there are other people out there like me: professionals in LA who have chosen to live life sans wheels. I’d like to hear from them and see if we can’t make a dent in the “car culture” of Los Angeles. I have to apologize and say that for me this is not about “being green” or environmentally conscious in any way. I became a proponent of public transit merely by chance and circumstance, although I welcome all those motivated by such trends to comment and join in the discourse.

That being said, I’ll now proceed to tell you today’s transportation story.

It’s Saturday, which means my schedule for the day includes an early morning ballet class and an afternoon yoga class. If I can help it, I bike to both. So, I departed this morning on my bicycle (which is outfitted with saddlebag-style baskets to hold all my dance junk or work junk or junk in general) west on 4th Street. Why 4th Street, you ask? Well, all you inquiring minds, 4th Street between about Vermont and La Brea is a BIKE ROUTE!!! Yea, right? Wrong. First of all, 4th Street winds North and South, versus being a straight West route. So that means, that not only am I biking my ass off trying to get from point A to point B, but I’m being dragged around a residential neighborhood unnecessarily, and it’s taking longer to get to my destination. Like it doesn’t take long enough by bike anyhow.

Second, 4th Street is all hills. It is most definitely uphill both ways. So while you’re pumping and cranking and winding up and down 4th Street, you’re also attempting to best a slow-grade uphill climb as well as steep uphill climbs with what feels like very little coasting in between.

Third, 4th Street might be the worst maintained road in all of Los Angeles. There are not only potholes everywhere, but the City consistently does road work on 4th and doesn’t bother to repave and smooth out the holes they dig in the street. This might be the worst factor in riding in LA. If you thought potholes were bad in your car, imagine no shocks and how potholes wear on your butt. Just saying…

Lastly, because it does wind through a residential neighborhood, 4th Street sucks as a bike route because the idiot residents of 4th Street, between approximately Wilton and La Brea seem to think it’s a smart idea to run in the street on the wrong side of the street. So not only do I have to dodge cars that are going around me or coming at me, I have to swerve around pedestrian traffic on the wrong side of the street. It’s extremely dangerous because it’s possible a car may be oncoming. So I have to go around them and then a car is oncoming and runs into me? Or since I could easily stop or slow down or something so as to not hit the car, what if the car were behind me, trying to pass me? Also, there are bicyclists (stupid adults and their children who don’t use their brains) who ride on the wrong side of the street. So here’s what happens. A car behind THEM tries to pass them and runs into me (on the correct side of the road) because he can’t see me oncoming because of them riding on the wrong side of the street. If you can’t be on the right side of the street while you’re in the street then get on the freaking sidewalk.

So this morning I had the joy of dealing with 4th Street to and from the dance studio on La Brea. In the late afternoon, I enjoyed the sidewalks of 3rd Street while biking to Larchmont Village for a yoga class. Here’s the issue with biking on 3rd: you can’t bike on the street because you’ll get killed by the maniac drivers who, believe it or not, actually passed a driving exam, and the sidewalk is broken up all the way through. Plus, because it is Koreatown, there is a huge immigrant population PLUS it’s an urban area, so you’re swerving around people who don’t speak English and who, for some reason, walk slower than caterpillars chugging across grass and seem to all have hearing problems (no matter how many times I say–read yell–excuse me, can I please get by, or honk my little horn behind them, they never turn around or move over and let me by). Pedestrians have the right-of-way on the sidewalks of LA, but bikes ARE allowed on sidewalks. So for those of you who bitch about bicyclists on the sidewalk in LA, shove it. No really, I do understand why it bothers you. I’ve been nearly run over sometimes by maniac bikers myself. But just as with cars, the problem is not the vehicle but the driver.

On the way home from Larchmont Village, I nearly got plowed over as I was crossing the street by a driver who was looking to his left, and pulling out to make a right onto 3rd. This happens frequently, and I don’t understand it. Why are you looking one way and navigating your car another?! People who creep out into intersections or turns piss me off. They’re not looking, and you can’t tell if they are going or if they are going to remain stopped. Here’s an idea: stop at the stop sign, look both ways, then go. GO! Don’t cause all this drama by creeping out slowly until you’re completely blocking the road for both the cars and pedestrians. Okay, that’s my driving lesson to all today.

While this all sounds negative, here are some positives: I had an amazing cardio workout, and I didn’t have to pay anyone for it. I was outside in a very real way, enjoying the rays, etc. Also, while I complain about the people out riding their bikes and jogging on the side of the road, there is also a fellowship that occurs amongst those who choose to actually GO OUTSIDE! I also see the other “regulars” (cyclists I see on a regular basis) out and about, and I enjoy the short moments as we pass that we smile, nod, and acknowledge what each other is doing. Also, I didn’t pay a dime for gas. So there!

Since this is my first post, any comments on how I could make this more interesting for the reader, things you’d like to hear more about, extra content, etc…please suggest.