AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:

This trick no longer works for me.

On the other hand, I could probably find a place to put the stuff in
my front pockets, and then proceed as if my jersey didn't have any.

Sometimes you have to take your jersey off and none of the shirts
under it have pockets. You can make your jersey into a bag to contain
your stuff.

In this wrap, the middle pocket gets the most protection, so anything
vital should be in the middle pocket. I have yet to have anything
fall out of any pocket, but the middle pocket is redundantly secure.

Hold the shirt up with the pockets facing you, the pockets dangling
down like a string of bags. Move your grip to the sides of the shirt
at the tops of the pockets and allow the top of the jersey to flop
down over the pockets like the flap of an envelope.

Fold the jersey into thirds by folding first one side pocket and then
the other over the middle pocket. Use the front of your body as a
folding board.

Smooth out the rest of the jersey and tuck the sleeves in. Roll up
the bundle of pockets in the dangling part of the jersey. (Another
way to put it: Wrap the rest of the jersey around the bundle of
pockets.)

If possible, put the package into a plastic grocery bag, put the bag
into a pannier, and tie the handles of the bag to the wires of the
pannier. The contents are contained well enough that bungeeing it to
your rack works fine, but the jersey might get dirty.


18 November 2016

Today I had occasion to take my jersey off without emptying the
pockets. But I wanted access to some of the things in the pockets, so
instead of elaborately folding it and putting it and my turtleneck
into a grocery bag, as I'd planned yesterday, I stuffed my turtleneck
into one of the pockets and was careful to pick the jersey up by the
neck when I needed to move it.

Pity I didn't have enough sense to remove my polyester T-shirt before
putting the wool jersey and silk turtleneck back on after the blood
draw -- I *did* go into a restroom to do it. (I'd stripped in the
waiting room.) By the time I got to Oswego, I was badly overheated --
and it was rude of me to occupy the only restroom at the mini-mart
long enough to take off three shirts and put two back on.

Pity the corn has all been harvested.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On Friday, November 18, 2016 at 5:08:43 PM UTC-8, Joy Beeson wrote:
It would seem that riding too far right is a habit that can never be
completely conquered.

This incident was weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to
writing it up.

I was riding west on Arthur Street, approaching the intersection with
Park. When I got close to the intersection, I moved right because I
intended to turn right when I got there. It did not enter my muddled
head that the car behind me might also intend to turn right.

Having been invited to do so, he overtook me and swerved to the right.
By great good fortune he had one of those blinky things on his front
fender, and I was still several feet from the intersection, so
ordinary braking avoided the collision.

I wonder what the blinky things are for? They are life-savers for
cyclists, but it's received wisdom that one protects bike riders by
forbidding them to ride bikes, not by giving them information.

From a report of a recent Traffic Commission discussion of whether to
recommend an ordinance to allow golf carts in Warsaw:

quote

Shuter agreed with Beam, adding, “I’ve been sitting on this board for
25 years, and in all reality I think this is a step backwards for the
city. We do not allow any other off-road vehicles on city streets that
you don't have to register through the BMV like ATVs and things like
that. I don’t think it’s safe – 250 to 300 pound vehicle versus a
4,000 pound vehicle. I’ve focused my entire career on safety.�
He said golf carts on city streets don’t belong in a city the size of
Warsaw, a class 3 city.

Klondaris argued that there are bicycles and mo-peds on city streets
and “golf carts are here.� Shuter said that as far as mo-peds go, the
state has usurped the city’s authority on those; and it’s not safe to
ride a bicycle on city streets, which is why he’s passionate about
side paths, trails and greenways.

/quote


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

Joy dear - when you intend to make a right turn ALWAYS take the entire lane.. We want you around for the longest possible time to nag us.

Joy Beeson wrote:
I was riding west on Arthur Street, approaching the intersection with
Park. When I got close to the intersection, I moved right because I
intended to turn right when I got there. It did not enter my muddled
head that the car behind me might also intend to turn right.

Having been invited to do so, he overtook me and swerved to the right.
By great good fortune he had one of those blinky things on his front
fender, and I was still several feet from the intersection, so
ordinary braking avoided the collision.

This is one of those things that's often specific to a particular
intersection.

Where I am, we have a lot of wide boulevards that include both bike
lanes and dedicated right turn lanes. Often, in the space before the
right turn, the solid line that identifies the bicycle lane becomes a
dashed line, indicating to the motorist that in order to get into the
right turn lane, it's necessary to cross over the bicycle lane.
Accompanying signage notes that if there's a bike in that space, the
bike has the right of way.

That said, years ago, in a narrower intersection (having a bike lane,
but no right turn), I was moving up to a light next to a large motor
home, and he suddenly turned in front of me -- I don't remember if he
was trying to make a right turn on red. More likely the light turned
green (and I didn't see the change). I was pretty surprised when the
mass of vehicle beside me suddenly became a mass of vehicle that was
perpendicular to my path. Lesson learned: go with caution when
overtaking a vehicle on the right, at a signal light...

A place where I rode years ago a place where there was a freeway and a
frontage road, and a major boulevard that crossed both of those. The
alignment of the intersection was such that for a motorist that was
coming up the frontage road and then getting onto the freeways was to
make a left turn onto the boulevard, and then move over to the right as
quickly as possible to prepare for a right turn onto the freeway
on-ramp. For that, a dedicated right turn lane, but no bike lane.

I found that when I was crossing the freeway on the boulevard, it was
best to stay to the center (or even a little left of center) on the
boulevard, until after I had passed the lane for the on-ramp, as a way
of forcing a motorist to cross into the right turn lane behind me,
rather than trying too hard to get around me, and cutting me off.

Smith

On 11/21/2016 7:12 PM, NFN Smith wrote:


That said, years ago, in a narrower intersection (having a bike lane,
but no right turn), I was moving up to a light next to a large motor
home, and he suddenly turned in front of me -- I don't remember if he
was trying to make a right turn on red. More likely the light turned
green (and I didn't see the change). I was pretty surprised when the
mass of vehicle beside me suddenly became a mass of vehicle that was
perpendicular to my path. Lesson learned: go with caution when
overtaking a vehicle on the right, at a signal light...

In London last year, when there was a cluster of bicyclist deaths in one
month, it came out that most (IIRC) of them came from that sort of
situation. Mirror image, of course, for a drive-on-the-left country.

Instead of "go with caution," I prefer to completely avoid that
situation. Do not be at the curb side of a vehicle (especially a large
one) that may turn in that direction.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Monday, November 21, 2016 at 6:55:41 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/21/2016 7:12 PM, NFN Smith wrote:


That said, years ago, in a narrower intersection (having a bike lane,
but no right turn), I was moving up to a light next to a large motor
home, and he suddenly turned in front of me -- I don't remember if he
was trying to make a right turn on red. More likely the light turned
green (and I didn't see the change). I was pretty surprised when the
mass of vehicle beside me suddenly became a mass of vehicle that was
perpendicular to my path. Lesson learned: go with caution when
overtaking a vehicle on the right, at a signal light...

In London last year, when there was a cluster of bicyclist deaths in one
month, it came out that most (IIRC) of them came from that sort of
situation. Mirror image, of course, for a drive-on-the-left country.

Instead of "go with caution," I prefer to completely avoid that
situation. Do not be at the curb side of a vehicle (especially a large
one) that may turn in that direction.


--
- Frank Krygowski

In California you must be EXTREMELY careful of a left turn and a middle lane that is either left turn OR straight. If you get into the left turn only lane you are very liable to be center-punched by a car in the middle lane trying to beat a yellow light. So I ALWAYS take full lanes in that sort of condition. Being polite to cars and letting them run you down are two different things.

I tell you not to ride on sidewalks because it's unsafe, impolite, and
illegal -- but today (18 November 2016) I saw that the light ahead of
me would be red when I got to it, and rode up a driveway onto a
sidewalk so that I could go around the intersection instead of through
it.

The sign saying Heritage Trail made it legal to ride on that
particular sidewalk, but such signs only aggravate the other two
problems.

Rude: there wasn't a soul on the sidewalk, and there rarely is --
this is the end of a trail that doesn't go anywhere. If I had
happened to meet or overtake walkers, it would have easy to avoid
worrying or inconveniencing them. After all, if all else fails, I can
get off and become a pedestrian.

Which leaves "safe". Sidewalks are unsafe because of the
intersections. Since the walkway is part of a beachfront park, there
are no front walks or driveways, and the first parking lot I come to
is the one that I would have turned into had I taken the street -- and
getting into it from the sidewalk is probably safer than getting into
it from the street, because I don't have that wild little dido
occasioned by jumping the curb, and I don't come in at street speed.

(In this town, every driveway must have a lowered curb instead of a
curb cut. Even wheelchair ramps, if they meet a street, have (upon
close inspection) vestigial mini-curbs where they meet the street. No
one has ever suggested a reason for this. Nearby Nappanee gets on
fine without curbing alleys, driveways, and parking lots.)

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On 11/26/2016 9:39 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

I tell you not to ride on sidewalks because it's unsafe, impolite, and
illegal -- but today (18 November 2016) I saw that the light ahead of
me would be red when I got to it, and rode up a driveway onto a
sidewalk so that I could go around the intersection instead of through
it.

The sign saying Heritage Trail made it legal to ride on that
particular sidewalk, but such signs only aggravate the other two
problems.

Rude: there wasn't a soul on the sidewalk, and there rarely is --
this is the end of a trail that doesn't go anywhere. If I had
happened to meet or overtake walkers, it would have easy to avoid
worrying or inconveniencing them. After all, if all else fails, I can
get off and become a pedestrian.

Which leaves "safe". Sidewalks are unsafe because of the
intersections. Since the walkway is part of a beachfront park, there
are no front walks or driveways, and the first parking lot I come to
is the one that I would have turned into had I taken the street...

There are two sections of sidewalk I ride regularly, both about 50 feet
long, both within about a quarter mile of my house. In one case, the
sidewalk saves me two left turns and waiting out a traffic light. In
the other case, it provides a much easier left turn. In neither case
have I ever encountered a pedestrian; but if I did, I'd pass at walking
speed or slower.

The primary danger is, indeed, the intersections, and I'm careful to the
point of paranoia about even the one intersection with a driveway. You
never want to surprise a motorist by coming from an unexpected direction.

But there are other hazards, at least in most cases. There can be
poles, signs, street furniture, pedestrians popping out of doors, bumps,
cracks, etc. In almost every case (including the two I ride) dropping
one's front wheel off the concrete can trigger a crash, since sidewalks
have no shoulders.

The main problem is that the untrained think "sidewalk = safety." It's
just not so.


--
- Frank Krygowski

I'll try to lay the blame on the Crazy Egg Cafe: I ordered tea with
my lunch, as is my habit when I have to skip my nap. They brought me
a pint mug of delicious spiced tea, but about halfway down the mug, I
checked the tag and discovered that it was "herbal", which usually
means that they've left out the herbs that have caffeine.

I'm still trying to work my way up to being capable of riding the
thirty miles to Spring Creek and back. Between the early curfew in
December and the slick roads in January and February, I'll probably be
starting from scratch in March, as has been my custom for the last few
years.

At the moment, the biggest barrier is that I'm out of places to go.
For today, I as able to exploit a back door into the Crazy Egg that
turned a trip of six point eight miles into eleven point two. It's a
pleasant route, but alas the only dish on the menu that looked
suitable for a little old lady who was about to engage in vigorous
exercise was the half order of biscuits and gravy. This was an entire
English muffin (they were out of biscuits; I had arrived a little
after one and the kitchen closes at two.) and at least half a pint of
bits of meat (seemed to be mostly ham) stuck together with white
sauce. This was tasty, but if I don't want the same again, I'll have
to tackle something like a three-egg omelet. I never ate more than
one egg at a sitting when I was young and skinny!

I'm sure that they box one's left-overs, but boxes don't fit at all
well in panniers if you want to stop at a supermarket too, and few
breakfast dishes travel well in sandwich bags.

From there I took 350 W to 200 N, came back by Fox Farm and the
roundabout, sat for a while at Lake Street Plaza, went south on West
Street to Fort Wayne, went to Owen's Market by way of the Beyer Farm
Trail, and came home by McKinley (crossing Center on Cleveland, which
has a light, but I didn't bother Google Maps with that detail.) 10.1
miles, a total of twenty-one point three.

All this time, the temperature wasn't much above freezing. I lost
count of the number of paper towels and napkins that I saturated; I
disposed of a handfull every time I passed a trash can.

By the time I got to Owen's, fishing a piece of paper out of my
pocket, blowing my nose, and putting the paper away wasn't something
that I paid a lot of attention to.

Now I'm always telling you guys that parking lots are more dangerous
than the open road. DO I READ MY OWN COLUMNS?

As I mounted up after packing my panniers with fruit and vegetables, I
reflected that I was tired and ought to be extra careful. DID I
LISTEN TO MYSELF?

I proceeded west in front of the store, going into the oncoming lane
of the aisle so that I could see into the prescription-pickup aisle
behind the stop sign. Then I coasted along the continuation of that
aisle, planning to turn left but entirely unaware that I was
approaching an intersection, let alone remembering that the other guy
had the right of way.

My nose was already clogged with tears, so I pulled a piece of dinner
napkin out of my back pocket and raised it to my nose -- and then
realized that I was about to coast into the path of a car. With all
my monkey ancestors screaming "Don't let go of what you are holding!
You'll fall a hundred feet!" and no time to boot up my cortext, I
couldn't brake. I swerved into a triangle painted "not for parking or
driving", and -- still controlling the bike with only one hand, I
nearly fell off while stopping. I sure hope the driver isn't
acquainted with "The only problem is that cars are bigger than bikes
so we need long skinny parks" Kip Shuter.

As it happened, all I paid was deep embarrassment and a salutatory
lack of confidence during the remaining mile and a half of my ride,
but I could have died of a runny nose.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On 12/3/2016 11:03 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

I'll try to lay the blame on the Crazy Egg Cafe: I ordered tea with
my lunch, as is my habit when I have to skip my nap. They brought me
a pint mug of delicious spiced tea, but about halfway down the mug, I
checked the tag and discovered that it was "herbal", which usually
means that they've left out the herbs that have caffeine.

I'm still trying to work my way up to being capable of riding the
thirty miles to Spring Creek and back. Between the early curfew in
December and the slick roads in January and February, I'll probably be
starting from scratch in March, as has been my custom for the last few
years.

At the moment, the biggest barrier is that I'm out of places to go.
For today, I as able to exploit a back door into the Crazy Egg that
turned a trip of six point eight miles into eleven point two. It's a
pleasant route, but alas the only dish on the menu that looked
suitable for a little old lady who was about to engage in vigorous
exercise was the half order of biscuits and gravy. This was an entire
English muffin (they were out of biscuits; I had arrived a little
after one and the kitchen closes at two.) and at least half a pint of
bits of meat (seemed to be mostly ham) stuck together with white
sauce. This was tasty, but if I don't want the same again, I'll have
to tackle something like a three-egg omelet. I never ate more than
one egg at a sitting when I was young and skinny!

I'm sure that they box one's left-overs, but boxes don't fit at all
well in panniers if you want to stop at a supermarket too, and few
breakfast dishes travel well in sandwich bags.

From there I took 350 W to 200 N, came back by Fox Farm and the
roundabout, sat for a while at Lake Street Plaza, went south on West
Street to Fort Wayne, went to Owen's Market by way of the Beyer Farm
Trail, and came home by McKinley (crossing Center on Cleveland, which
has a light, but I didn't bother Google Maps with that detail.) 10.1
miles, a total of twenty-one point three.

All this time, the temperature wasn't much above freezing. I lost
count of the number of paper towels and napkins that I saturated; I
disposed of a handfull every time I passed a trash can.

By the time I got to Owen's, fishing a piece of paper out of my
pocket, blowing my nose, and putting the paper away wasn't something
that I paid a lot of attention to.

Now I'm always telling you guys that parking lots are more dangerous
than the open road. DO I READ MY OWN COLUMNS?

As I mounted up after packing my panniers with fruit and vegetables, I
reflected that I was tired and ought to be extra careful. DID I
LISTEN TO MYSELF?

I proceeded west in front of the store, going into the oncoming lane
of the aisle so that I could see into the prescription-pickup aisle
behind the stop sign. Then I coasted along the continuation of that
aisle, planning to turn left but entirely unaware that I was
approaching an intersection, let alone remembering that the other guy
had the right of way.

My nose was already clogged with tears, so I pulled a piece of dinner
napkin out of my back pocket and raised it to my nose -- and then
realized that I was about to coast into the path of a car. With all
my monkey ancestors screaming "Don't let go of what you are holding!
You'll fall a hundred feet!" and no time to boot up my cortext, I
couldn't brake. I swerved into a triangle painted "not for parking or
driving", and -- still controlling the bike with only one hand, I
nearly fell off while stopping. I sure hope the driver isn't
acquainted with "The only problem is that cars are bigger than bikes
so we need long skinny parks" Kip Shuter.

As it happened, all I paid was deep embarrassment and a salutatory
lack of confidence during the remaining mile and a half of my ride,
but I could have died of a runny nose.

Yep, parking lots are chaotic. The geometries are often weird, rules
are rarely enforced, blind spots are common, people are distracted.
(See below.)

Yep, being tired adds to the potential for error. Heck, even my
shifting gets a bit more erratic when I'm really tired - at least, on my
friction-shifting bikes.

But the big thing in your case was the distraction. Any time something
takes our minds away from operating the vehicle, the potential for
problems skyrockets. I've seen a terrible crash when a guy dropped his
water bottle and tried to see where it went. I've tripped and toppled
off my motionless bike while trying to mount and simultaneously stuff my
jacket into a bike bag.

I don't think it means we shouldn't blow our noses or drink from a
bottle while riding. But if we combine riding with... well, almost
anything, we need a little angel on our shoulder telling us "This could
be tricky; pay attention!"

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 8:49:39 AM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/3/2016 11:03 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

I'll try to lay the blame on the Crazy Egg Cafe: I ordered tea with
my lunch, as is my habit when I have to skip my nap. They brought me
a pint mug of delicious spiced tea, but about halfway down the mug, I
checked the tag and discovered that it was "herbal", which usually
means that they've left out the herbs that have caffeine.

I'm still trying to work my way up to being capable of riding the
thirty miles to Spring Creek and back. Between the early curfew in
December and the slick roads in January and February, I'll probably be
starting from scratch in March, as has been my custom for the last few
years.

At the moment, the biggest barrier is that I'm out of places to go.
For today, I as able to exploit a back door into the Crazy Egg that
turned a trip of six point eight miles into eleven point two. It's a
pleasant route, but alas the only dish on the menu that looked
suitable for a little old lady who was about to engage in vigorous
exercise was the half order of biscuits and gravy. This was an entire
English muffin (they were out of biscuits; I had arrived a little
after one and the kitchen closes at two.) and at least half a pint of
bits of meat (seemed to be mostly ham) stuck together with white
sauce. This was tasty, but if I don't want the same again, I'll have
to tackle something like a three-egg omelet. I never ate more than
one egg at a sitting when I was young and skinny!

I'm sure that they box one's left-overs, but boxes don't fit at all
well in panniers if you want to stop at a supermarket too, and few
breakfast dishes travel well in sandwich bags.

From there I took 350 W to 200 N, came back by Fox Farm and the
roundabout, sat for a while at Lake Street Plaza, went south on West
Street to Fort Wayne, went to Owen's Market by way of the Beyer Farm
Trail, and came home by McKinley (crossing Center on Cleveland, which
has a light, but I didn't bother Google Maps with that detail.) 10.1
miles, a total of twenty-one point three.

All this time, the temperature wasn't much above freezing. I lost
count of the number of paper towels and napkins that I saturated; I
disposed of a handfull every time I passed a trash can.

By the time I got to Owen's, fishing a piece of paper out of my
pocket, blowing my nose, and putting the paper away wasn't something
that I paid a lot of attention to.

Now I'm always telling you guys that parking lots are more dangerous
than the open road. DO I READ MY OWN COLUMNS?

As I mounted up after packing my panniers with fruit and vegetables, I
reflected that I was tired and ought to be extra careful. DID I
LISTEN TO MYSELF?

I proceeded west in front of the store, going into the oncoming lane
of the aisle so that I could see into the prescription-pickup aisle
behind the stop sign. Then I coasted along the continuation of that
aisle, planning to turn left but entirely unaware that I was
approaching an intersection, let alone remembering that the other guy
had the right of way.

My nose was already clogged with tears, so I pulled a piece of dinner
napkin out of my back pocket and raised it to my nose -- and then
realized that I was about to coast into the path of a car. With all
my monkey ancestors screaming "Don't let go of what you are holding!
You'll fall a hundred feet!" and no time to boot up my cortext, I
couldn't brake. I swerved into a triangle painted "not for parking or
driving", and -- still controlling the bike with only one hand, I
nearly fell off while stopping. I sure hope the driver isn't
acquainted with "The only problem is that cars are bigger than bikes
so we need long skinny parks" Kip Shuter.

As it happened, all I paid was deep embarrassment and a salutatory
lack of confidence during the remaining mile and a half of my ride,
but I could have died of a runny nose.

Yep, parking lots are chaotic. The geometries are often weird, rules
are rarely enforced, blind spots are common, people are distracted.
(See below.)

Yep, being tired adds to the potential for error. Heck, even my
shifting gets a bit more erratic when I'm really tired - at least, on my
friction-shifting bikes.

But the big thing in your case was the distraction. Any time something
takes our minds away from operating the vehicle, the potential for
problems skyrockets. I've seen a terrible crash when a guy dropped his
water bottle and tried to see where it went. I've tripped and toppled
off my motionless bike while trying to mount and simultaneously stuff my
jacket into a bike bag.

I don't think it means we shouldn't blow our noses or drink from a
bottle while riding. But if we combine riding with... well, almost
anything, we need a little angel on our shoulder telling us "This could
be tricky; pay attention!"

--
- Frank Krygowski

What are you doing here Frank? Tired of being called names for expressing opinions elsewhere? You know I can argue with you without holding any animosity. And hopefully without calling names where they don't belong in our disagreements. Whenever you and I argue about something please remember that I have complete respect for you. Dummy.

As far as riding on sidewalks. There are plenty of places where riding on the sidewalk is both safer and makes better sense. Pedestrians may have the right-of-way but that doesn't mean that they have the right to the entire sidewalk as I often see with groups covering the sidewalk so that they can talk with one another.

There is a section of sidewalk that bypasses a one way opposite street on my way up to the ride meeting place that I often take. The only pedestrian that I've ever seen there was an Asian man who collected the plastic bottles thrown out of cars as they leave the freeway there. But with the economy of California so red-hot these days no one is throwing plastic bottles out - they are keeping them for the deposit. So I haven't seen any plastic bottles nor the collector for two years.

I disapprove of making right turns on a stop light and then making a u-turn to turn right again to avoid stopping at a stop light. And I also disapprove of cutting up onto a sidewalk in order to get a crosswalk that stops other traffic because invariably some nutjob will make a "free right turn" despite NO RIGHT TURN ON RED signs being posted everywhere.