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I don't know if it's the intent or not, but in all the trailers for that new show Almost Human, Karl Urban (the human) and Michael Ealy (the android) have a fascinating sexual tension going on.
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I'm pretty sure my post title is already being made into a Troma movie. Oh well.
We have a very bike friendly community here in Palo Alto/Stanford. I think our community might be a little bit too friendly to bikes, sometimes. So many of the cyclists here are absolutely terrible at biking! I'm constantly avoiding people who've run stop-signs (because they don't seem to believe that those apply to bikers); veering to avoid bikers who suddenly spring from out of a foliage-hidden pedestrian path; or doing a sudden stop to help out those poor souls who have decided to pass me... directly into oncoming traffic. Sigh. And don't get me started about cyclists who think that the sidewalk is a good place to bike...
Last week, I was reminded about just how bad our cyclists are. I was heading towards downtown Palo Alto, heading up Palm Drive (so named, you will be startled to learn, because of the palm trees lining it). For those who don't know this road, it has double-sized sidewalks on either side, divided half into bike lanes and half into pedestrian lanes. The bike lane is on the left side of the walk, the pedestrian lane on the right. The theory is that the bikers will flow with traffic on either side of Palm. In practice, cyclists assume that both lanes are theirs, with the the two lanes serving as alternate flows of traffic. The upshot of this is that when you're in the bike lane, you're dodging a lot of cyclists who're coming straight at you and you're doing it while trying not to run down the poor pedestrians who are caught in the ensuing crossfire. This is normal. This is what happens on a day that ends in 'y'. I've gotten very good at this little dance. But then, the world decided to throw me a curve-ball.
As I was cycling down Palm, I see a biker coming towards me. Typical, I thought. Just another student who's never looked at the lines painted on the ground. Then she veers into the middle of the walk. I figure that this means that she's spotted me and is making way (which would be a first!), so I maintain my course. She's going a bit slowly, so I feel confident that even if she's not getting out of my way, I can adapt.
Then she swerves back into my lane, aiming right for me. This gives me a moment's pause. This isn't really what I think she wants to happen. I'm pretty sure we both outgrew the game of Chicken at age eight. I get ready to move to the right side to let her get past me.
Which is when she swerves back into the middle of the walk. We're getting close now and I'm feeling a bit concerned about what she's doing. So I look up at the biker rather than the bike... oh crap. She's not looking at the road. She's instead looking down at her iPhone, scrolling through something. Music, I suspect, since she's wearing headphones that prevent her from hearing my first shout of 'stop!'.
I hit the brakes as fast as I can, just as she veers right back into my lane. There's no way I can get to the right without getting broadsided. I yell 'stop' again as I turn the bike so I'll have some nice, soft foliage to fall into. She hears that one, looks startled and then rams me, though at a more glancing angle than if I'd tried to break right. As I expected, the impact is hard enough that I topple over, but land in soft dirt rather than onto hard pavement.
That's a new one, fellow cyclists! Thank you for keeping me guessing!
The impact managed to jar my rear brake bracket so that it was stuck against the back tire. I spent a little while bending the metal until I got it back to its old position. I was able to ride (and brake!) after that, though I'm going to be taking my brand new bike in to the shop to get it looked at. Sigh.
We have a very bike friendly community here in Palo Alto/Stanford. I think our community might be a little bit too friendly to bikes, sometimes. So many of the cyclists here are absolutely terrible at biking! I'm constantly avoiding people who've run stop-signs (because they don't seem to believe that those apply to bikers); veering to avoid bikers who suddenly spring from out of a foliage-hidden pedestrian path; or doing a sudden stop to help out those poor souls who have decided to pass me... directly into oncoming traffic. Sigh. And don't get me started about cyclists who think that the sidewalk is a good place to bike...
Last week, I was reminded about just how bad our cyclists are. I was heading towards downtown Palo Alto, heading up Palm Drive (so named, you will be startled to learn, because of the palm trees lining it). For those who don't know this road, it has double-sized sidewalks on either side, divided half into bike lanes and half into pedestrian lanes. The bike lane is on the left side of the walk, the pedestrian lane on the right. The theory is that the bikers will flow with traffic on either side of Palm. In practice, cyclists assume that both lanes are theirs, with the the two lanes serving as alternate flows of traffic. The upshot of this is that when you're in the bike lane, you're dodging a lot of cyclists who're coming straight at you and you're doing it while trying not to run down the poor pedestrians who are caught in the ensuing crossfire. This is normal. This is what happens on a day that ends in 'y'. I've gotten very good at this little dance. But then, the world decided to throw me a curve-ball.
As I was cycling down Palm, I see a biker coming towards me. Typical, I thought. Just another student who's never looked at the lines painted on the ground. Then she veers into the middle of the walk. I figure that this means that she's spotted me and is making way (which would be a first!), so I maintain my course. She's going a bit slowly, so I feel confident that even if she's not getting out of my way, I can adapt.
Then she swerves back into my lane, aiming right for me. This gives me a moment's pause. This isn't really what I think she wants to happen. I'm pretty sure we both outgrew the game of Chicken at age eight. I get ready to move to the right side to let her get past me.
Which is when she swerves back into the middle of the walk. We're getting close now and I'm feeling a bit concerned about what she's doing. So I look up at the biker rather than the bike... oh crap. She's not looking at the road. She's instead looking down at her iPhone, scrolling through something. Music, I suspect, since she's wearing headphones that prevent her from hearing my first shout of 'stop!'.
I hit the brakes as fast as I can, just as she veers right back into my lane. There's no way I can get to the right without getting broadsided. I yell 'stop' again as I turn the bike so I'll have some nice, soft foliage to fall into. She hears that one, looks startled and then rams me, though at a more glancing angle than if I'd tried to break right. As I expected, the impact is hard enough that I topple over, but land in soft dirt rather than onto hard pavement.
That's a new one, fellow cyclists! Thank you for keeping me guessing!
The impact managed to jar my rear brake bracket so that it was stuck against the back tire. I spent a little while bending the metal until I got it back to its old position. I was able to ride (and brake!) after that, though I'm going to be taking my brand new bike in to the shop to get it looked at. Sigh.
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