Meanwhile, back on the bike

[solarbird]

So just before the pandemic, I got an eBike. People who have been following me a while know that I go on bikeposting benders sometimes, too, so here’s your heads up that that can happen lol.

I also maintain the Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map and MEGAMAP, the former a bike map of northwest King County and north Seattle, the latter a combination of maintained bike maps from difference sources that covers from south Snohomish County to the southern tip of Lake Washington. It’s Creative Commons, you can download it at full resolution and even print it if you want.

Despite my main ride being an eBike, the assist stays off most of the time. It’s on when I’ve really got to get somewhere quickly, for the giant hill home that is the reason I bought the thing, etc.

But! I’ve also been using the assist for a starter boost in busy intersections, when I’m on a car road. I’m not really going faster overall when I do this, but dang, do I get started more quickly.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try not doing that for a little while. Mostly, I wanted to see if I could build starting power, but partly, I just wanted to see what happened.

And what happened is that automobile drivers instantly because way bigger dicks at me, and intersections got way more dangerous. Not because of the speed, but, again, because of car drivers being much bigger dicks about me being there at all.

This included two cases of people driving into oncoming lanes of traffic deciding to get around me, including one trying to then merge into me after doing so, even though when they did it I was at or close to the speed limit.

The difference was fucking stark holy shit is what I’m saying.

A few days ago I went back to using boost to get started across intersections, and it’s back to normal.

I’m thinking that something in car drivers’ brains see quick acceleration as “that’s a car” triggering the according respectful behaviour, even though they actually see a bike. And that those same people see slower acceleration as “get that fucking piece of shit off my road” and also behave accordingly, disrespectfully and dangerously, towards the bike.

This is again despite the difference in speed at the halfway point being negligible.

One woman’s playing around with the world at an intersection does not a study make, but damn, it was, as I said, a stark difference. I do wonder if bicycle messengers all figure this out too, and get a rep for it that – surprise! – turns out is as much about personal safety as getting places quickly.

I will definitely continue to use boost to launch across intersections. I can be faster out the gate than a car, and will absolutely continue to be.

Might be something to think about, either as a biker or a driver of a car.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

Comments

[dewline]

Yikes.

And here is me consider just trying to buy or otherwise legally acquire a bike (preferably with 3-4 wheels and a cargo rack) for getting around my own region of Ottawa. Shopping, caregiving trips, visiting friends, medical stuff, and so on? With the mayor currently on a tear about inflicting austerity upon local public transit...

[solarbird]

The vast majority of my rides are not on these kinds of intersections. You'll note I very, very much keep biking and want to keep biking.

But particularly for cargo I definitely do recommend an eBike.

[cheriwrites]

Your theory about "fitting in" visually as a vehicle makes sense. I'm fairly new to biking in the city and mostly sticking to protected lanes with bike signals. Fortunately there's one on my street, but at some point I'll want to go somewhere with a less ideal setup.

Baby steps for me. Cars are scary!

[solarbird]

Cars are a pain in the ass. I mean, for me, Burke-Gilman has kind of always been there, but I've also been biking since it was basically the only thing there - at least in the U. District - so I've got the contempt of familiarity with it. xD

And I know, I know, I post about it all the time, but for your infrastructure information needs, might I suggest the megamap? It is a free download and you can get it printed... well wherever you want, really. Including at FedEx. It makes a nice poster at 300dpi. ^_^

[cheriwrites]

I just downloaded a copy. A very fine map! :)

[solarbird]

Thank you! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ ♥