[BikeLongmont] Is it the weather?

[Richard Masoner]

A quick reminder that Bicycle Longmont will have a booth at the Farmers' 
Market at the Boulder County fairgrounds this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 
p.m. (or until we get tired). Please drop by to help out or just say hello.

Now, for my monthly rant.

My commute to work is almost always without incident. Today, however, 
there were three bone-headed motorist moves I have to vent about.

1. Westbound on 9th Avenue just west of Pace. I'm on the downhill going 
close to 30 mph. East-bound motorist signals to make left turn. He 
actually has plenty of time to make it in front of me, but it's clear 
he's indecisive because he stops, then goes, then stops, then goes. 
Finally, just as I enter the intersection the motorist decides to go for 
it, guns the engine, and zips through right in front of me. I 
anticipated this and swing into the left lane to avoid the collision. 
This wasn't malicious, it was just poor ability to judge distance and 
timing. Many bike-car interactions are probably of this nature.

2. From 9th, I turn left (south) onto Main Street. I'm riding behind a 
white-haired motorist in a Buick who's going about 15 mph. She keeps 
tapping her brakes, I'm guessing she's uncomfortable with me behind her 
so I drop back. Then she waves at me to pass her on her right. I 
emphatically shake my head no; I have no idea of her intentions so I 
move into the left lane to pass her, at which point she finally signals 
right and parallel parks. This is the more typical case here in 
Longmont, where the motorist is too considerate to cyclists to the point 
of potentially endangering us. I appreciate the thought, anyway.

3. Southbound Main Street, around 5th Ave or so. I'm cruising in the 
slow lane at 25 mph, taking the middle of the lane to avoid the deadly 
door zone. I'm going with the flow of traffic so I'm not impeding the 
other traffic in any way. An aggressive motorist in a hurry (late model 
blue Chrysler Sebring, Colorado plates 335IER, driver is blond caucasian 
female about 30 years old) in the passing lane zips by and merges right 
into where I'm at. I hit the brakes to fall in behind her. I'm wearing a 
high-viz-yellow jacket so she had to have seen me. As is often the case 
with lane-weavers, her relative position doesn't change and I stay right 
on her tail with no extra effort until I reach my turnoff at 2nd Avenue. 
This driver was aggressive and should probably be talked to.

RFM

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