Another crazy night for biking in the Burgh

Maybe this blog will end up being my place to deposit all of my experiences while biking??

Anyway, tonight I stayed at Filmmakers late to finish a project for Monday. I was going down Baum and went past a car that was partially pulled into the Wendy's drive-thru. As I approached, one of the kids in the back seat had the door open...and threw something onto the street! I think s/he was trying to throw it at me or in front of my bike!! What?? Who does that? And what parents would let them get away with it? I turned back briefly and gave them an incredulous look (if they could've seen it). They were laughing so obviously it was intentional.

Oh well.

Luckily the kid had bad aim.

Coach, don't sign that kid up to play ball, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn...er bike.

My brush with death...sort of...

...not really, but it was enough to get me shaken up.

I was biking home from Filmmakers in Oakland. I already had a bad night, realizing I had previously only captured video, with no audio...rendering my time spent there useless. The roads were wet and I was flying down Negley to get home. There was a green light ahead at East Liberty Boulevard and I was racing towards it.

When I was about 20 feet from the intersection, a cop car accelerating toward the same intersection with lights flashing suddenly appeared on the perpendicular street and turned on its siren. I hit my brakes, fishtailed and skidding off the the left to avoid what I thought was going to be a side collision. The cop car stopped (slowed down) in time and turned left to go down the direction in which I had come. I really thought that I was going to at least wipe out horribly in the middle of the intersection. I sat there for a second to get my bearings.

I haven't (knock on wood) been in an accident yet with another person/vehicle. I mildly wiped out on the Hot Metal Ped Bridge twice...once from ice, once from taking a turn too quickly on the wet. That's about it. I'm not looking forward to my first actual accident, since I'm sure that's going to happen at some point. Getting doored or run off the road. Anyway, my bike riding has been blessedly safe thus far.

Maybe I should be more careful at night and maybe I should not fly through intersections for this reason, but I don't understand why a cop wouldn't just keep their siren on well before an intersection? It doesn't help when your momentum is already carrying you through what is a solid green light, especially if you are on a bike.

Beauty Everywhere

Sometimes beauty is just so in your face, you have nothing to do but sit and gawk at it.

...unless you have a camera, then you take a picture!

This photo was taken on a Wednesday Wake-Up Paddle with Venture Outdoors.


I swear that these breathtaking images are set before us to remind us that it is GOOD we are here on this earth. Despite how tired I might have felt at 6:30 in the morning, despite my muscles being a little sore and feeling my weakness, despite how crappy I might have felt the day before, despite being splashed with a little bit of dirty (albeit, much-improved) Allegheny River water...there was a beautiful sky...as if an Artist painted it just for those of us who were on the water that morning.

We just need to slow down enough to enjoy it.

Larger image: http://gimppac.deviantart.com/art/Sun-clouds-water-kayak-90504466
More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/pachicka/WednesdayPaddles

Bike funnies...

I found these strips on this page: http://www.thirdwave-websites.com/bike/index.cfm

Gah, I love Calvin and Hobbes...


Someday, this will be true for me...you think I'm hardcore??

Hey this guy kind of looks like a grown-up Calvin...don't you think??

P.S. I got a bike rack!...so now I'm ready for some longer-ish stuff.