The Carsplainer

"Carsplaining." When someone who never rides a bike explains road safety to cyclists.
— Bike Lobby (@BicycleLobby) November 10, 2014

First of all, she was really trying to be nice, the lady who carsplained at me.

"Excuse me," she called. We were on East Walnut, waiting at the light to cross National. I was first in line, she was just behind me when she made contact.

"It's really hard to see you. You really need a reflector on the back of your bike," she called.

I calmly pointed to my rear reflector, telling her I already had one.

"Kid, that's not enough!" she replied. "It's really hard to see you. You need reflectors on the top!"

And, you know what? She was right. I did need to be more visible. I'm still not used to it getting dark earlier, and I stayed late at work. Cody called once he got home and realized I didn't have lights on my bike, offering to bring me some. I declined, even though I was wearing dark clothing because my ride is on wide, well-lit streets with low traffic volume.

The Carsplainer didn't know how tired I was. She didn't know how insulting I found her advice. She didn't realize I was technically street legal. She had no idea that every cyclist runs the risk of going unnoticed by motorists, no matter what time of day it is, and that's why it's so important to behave legally and predictably when sharing the road with motorists.

She really just thought she was being nice.

We cruised, we brewsed

We finally had a nice, hot summer night for a Cruisin' for a Brewsin. Cody is less than thrilled about the weather, but I couldn't be happier. Bonus: Cody's parents joined us for this ride, making it 100% more fun.

Anyway, we did Dugout>Lindbergs>Mudlounge and then had to get home to relieve the sitter before we could get back to Dugout. A predictably great time. Made some new friends. Had some delicious adult beverages. It was a truly beautiful evening with some absolutely lovely people, and I can't wait to go again next month.

My first Cruisin' for a Brewsin

Finally! I got to go on the Cruisin' for a Brewsin', and it was even more fun than advertised.

I hadn't been able to go until now because I either worked on the evening of the third Thursday of the month, or we hadn't booked a sitter in time. At last, though, the stars aligned, and I got to see what everyone was talking about.

To say it was fun would be the biggest understatement in town. It's a friendly crew; I knew a bunch of the people who went, but met a few new people as well. Everyone was really nice, and riding in a group in town is always weirdly empowering.

We started out at the Dugout, then took a few laps around the square before heading over to Ebbet's Field, and then popping in to Skinny Slim's for an unscheduled visit before heading into Patton Alley. Cody and I peeled off at that point and headed home, but everyone else went back to the Dugout to finish the night off.

It was extra awesome, you guys. I'm definitely going again, and you should, too.

The problem with Springfield

You guys are just way too nice, and it's starting to cause problems.

Just today, for example, I was waiting at a stop sign. It was sort of a tricky intersection - cross traffic did not stop, and parked cars lined both sides of the street, limiting my view of oncoming traffic. I was waiting on one last car to go by before crossing the road, but that one car slowed way down.

And then it stopped.

It had no blinker on, the car wasn't turning. It was just sitting there. I looked to the driver to see, you know, what the heck.

He very kindly waved me across the street in front of him. Srsly.

As I waved my gratitude and started ticking the pedals over I couldn't help but think how much simpler it would have been if he had just kept on going.

I mean, there are rules for a reason, right? When everyone obeys the rules of the road there's a sense of order, and everybody stays safe.

The thing is, kindnesses like this aren't rare. They are, in fact, quite common. Kind drivers - lots of them - have waved me through four-way stops when it was clearly not my turn, have hesitantly driven right behind me when there was plenty of room and opportunity to pass. This stuff happens way more often than encounters with rude, dangerous drivers.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather share the road with super-nice drivers who are extra aware of cyclists and go out of their way to show a little consideration than asshole drivers who go out of their way to harass us. We all appreciate kind gestures.

It's okay, though, to treat people on bikes just the same way you treat people in cars.

Gettin' judgey

The local newspaper has this daily feature called Roses & Thorns, a space where locals can write in kudos or complaints about whatever they want. This is what was published a few days ago:

Now, I'm not young anymore. And our kid is no longer a baby. But she could have been talking about me! I bike our boy to school almost every day. In a trailer.

What this Giver of Thorns fails to understand is that the woman she saw was probably not biking for recreation. That many people rely solely on their bicycles and their feet for transportation. That motorists - however careful those drivers might be - also share the road with inattentive drivers. That pedestrians also have to watch for distracted drivers.

Inattentive drivers are a danger to us all.

We Stringers understand that not everyone is comfortable transporting children in a trailer. We get it. Really. It took us a long time before we were comfortable bringing the Little Dude on bike rides. But we are committed to helping normalize nonmotorized transportation. We want to see more people getting around town by bike. And we want drivers out there to get used to seeing us.

Really, we just want to share the road.

What can we do to protect ourselves from dangerous drivers? Look both ways before crossing the street. Wear our bike helmets. And fasten our seat belts.

Red lights

I was out with Cody, waiting in the left-turn lane at a red light, wearing this getup, when a lady in a car pulled up in the going-straight lane next to us. She rolled down her window and said, "Hey! I like your dress!"

Whoa.

I was so flattered that I immediately made Cody pull over and take my picture to commemorate the occasion.

And last weekend at Bicycles and Brews, I was in the middle of a pack of riders at the beginning of our 17-miler when we stopped for a red light. Rather than wait behind the pack, a city bus scooted up the lane of oncoming traffic and waited there to pass us. 

I sometimes drive, too, and can certainly understand the desire to pass slower-moving vehicles safely, but blocking oncoming traffic at an intersection just seems...less than safe.

Am I wrong? What's a driver supposed to do in this situation?

Stringers on the move

Remember when Cody filmed a commercial? Well, it's finished, and it's awesome. Take a gander. We hear it might be among the previews at the Bicycle Film Festival that is part of Bicycles and Brews.

We knew we wanted to participate in Bicycles and Brews as soon as the event was announced, but got super pumped when we saw the shirts.

How awesome are these?

We hear there was a surge in registrations at the last minute so late registrants to the morning rides have to wait about a week to get their shirts.

Lucky us. We registered just in time.

Anyway, we're pretty pumped. We're doing the 17-mile ride. Since we registered, we found out a few of our friends signed up for the same ride. Yay! We typically only ride a few miles at a time so this is sure to be challenging, but really enjoyable.

Also, ICYMI, I got to write a little thing about biking to work for the newspaper (full disclosure: I work there, too). They also let me produce a little video about my commute.



I talked the people in charge at my office into registering my company for Bike to Work Week, and five people were signed up the last time I checked! Typically I'm the only person who bikes to work so I'll be really happy to see more fellow commuters.

Mine wasn't the only thing about cycling published in the paper this week.

• There's this kid-friendly guide to city cycling
• This general overview of the Bike to Work Week Challenge
• This little thingy about bike lanes

Good folks: The Healthy Living Alliance

We are all out of new family pictures so you get an outtake from our ride a couple of weeks ago.

Big news in Stringer land!

We've teamed up with Springfield's Healthy Living Alliance to blog about getting around Springfield by bike. You'll see us over there a couple of times a month. Here's our first post.

HLA is a collection of community organizations that all want to make Springfield a healthier place by fostering healthy eating, active living and preventing tobacco use. It's a lovely group with enthusiastic people, and we are so thrilled to partner with them.

Talking to strangers

Some nice lady who I did not recognize drove slowly around me as I was headed to work today. She had the windows rolled down on her gray SUV so I could clearly her her shout, "Heeey!" while giving me a wave. Since she had a big ole bike rack on her rig I assumed it was a friendly holler, not a get-out-of-my-way sort of thing.

Bolstered by this encounter and the gorgeous weather I decided everyone I met today would be similarly chummy. So with that mindset I headed home for my break and exchanged a smile and a nod with the guy who pulled up next to me on his moped. Without thinking I challenged him to a race.

Just a friendly joke between two people who don't spend a whole lot of money on gas, right?

Wrong.

"You're sexy," was his response.

That was when I remembered why I don't talk to strangers. 

I should mention here that this is probably the longest red light in town. I stood there in icy silence next to this creep for what seemed like forever. It was during this interminable interval that he asked where I was going.

"Home to my husband," I said. 

And that's where I went.