I was looking to duplicate my 1 hour 50 minute finish time and was on pace to do that until mile 11.4 when I alerted a kid up ahead twice that I was passing on his left. For whatever reason he moved left as I was approaching him very fast and had to sit up and get on my brakes as fast as possible. As I made an attempt to move around his right side since he seemed dedicated to going left he pulled back to the right and I face planted him in the back making every attempt to stay on my feet since about 8 inches more to the right was about a 50 degree slope downward into the dry river runoff thing that runs all the way to the beach. I didn't want to be sliding down that thing. So I ended up slamming my head into his back as I grabbed more brake and slid. Today when I took a shower I counted no less than 7 painful bruises as a result of the collision. I also can't really fault the kid as much as I did at the time because I would have had no problem passing him on the left even when he moved over. The reason I couldn't?... Well there were about high school aged kids that felt it was totally appropriate to sit on the side of the bike path and leave their bikes parked on their sides halfway into the left bike lane. I couldn't pass on the left with bikes in the way. Needless to say, quite a bit of shouting came out of my mouth as I was seriously angry. That's one thing I can't stand about cooler days, it brings out all types of riders and many of them pose a risk to the more experienced ones because they don't ride predictably...or take a rest stop in a SENSIBLE location! I had to stop about .4 miles later with a totally flat tire which was no big deal except I was carrying a spare tube that didn't have a long enough valve stem for my aero wheels. Stupid me. I still managed to finish the 20.5 mile ride back in 55 minutes so it wasn't a total loss.
On another note, July 4th brought about some rather frustrating news. Some riders were out in the Brentwood area on a ride through one of the mountains. To keep the story short, some emergency room doctor who has a history of harassing cyclists and putting them in harms way sent two to the hospital. One with very bad injuries and the other with minor scrapes as I heard on the radio. Rather than retelling the story I'll provide the links to read.
This is an email I received from the LA County Bicycle Coalition:
Road Rage on Mandeville - Latest News
______________________________L.A.'s cycling community is rallying around the issue of improving cyclist-motorist relations following a shocking road rage incident on Mandeville Canyon Road on the 4th of July. On a day when hundreds of cyclists enjoyed the 5 mile climb and meandering descent of the two-lane residential road, upper Mandeville resident Dr. Christopher T. Thompson, a motorist with a police-documented history of harassing cyclists on Mandeville, came up behind two Cynergy riders honking and yelling out of his car, passed them closely and then slammed on his brakes right in front of them, causing serious injuries to both. Dr. Thompson was arrested by LAPD at the scene.
The case is being handled by the District Attorney's office, and LACBC has learned that the multiple felony charges filed against Dr. Thompson today could land the 59-year-old emergency physician in state prison for up to 7 years, 8 months, in additional to collateral consequences of such felony charges, which may include the revocation of his medical license. He is charged with Reckless Driving Causing Injury, Inflicting Gross Bodily Injury, and Battery Causing Serious Injury - two counts each (for the two cyclists that he hurt), six felonies altogether. The Deputy District Attorney assigned to the case said he has "no sympathy" for this motorist, and called this "a dark day for Mr. Thompson".
L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl (Council District 11) has called a public meeting, to address residents' and cyclists' concerns about Mandeville Canyon Road and Westside cycling issues in general, on Monday July 14th at 6:30pm at the Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Center at 11338 Santa Monica Blvd.
Cycling advocates, particularly those who frequent Mandeville Canyon, are encouraged to attend. This is a good way for you to get involved, and to bring L.A.'s cycling community together for the very important cause of safety on our roadways.
All of us at LACBC wish Ron and Christian, the two cyclists injured in this horrible incident, a complete and speedy recovery! And we will continue to follow this case to see that this kind of illegal, dangerous road rage behavior is appropriately punished.
Jennifer Klausner
Executive Director
********************************************
Here are few updates to the story...
http://laist.com/2008/07/07/
http://laist.com/2008/07/07/
http://laist.com/2008/07/11/
It's very unfortunate that something like this has to happen before people wake up and realize that cyclists have rights too. It's all too often I hear about people being knocked off their bikes, run off the road, cut off, etc. and police departments virtually do nothing about it.
With the rise in gas prices and more people populating the roadways on bikes, at least something is finally looking to get done.
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