Dear Editor:
I'd like to thank the group of five cyclists who stopped and helped pick me up off the concrete on the northbound sidewalk of the (Second Narrows Ironworkers Memorial) bridge this Sunday (Sept. 28). I was laying bruised and bloodied, my bike thrashed, when two very nice cyclists helped me up as I came around after being a bit dazed. I had been cycling northward on the bridge to work as I do every day, and due to sidewalk reconstruction on the northbound side, all pedestrian traffic must use the sidewalk on the southbound side. For the last year this has been a bit of an annoyance to all cyclists crossing the bridge as the sidewalk is little more than a metre wide. When two cyclists meet, one yields to the other; often there is hardly room to spare when two bikes pass each other. At the north end of the bridge's sidewalk there are a few metal expansion seams that require attention as you get bumped around by the gaps.
Cue to this Sunday as I rode down the bridge to North Vancouver, looking down at the expansion joints as I bunny hopped over them, all the while checking for oncoming cyclists and pedestrians. Unfortunately, people riding their scooters/mopeds over the bridge's sidewalks sit lower than bikes and are hidden by the railing in that curve on the north end of the bridge deck. Hence, how I found myself looking up and in a split second seeing a bright orange scooter ridden by a man in full motorcycle gear heading up the sidewalk towards me. I grabbed my brakes, the rear end danced and hopped all over and as we hurtled towards each other, I aimed for the gap between him and the railing and about all I remember after that is flying through the air and a glimpse of him riding away as I lay on the ground. If you're out there, scooter man, I hope you're OK; I didn't get a chance to make sure of that because as I slid across the pavement you ran away. But to those kind unknown cyclists that stopped for me, (my) faith in humanity is restored.
Jakub Fisher
Port Moody
