Question: As I was cycling on a bike lane, another person on a bike passed me so closely and without warning, that I almost swerved into the curb (at least you hear the buses stalking you on the road). I am new to cycling on North Shore streets and I wonder if there are rules or etiquette for cyclists sharing bike lanes?
Answer: Yes, there are rules, but first let me digress into a story about baskets, dresses and watermelons. Once upon a time cycling made you feel like a lone wolf (or a minnow). Nobody rode a bike, at least not for anything practical like commuting to work, shopping or visiting friends. No bike lanes or Spirit Trails - not even sharrows. Riding was just you and the cars and trucks (sharks). Crossing Lions Gate Bridge was like climbing Mount. Waddington, except you were not roped up. If you fell it would be into traffic or through a hole in the sidewalk into Burrard Inlet.
You had to be strong and fearless (or perhaps foolish), practising defensive cycling and hoping your lone wolf qualities, fear and a foam helmet would make up for not having a steel cage around you. Heavy trucks and buses passed inches from you and cars honked
at you at random because you had the audacity to use public roads.
Even then, cycling meant freedom, a sense of interaction with nature's weather, money savings in gas not bought and best of all, when traffic ground to a halt you could ride serenely by, secure in the knowledge you would get there first.
The secret must be out, because today, in addition to the regular commuter types, we have all sorts of people on wheels looking for their part of the roads and paths. Seniors ride to the mall for a coffee and to shop. Electric bike riders speed stealthily along with flocks of road cyclists in pretty colours trying to ride as fast as the girl in the convertible. Kids ride with their parents to school (yes the parents need educating) while women in dresses sail through traffic on front-basket-adorned bikes.
In fact, women on basketbikes have started showing up on almost every street in Metro Vancouver. If you wear a dress and buy a bike, do they give you a basket? Or if you buy a bike with a basket, does it come with a dress? Or is it just that there is a secret tax refund for women who buy a bike with a front-basket? Okay, back to our digression.
While it's really nice (at least for us Pedal Pushers) to see so many more people on bikes, the fact is that most cyclists are not used to sharing the road with anything but noisy motor vehicles, and there is a huge variation in cycling speeds and riding styles.
If you commute to work, you ride with focus. The sight of killer whales swimming under Lions Gate Bridge against a backdrop of a double rainbow will not slow down a bike commuter who needs to get to work. But, if you are a woman in a dress with your new front basket-bike out to buy a watermelon, going fast isn't necessary since it would probably save you only a minute or two. Unless you're training for a triathlon, it's pretty futile to attempt speed records while carrying a watermelon home.
So how do the watermelon riders and everyone else get along on the bike lanes and pathways? It's quite easy if everybody remembers to respect other cyclists and use common sense and follow the watermelon rules: Ride in a predictable way. The people behind and approaching in front of you must be able to predict your actions or the watermelons get broken.
Pass other cyclists at a safe distance. Remember that you are not moving so fast that slowing down and waiting for a better opportunity to pass is going to change how ripe your watermelon will be when you get home.
Inform people of your intentions. Shoulder check and indicate before turning or switching lanes to prevent watermelon dents.
Cars always win. Do not pass a cyclist if it puts you in danger of being run over by a car. Nothing spoils a watermelon more than tire tracks.
Kids are unpredictable. Expect young kids to suddenly turn or swerve. Make sure they see you before passing them slowly. Don't be surprised if they want some of your watermelon. Tourists act like kids. Not everybody has been riding for eons on the North Shore and knows where to get good watermelons when bike route signs are missing and the bike lane ends where you least expect it.
Leave room for others. If you ride with friends on a path, make sure you don't block the whole width of the path. Others are going the other way with their watermelons.
Get a bell and use it. Use your bell to alert people of your existence and that you have a watermelon on board if you need to pass another cyclist closely because space is limited, for example on a narrow path or on the Lions Gate Bridge. Or use your voice if you can't stand the thought of mounting a bell on your practically weightless carbon road bike and have dieted all of last winter to match your bike's weight.
Don't treat other cyclists on the street like members of your watermelon cycling club. It is dangerous and rude to draft behind others without their permission, or to pass them very closely, or to cut them off.
Finally, make sure you are actually faster before passing someone. That guy in the dress with the watermelon in the basket might be riding an electric bike way faster than you.
Above all, enjoy the ride and make sure others can enjoy their watermelon.
The Pedal Pushers are Dan Campbell, Antje Wahl, Anita Leonhard and Heather Drugge, four North Shore residents who use their bikes for transportation. northshore. [email protected]
