The Studio climbing

The Studio commute

Half Moon Bay and Pescadero

Farmers Market and Sprouts

8.7 wh/mi (5.4 wh/km)

I was cold when I left home.  Temperature read 13C, but I felt cold.  So, I dialed back assist power to about 50 watts and pedaled hard to get warm.  It took me a while to feel comfortable, especially with some of the long red lights where I had to wait in the shade.

I rode my usual route into San Jose, but as I passed through Santa Clara I saw that I would arrive late unless I dialed up the power and speed a bit.

As I rode down San Carlos Avenue near Leland I passed a moderately large group of "kids" (high-school/college age) marching on the sidewalk in protest of ICE.  I thought of snapping a photo, but with the bumpy asphalt and the difficulty of shooting one-handed with a mobile phone, I decided not to risk dropping my phone as I made an attempt.

I arrived in front of Frank and Stella's at exactly 1100, but it took them a few minutes to emerge from their driveway.  We then rode together our usual route to The Studio.

I thought we might see the protest march go back at Buena Vista and San Carlos, but I suspect they turned down Leigh and were heading to San Jose City College, not downtown San Jose.

Upon departing for home the skies had turned gloomy, making the 16C air temperature feel cooler than it was.

My ride home went as usual with one notable exception.

As I emerge from Ewart Drive north of SJC onto De La Cruz, I have been riding part-way but not all the way across the intersection when Central Expressway has the green, then pivoting 90 degrees and stopping in front of the right-most left-turn lane from De La Cruz northbound to Central Expressway westbound.  There are three left turn lanes here, and dashed lines between each turn lane are painted across the intersection to help guide traffic through the turn.

Today I made my pivot, and since there was not yet any traffic in the left-turn lane on De La Cruz, I reversed until my front wheel was at the limit line, rather than hovering in the crosswalk in front of waiting traffic.

After I positioned myself another cyclist emerged from Ewart, but he stopped in the middle of the intersection, in front of the crosswalk rather than join me at the head of the left-turn pocket behind the limit line.  By my estimate he was about 30 feet in front of me but still clear of any traffic from eastbound Central Expressway turning left onto northbound De La Cruz.  He had positioned himself near the dashed line separating the outermost left turn lane and the middle left turn lane.

When the light turned green I started quickly as usual, intending to pass the cyclist in front of me to his right as we both executed the turn, since he had positioned himself on the left side of the lane.  But, the other cyclist didn't hold his relative position in the lane as he stated moving, drifting to the right, forcing me to swing wide to avoid a collision.  Fortunately, there was no traffic turning left from southbound De La Cruz onto Ewart as that is a bicycle-only access point, so I had empty asphalt to swerve onto.

An expletive was hurled by the other cyclist, but I kept moving and said nothing.

I don't like to pass traffic on the right side as this is not usually expected, but I felt the other cyclist's lane position while stopped indicated his future line on the left side of the turn lane.

Perhaps he hadn't noticed me in the right-most left-turn lane since by the time he arrived a queue of motorists had accumulated behind me, somewhat masking my presence.  I suspect he wanted to move to the right side of the lane the moment he could begin the turn so as not to hold up left-turning traffic behind him.

So, I am wondering if we both made errors here:  I for passing within a lane on the right side and he for being unpredictable and not holding his line through the turn.  Perhaps an additional demerit to me for impatience, not anticipating the other cyclist's zig from the left to right side of the lane as we all started to move.  I consider myself an experienced cyclist and perhaps I should have anticipated this hazard.

In the past I've often found it easiest to just scoot by quickly before the other cyclist immediately in front starts moving and we're both up to higher speeds. In this case the other cyclist was a good 30 feet in front, not the usual 10 feet as at most traffic signals.

If you've read this far I'd be interested to read your take on this.


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Bill Bushnell

The Studio commute

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The Studio climbing

The Studio commute

Half Moon Bay and Pescadero

Farmers Market and Sprouts

The Studio climbing

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