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Thursday, December 3. 2009

A Message to Text

Riding your bike to and from work, now that’s being green! Occasionally jumping on the public transit when the need arises, it’s green! Doing a good public deed, keeping yet one more vehicle off the roads emitting greenhouse gasses! Move over Al Gore, you got some competition for greenest person in America.

Of course, there is Ed Begley, Jr. DAMMIT! That Begley! He’s greener than me and Al Gore combined! Damn Hollywood elite!

Anyway, the Trusty Trek and I have been on some great adventures over the years; up and down the trails of Lake Miramar, Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, Tecolote Canyon — not to mention pedaling around Mission Bay and going to and from Fiesta Island for Over-The-Line and the cruises up and down the beach walk along Mission and Pacific Beaches!

That’s when the Trusty Canon gets a workout. One year at Over-the-Line the shutter snapped nearly 500 times! This year I only took about 250 photos, like this one. Over-the-Line, what a great time! Apparently there’s a baseball-like game that takes place, three person teams competing for … err … Hell, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s not why I go.

Anyway, back to being green. Miss May 1998 Deanna Brooks went green a couple years ago, dumping several SUV’s for a Toyota Prius. Met her recently in L.A. and we chatted about that — among other topics. She’s doing more than just driving a Prius, so I salute Deanna!

So, back and forth I go, 3.5 miles each way, although, now that it’s dark before I leave work, I opt to take the bus part of the way home. Pedaling the streets of Mira Mesa is hazardous enough during daylight hours, but at night! Aye-yi-yi!

My friend, el Gato, considers Mira Mesa to have the most clueless drivers in all of San Diego and he should know: his job is to drive a truck throughout the area. Yikes!

San Diego’s transit system has bike racks affixed to the front, making them ideal transit vehicles, that and they use natural gas. During the summer when I would go to the beach, taking the bus (and trolley) was always preferred because trying to park anywhere near the beach was ridiculous! It isn’t so bad now, but taking the Trusty Trek (and Canon) via the #30 bus to Mission Bay Blvd. and Garnet Ave. is still my preferred transportation.

Of course, my buddy John and I occasionally take a healthy walk up and down the beach walk on Sundays and one of the best places to park is an underground place that — coincidentally — is right below our favorite place for hot wings! John drives!

Yes, riding the bus and Trusty Trek has not only been good for the environment, it’s been good for my health! Mostly … Pedaling up the street in front of the condo complex makes me rethink this whole bike-riding lifestyle. It has grades from 6 to 11%. Thankfully, it’s less than a half-mile long.

This past Wednesday though, life on the Trusty Trek took a nasty twist. See, el Gato’s assessment of Mira Mesa has much truth to it. The number of close calls I’ve had boggles the mind. One woman, driving a Ford Expedition, actually chased me into a gas station parking lot after she had to abruptly stop when trying to make a right turn on red — when I had not only the green light, but the walk signal as well.

Yes, I was pedaling in the cross walk. Had to yell to get her attention and this was during daylight hours! Apparently she got mad because I yelled. Who knows, but as she pulled out of the gas station (she didn’t stop for gas) she gave me the finger.

Even in daylight hours I prefer the sidewalks, much safer! But, these days there is construction on the sidewalk along my route, in front of the Mira Mesa Park’n’Ride. So, with extreme caution, I’ve been riding in the street.

On Wednesday though, the hazards weren’t in the traffic zipping west on Mira Mesa Blvd. Nope, on this day the hazard was an Infiniti SUV coming out of the Park’n’Ride. The driver kept inching closer to the street, no doubt oblivious to the fact that his vehicle was actually moving!

You see, he was busy texting on his Blackberry. “How do you know it was a Blackberry,” you may be asking? That’s how close we came to colliding.

No, we didn’t collide because I took evasive action when it was clear he wasn’t going to pay attention to traffic while fiddling with his precious Blackberry. With speeding traffic on my left, the only direction was right — into the curb. Off I went, head first into the sidewalk.

Took a bunch of skin off my right arm and knuckles, a little off my right knee and broke a bone in my left wrist. So now I have a cast on my left arm, requiring me to type one-handed. Can’t ride the Trusty Trek either so now I’ll be walking to a bus stop that is about a mile away — or getting a ride to and from work — until this cast comes off.

That Trusty Trek! Still working wonderfully! Can’t wait to get back on and ride!

Posted by Tim Forkes in Life at 21:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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