Missed connection

[dasgeh]

@Emm 137939 wrote:

I always call something like “I’m passing you on your left sweetie” or something else VERY clear, but nice to little kids. Little kids are unpredictable little creatures, so I always try to be VERY clear in what I say, and slow down enough that I can stop of they suddenly decide to swerve across the lane. I also try to be loud enough their parents can hear if they’re close by.

Similarly, I try to say something like “Just so you know, I’m going to pass on your left. You’re in exactly the right place.” Or something similar. Has the advantage of forcing me to slow enough to get all of that out.

[dkel]

@dasgeh 137947 wrote:

Similarly, I try to say something like “Just so you know, I’m going to pass on your left. You’re in exactly the right place.” Or something similar. Has the advantage of forcing me to slow enough to get all of that out.

I usually try to add in a statement affirming their personal worth, and then establish a college fund for them as soon as I get home.

[creadinger]

Me: Riding north on Beulah Road in the bike lane on Monday evening during my post-work ride.

You: Big-ass Fairfax County fire truck who passed me twice (stoplight timing…) and failed to give me 3ft.

Dude – seriously?! That truck is huge and you drove it with your right side tires ON the white line. I watched you. You were giving the cars in the left lane 3ft. Why not me? The one who’s not surrounded in air bags and steel safety cages and shit. You really need to learn to drive that thing before you take it out for a spin. For comparison, I’ve been passed that close by a-hole dump truck drivers and those guys get the finger. I guess since you’re a fire fighter you got a break, but come on. How about try to be a good example, instead of a bad one.

[Sunyata]

@creadinger 138330 wrote:

Me: Riding north on Beulah Road in the bike lane on Monday evening during my post-work ride.

You: Big-ass Fairfax County fire truck who passed me twice (stoplight timing…) and failed to give me 3ft.

Dude – seriously?! That truck is huge and you drove it with your right side tires ON the white line. I watched you. You were giving the cars in the left lane 3ft. Why not me? The one who’s not surrounded in air bags and steel safety cages and shit. You really need to learn to drive that thing before you take it out for a spin. For comparison, I’ve been passed that close by a-hole dump truck drivers and those guys get the finger. I guess since you’re a fire fighter you got a break, but come on. How about try to be a good example, instead of a bad one.

Did you by chance get the truck/engine number? (i.e. Truck 104, Ladder 112, Engine 206)

If you did (or even if you did not and just know the approximate time and location), please shoot an email to the Fire Chief. I know in our department, that stuff gets taken seriously, so I can only assume it does in Fairfax, too.

[creadinger]

@Sunyata 138343 wrote:

Did you by chance get the truck/engine number? (i.e. Truck 104, Ladder 112, Engine 206)

If you did (or even if you did not and just know the approximate time and location), please shoot an email to the Fire Chief. I know in our department, that stuff gets taken seriously, so I can only assume it does in Fairfax, too.

Wow, the Fire Chief?? I found a generic contact us e-mail form. Hopefully that works. I don’t recall any truck info… but I do know the date/time.

Yeah I can do that. Thanks for the tip. I’ll let ya’ll know what they say.

[oldbikechick]

@creadinger 138330 wrote:

Me: Riding north on Beulah Road in the bike lane on Monday evening during my post-work ride.

You: Big-ass Fairfax County fire truck who passed me twice (stoplight timing…) and failed to give me 3ft.

Dude – seriously?! That truck is huge and you drove it with your right side tires ON the white line. I watched you. You were giving the cars in the left lane 3ft. Why not me? The one who’s not surrounded in air bags and steel safety cages and shit. You really need to learn to drive that thing before you take it out for a spin. For comparison, I’ve been passed that close by a-hole dump truck drivers and those guys get the finger. I guess since you’re a fire fighter you got a break, but come on. How about try to be a good example, instead of a bad one.

I’ve always thought they should have a simulator at the DMV that everyone has to do in order to get their license renewed. First, they go in the simulator as a driver, and as they are driving along, they pass a cyclist. Then, they have to go in as the cyclist they passed. Just so they get an idea what the pass they just made feels like to the cyclist. I think some people who never cycle on the street really may not know.

[creadinger]

@Sunyata 138343 wrote:

Did you by chance get the truck/engine number? (i.e. Truck 104, Ladder 112, Engine 206)

If you did (or even if you did not and just know the approximate time and location), please shoot an email to the Fire Chief. I know in our department, that stuff gets taken seriously, so I can only assume it does in Fairfax, too.

Ok, so Captain Bill Betz wrote back about my e-mail regarding the truck passing a bit too close… below is my e-mail from the little generic form, and his response.

“Message: Dear Fairfax Fire Officials,

On Monday evening (4/11) approximately 5:50pm, I was riding my bike in the bike lane northbound on Beulah Rd near Morning View Ln when a fire truck passed me very close. Much closer than the three feet that is mandated by VA law. Due to a backup of vehicle traffic at a stoplight, the truck actually passed me twice in this manner. I don’t recall any names or numbers on the truck, but given the size of it I considered the passes to be quite dangerous to a bicyclist like myself. The truck was basically driving on the right most white line of vehicle lanes when they could easily have moved left a few feet to give me a little breathing room. I would hope that in the future Fairfax City officials including the emergency responders would act as good examples of driver behavior. Not bad. Thank you for your time and attention.

Submitted By: Chris Readinger”

“Mr. Readinger,

Thank you for taking the time to provide your concern to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) about the driving behavior that you observed and I apologize that this event occurred compelling you to contact us. The vision of our department encompasses dedication to being a premier community-focused Fire and Rescue Department ensuring a safe environment to everyone. We strive to ensure our personnel are meeting our everyday standards to provide outstanding service to our county residents and visitors.

I have passed this information on to the Shift Deputy Fire Chief in charge of the personnel on the day in question. They will work to identify the crew that was on duty this day and speak with them about the concerns you brought forward ensuring an understanding of the need to share the road in a safe manner with cyclists.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and thanks again for taking the time to bring your concern to forward.

Have a good day.

Bill”

Overall, a good response. As you said, they seem to take this stuff seriously. And while I definitely wouldn’t call the driving erratic or especially dangerous in a general sense, but given the size of the truck, one minor error by either him or me, and I’d be dead. So thanks for the tip. Beulah is one of the few suburban highways which is a viable bike route south of Alexandria, so it’s important that we keep it safe enough to use.

I’ll write back a thank you e-mail.

[Sunyata]

@creadinger 138391 wrote:

Overall, a good response. As you said, they seem to take this stuff seriously. And while I definitely wouldn’t call the driving erratic or especially dangerous in a general sense, but given the size of the truck, one minor error by either him or me, and I’d be dead. So thanks for the tip. Beulah is one of the few suburban highways which is a viable bike route south of Alexandria, so it’s important that we keep it safe enough to use.

I’ll write back a thank you e-mail.

Glad that you got a positive response.

[Overtone]

So… today next to the Dept of Agriculture downtown I rode behind this guy for a block or so. Nice bicycle: drop handlebars, solid rear wheel, cyclocomputer, fancy black and white graphics, looks expensive. The guy doesn’t match the bike: open cloth jacket flapping in the wind, long pants, clothes not nice enough to be “I’m commuting home from the office” (plus no retaining band on his right pants leg). Then I notice: pedals are designed for clips but he’s in sneakers. Also, the seat is too high for him, he has to stand over the crossbar to pedal. At this point I’m like, WTF, am I seeing a bike being stolen?

It would have taken 45 seconds or more to stop, fish my cell phone out of my backpack, and wake it up to take a picture. He would have been long gone. I didn’t know what to do.

Posting this note on the forum to (a) hope that no one shouts in agony THAT WAS MY BIKE (b) solicit ideas for what you would do in this situation (c) give everyone a chance to remember the time they had to borrow a friend’s bike for an emergency trip and they looked just like that when riding it and how dare I cast aspersions on another cyclist for failing to wear $600 worth of kit

John

[baiskeli]

@Overtone 138405 wrote:

So… today next to the Dept of Agriculture downtown I rode behind this guy for a block or so. Nice bicycle: drop handlebars, solid rear wheel, cyclocomputer, fancy black and white graphics, looks expensive. The guy doesn’t match the bike: open cloth jacket flapping in the wind, long pants, clothes not nice enough to be “I’m commuting home from the office” (plus no retaining band on his right pants leg). Then I notice: pedals are designed for clips but he’s in sneakers. Also, the seat is too high for him, he has to stand over the crossbar to pedal. At this point I’m like, WTF, am I seeing a bike being stolen?

It would have taken 45 seconds or more to stop, fish my cell phone out of my backpack, and wake it up to take a picture. He would have been long gone. I didn’t know what to do.

Posting this note on the forum to (a) hope that no one shouts in agony THAT WAS MY BIKE (b) solicit ideas for what you would do in this situation (c) give everyone a chance to remember the time they had to borrow a friend’s bike for an emergency trip and they looked just like that when riding it and how dare I cast aspersions on another cyclist for failing to wear $600 worth of kit

John

I can think of another possible reason, because I might have the same situation today. My bike is in the show and I may pick it up today on the way home from work in my work clothes. I even forgot a pants leg strap.

But your question is a good one – what do you do in that situation?

[Steve O]

@Overtone 138405 wrote:

So… today next to the Dept of Agriculture downtown I rode behind this guy for a block or so. Nice bicycle: drop handlebars, solid rear wheel, cyclocomputer, fancy black and white graphics, looks expensive. The guy doesn’t match the bike: open cloth jacket flapping in the wind, long pants, clothes not nice enough to be “I’m commuting home from the office” (plus no retaining band on his right pants leg). Then I notice: pedals are designed for clips but he’s in sneakers. Also, the seat is too high for him, he has to stand over the crossbar to pedal. At this point I’m like, WTF, am I seeing a bike being stolen?

It would have taken 45 seconds or more to stop, fish my cell phone out of my backpack, and wake it up to take a picture. He would have been long gone. I didn’t know what to do.

Posting this note on the forum to (a) hope that no one shouts in agony THAT WAS MY BIKE (b) solicit ideas for what you would do in this situation (c) give everyone a chance to remember the time they had to borrow a friend’s bike for an emergency trip and they looked just like that when riding it and how dare I cast aspersions on another cyclist for failing to wear $600 worth of kit

John

You could be “friendly” and make a comment and ask some friendly questions about the bike. Like, “Hey, what kind of computer is that? Do you like it? Where did you get it?” At least that way you could probably ascertain what was really going on. At the same time you could try to get a better mental description if you then decided to follow up with the police.

And… “How long have you had this bike?” If he answers, “About 10 minutes” that would be a dead giveaway.

[baiskeli]

@Steve O 138452 wrote:

You could be “friendly” and make a comment and ask some friendly questions about the bike. Like, “Hey, what kind of computer is that? Do you like it? Where did you get it?” At least that way you could probably ascertain what was really going on. At the same time you could try to get a better mental description if you then decided to follow up with the police.

And… “How long have you had this bike?” If he answers, “About 10 minutes” that would be a dead giveaway.

Uh, Detective Steve O, what if he just bought it ten minutes ago? Huh? Huh?

By the way, I might still move next door to you so I can taunt you every day.

[Tim Kelley]

@Overtone 138405 wrote:

give everyone a chance to remember the time they had to borrow a friend’s bike for an emergency trip and they looked just like that when riding it and how dare I cast aspersions on another cyclist for failing to wear $600 worth of kit

I have a friend of Latino heritage who says he frequently gets hassled by police when he’s riding in street clothes. When he tells them he has a fancy bike because he manages a local bike shop they usually let him go without too much side eye.

But yeah, an ill fitting bicycle does make one pause.

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 138456 wrote:

Uh, Detective Steve O, what if he just bought it ten minutes ago? Huh? Huh?

By the way, I might still move next door to you so I can taunt you every day.

A friend of mine who races picked up his new road bike wearing street clothes and riding his beater bike. While he was riding through Gtown, riding the beater and guiding the road bike, he was stopped by police. Unfortunately, they detained him for about an hour before finally heeding his plea to just go to the shop an ask. People get a good laugh about it, but it was pretty annoying at the time.

[Tim Kelley]

Should have been riding the road bike and ghosting the beater! Better to have to let go of the cheaper bike if needs be.

[Author]

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