Fresno Famous

Cyclist frustrations

I have always been frustrated with these pet peeves previously mentioned and I am glad that they have come to the limelight, per se. I get so excited to see others cycling around Fresno (and when I move up there, I will be joining the ranks). But when I see people biking on the sidewalk, without proper lights, meandering across traffic, and committing other infractions, I get so frustrated. Yes, I understand, many Fresno motorists lack the whole 'share the road' concept. But in this city, I feel that cyclists have to earn the respect of the motorists in order for them to treat us like cars as well. And that means acting just like a car, but not so wonderfully insulated. Once they see how cyclists do the same things as motorists, then they might become more aware and respectful of those on bikes, and make a better effort to share the road. And this mindset then, would hopefully spread.

Better bike education is absolutely necessary as well. Does anyone know if they teach bike safety at elementary schools? That is always a good place to start. Besides my friends, I learned about bike safety from a pamphlet at Farmers Market in SLO. Pamphlets are great learning tools as well.

just thought I'd float this out there...

I'm not into blowing folk's Online ID's when I can help it.

But,,,
I do think the following offier is a good thing, and think my fellow cycle-wrenches don't mind offering this.

The Fresno Free Bicycle Clinic,
(Which has been run by Chris, and has been assisted by various folks, Myself and Tom in recent months,) is quite serious about anybody who is on the road on a bicycle doing such SAFELY.

With the winter months and health concerns, (...yep, we get the flu too,) our sched is a bit scattered, but if you go down to Roeding Park on most Saturdays,
from roughly 12:30 or 1p to (approx.) dark, we will go through your bike and do all within our power to get it safe.

We focus on the following:
-flats fixed
-bikes adjusted
-getting the brakes working correctly
-getting the gears to work correctly
-overall general condition being safe that the thing is not going to come apart underneath you as your driving,
-fittment, (which is actually a big deal when you are riding.)
-We tend not to go into major surgery if we can help it on site, but we've rebuilt entire bikes within an hour or so if need be...

We do have spare parts, and (sometimes,) bikes to swap, and we generally don't sell things, (though if someone wants to donate, that's fine, we operate on donations and out of pocket funding.)

-Our clientel tend to be folks who can't afford to pay much, (with exception of attention, -but that they do,-and also show a LOT of love week in and week out.)
(We get both high end bikes to work on as well as stuff that looks like it needs to be condemned, but refuses to die,)

We all are about safety no matter what, and (along with trying to help folks out,)
We Will, at the very LEAST
-help someone put on a set of lights IF they are brought in.
(This may sound like a small thing, but a lot of folks don't know how to put on lights... that's fine, we can do it...)

-We are NOT in the position to afford providing lights, (half the time we're scrounging for brake pads,)
---but we will do our best to make sure that a bike will roll, turn, stop, and do all those other cool 'bike,' things
---(which means me occasionally telling some guy, '..bro, have a seat, go have some beans and bread at FNB, chill, and let me see if I can get your brakes working first, ---then we'll talk about 18 speeds forward...(!) ---(Nothing like being able to stop.)

So, please feel free to come down and say hello,
(We tend to set up shop right near Food Not Bombs by the entrance to (I think? Playland? Storyland? dunno... basically we aren't too far in from the Olive St. Entrance, just off the curve...)

I DO know Chris and Tom are going to be short handed for a few weeks, as yours truly is about to have his shoulder worked on
-so any of youse guys, (or girls,) who know how to twiddle a wrench, FEEL FREE to drop by and lend a hand..
(bounce me an Email, and I'll get you particulars if you'd like.)

(I'll probably be down there with my arm in a sling telling elephant jokes making coffee or fetching water or something... I dunno...)

But please, if you have a bike that you need worked on, and it's a safety thing, Come down and see us.
We don't charge.
-And we're serious about seeing all our wheeled cousins riding in safety,
(if not style... I'm hella with re wrapping old seats with black ducttape... quite sporty when I do the silver ducttape stripe... ---and I've McGyver'd a whole pickup truck out of zip-ties...)

We fix:
Bikes, (Two, Three and One wheel,) of all types,
as well as the odd wheelchair,
scooter(non-motorized,) and I once bandaged the hose on a saab... (long story.)

Feel free to bring old bikes to donate, as well as BIKE BASKETS, If any of you hardcore roadheads have 'gently used,' tires and tubes, saddles, brakes and parts, or even shagged out bikes that you don't want bring 'em on down, we'll find 'em good homes within an hour or so...

--and dont' be shy about donating BLANKETS, SLEEPING BAGS, and COATS to Jean at FNB either...

happy gnu ear...

-Eric

Everybody's trippin'.....

There seems to be something wrong with many (remember, not saying EVERYONE) of pedestrians, bikers AND drivers on the road here in Fresno!

STOPPING at the green lights, running the red lights, not using the bike lanes, walking in the middle of the street when it's not your turn, like you own the road, driving like you're the only one on the road....

Seems like many Fresno resident's have just said "F' obeying the rules of the road OR sharing the road!" all together.

...but that's another story.....

2 vs 4

i do not drive nor plan to drive again because of my fear of killing someone, especially someone on a bike. i don't drink, am a cautious type, and am overwhelmingly haunted by the prospect of ruining my life or someone else's by not being fully prepared at every single moment to avoid the incredibly bonehead stunts i see from both two and four-wheeled weapons.
i've bike-commuted to work (18mi/rt) for six months now after a total car wreck. The other driver ran a light at 7am, not sober and uninsured. My car was demolished so with the PTSD of that and the gas prices then made me a full-time cyclist rather than recreational.
Since then, my world from the side of the road is even further alienated and i feel lucky to make it home safe every day, despite maybe 10% of my rides without incident.
This is truly the looniest town i've ever shared the road in. So many drivers are either on the phone or eating or are falsely insulated by collision coverage and airbags. Many are just looking for trouble by purposely cutting me down with full eye contact and racial slurs. What troubles me most are the unlit bikes at night, the top reason i don't drive. i can't put myself any longer in the mix of such a tragedy waiting to happen. Bikes are vehicles and should be equipped to be seen by the usually myopic driver. Visibilty is golden and jumping curbs is just plain stupid in Fresno. . Hold your line and please share the road with full conscience, not the sidewalk. Pedestrians have a hard enough time connecting anymore..

Funny the timing of it...

Having missed BikeHop for the first time in a while, and being very into bicycles.... (which I'm going to have to lay off of for a few months, which will feel like an eternity,)
This post comes in.

I can sympathize (sp?) with frustrated motorists when it comes to bicycles.

I can also completely see the points of most bicylcists who feel that we (the cyclists,) have a real disadvantage.

I've not been hit in Fresno yet, (yet.)
Considering I've been grazed (while riding to the far right,) -and having proper lights, I think it's purely a matter of time, I'm just not relishing the thought of it.

I'd suggest this.

Most people who are riding 'regular bikes,' (this would be your low to mid-end bikes on the street --who are not all gussied up in lycra and helmets,
---are probably people who are just one step above being so broke that they have to walk everywhere.
-There are tons of folks who don't have a lot of money who have bikes to ride as their only real source of transportation.
(Ergo?)
Folks who are (more used to,) walking everywhere will (naturally,) follow rules that apply to walkers.
Don't know about these parts, but (usually,) a person walking, is told to walk against traffic on the shoulder.
-A cyclist who does not know 'the rules,' will ride in the opp. lane, ----or not even know that they are supposed to ride with traffic. (They will also cross against a red light, or stop and cross if there is no traffic, same as if walking.)

It's been my experience that those who have the money to go high end on a bike, or are choosing to bike to work, (rather than drive, who have all the necessary gear, ---will be better educated on bicycle safety, and approach the mode of transportation differently.

Somebody who just bought a bike from a friend and is pedalling back and forth to work who can't even afford new tubes, is usually not going to care a whole lot about formalities... They are just getting to and from.

-Because of this?
Common sense and survival will put a person on a bicycle (actually FACING) traffic ---as you will be able to see cars coming up, (giving some sense of control to the situation,) --Riding along with folks coming along beside you and trusting that they aren't going to clip you from behind, ---is a LOT of trust, -and I can't say that it's entirely warranted.
People using this logic, (though it's illegal,) and riding against traffic isn't going to stop anytime soon, I'm afraid.

One of my only true pet peeves would be fellow cyclists who ride with NO LIGHTING.
This is just stupid and asking to die.
This year alone I can think of at least three (recent occasions,) where I nearly have hit unlit cyclists.

Unless you simply cannot afford the ten to fifteen bucks at WalMart (even less is you use some ingenunity,) to put some sort of light on the front and back of your bike, (red in back,) -there is no real excuse.

The fine in this town is (I think,) 150.00 for riding an non-illuminated bike after dark,
-and I think it's a good idea.
Does it suck? Sure.
Do most folks have the 150.00? Nope.
Do I hear a lot of pissing and moaning about 'the cops giving them a hard time? Oh yeah...
But it's a mornonic argument.

Do most folks have the money to put lights on to begin with?
Yep, and if they don't they need to figure out some way to put lights on, (or at least buy a roll of reflective tape at Pep boys or something.)

I saw one guy down in the park get a two dollar pen light, and use an plastic drinking glass (to prism out the light,) made with tape,
--It looked pretty funky, -but the thing worked, and the guy understood that if he wasn't seen, he was likely to get run over.
(He didn't have two dimes to rub together, nor a pot to piss in, but he knew that he had to have lights on his bike or he was likely to wind up roadkill.)
If he could do it? Anybody could.

Tangling up with a car when on a bicycle is seriously injurous at best, and more often deadly. Bike lights and flashlights are so cheap that there really is no excuse.
get a two dollar flashlight and marker the lense red if you have to...

So, buy lights, and ride with your head on straight.

By and Large, I think most motorists around here are a few fries short of a happy meal, and people don't really take driving as seriously as they should.
(Discussing the situation with an insurance agent confirmed something, -This area is rated one of the worst in the country in terms of driver neglegence and accidents.)

(I found this out, discussing it with an insurance agent, having had my full sized 4x4 totalled by a girl in a hyundai who was trying to beat a light and plowed into me a year ago in October.
-I don't think it unusual when someone on a cel phone, drops three lanes to the left or right in front of me, and doesn't even look back I just expect it.

Further?
According to the Bee, (not the tome of undisputed facts, but still,) DUI's have DOUBLED this holiday season compared to last, (and there would have been probably more citations were it not for the bad weather...)
-That's Messed up.

--Hopefully things will improve with the new laws coming into effect where a person cannot be on a cel phone, (at least without a handsfree,) while driving, but either way? When you are on a bike, (or on a motorcycle, slightly more protected and safer, but not by much,)

Finally, there were a spate of high end bikes getting jacked from the riders by people stepping out, clocking the cyclists, and riding off with the bikes not too long ago.

Cycling in Fresno is definitely a good time, but I'd not exactly call it 'safe,' yet.

---You do what you have to do, and need to realize that you are not the favored winner in any vehicle altercations.
When on a bike, you are not only responsible for yourself, but ALSO for everybody else, and you HAVE to act accordingly, and use every defense possible (most car and truck drivers simply don't have to think that way, and, unless bicycling or motorcycling, never will.)

Peeves

I agree with your points as far as that's how it should be.

Sidewalks: I ride on the sidewalk when possible. I yield to pedestrians on the sidewalk; I'll hop onto the road, move to the side, slow down, or even stop if needed. But quite frankly, I don't trust drivers in this town enough to ride everwhere on the road with them.

Wrong way: As far as going the wrong way, I tend not to do that myself, but sometimes it's better to go the wrong way a short distance to get to a less busy (and less dangerous) place to cross the street.

Obeying signs: Bikes are supposed to be treated as motor vehicles, but the vast majority of motorists don't treat them as such. Cars will pass a cyclist on one lane roads where it isn't safe to do so, where as they wouldn't try if it were a car in front of them. Still, I agree 100% that cyclists need to obey stop signs, lights, etc.

It comes down to looking after yourself on the road. Motorists have a ton of distractions (cel phones, make-up, eating, racing), and what amounts to a fender-bender with a car is an ambulance trip for a cyclist (that's why I favor sidewalks). My legal remedies don't do me any good if I'm mowed down by an inattentive motorist and perish. A lot of it is situation-dependent, and unfortunately good judgement is not always exercised.