The New Hotness

I generally ride somewhat further into the travel lane than some folks would prefer, but I have good reason for that. Here’s how bicycling along Raymond Avenue at 14 mph = 20 ft/s on a pleasant summer morning works out…

T = 0.000 — Notice anything out of the ordinary?

T = 1.000 — Me, neither:

T = 1.500 — Ah!

T = 2.000 — I’m flinching into the right turn required for a sharp left turn:

Less than half a second reaction time: pretty good, sez me.

T = 2.833 — End of the flinch:

T = 3.000 — Now I can lean and turn left:

T = 3.267 — This better be far enough left:

T = 3.333 — The door isn’t moving:

T = 3.567 — So I’ll live to ride another day:

I carry a spectacular scar from slashing my arm on a frameless car window, back in my college days: the driver flipped the door open as I passed his gas cap at a good clip. The collision wrecked the window, the door, and my bike, but didn’t break my arm, sever any nerves, or cut any arteries. I did discover human fatty tissue, neatly scooped from under my arm onto the window, is yellowish, which wasn’t something I needed to know.

Searching for Raymond Avenue will bring up other examples of bicycle-hostile features along this stretch of NYSDOT’s trendy, traffic-calmed design…