Much too close

On June 11 this year, as some of my readers might remember, I was out for a ride on 22x. I would have ridden through the intersection of Woodvalley Gate and 130 Ave, about 5:45 or so. I ride through this intersection almost every ride.

On June 29th, I was through it again about the same time. There was a race in between, so I wasn't riding as much as I normally would have been.

That intersection looks like this. It's a nice downhill in the direction of the arrow. It is wide open and clear, with no obstructing trees or bushes.

On June 24 this year, about 5:45, at that intersection, near the red arrow, this happened. Here's a link to the story, for as long as the Herald has it.

A long time ago, a car / cyclist collision was just another news story for me, one of many. Then I started riding, and those news stories became people that I knew, or that I knew of, or were friends of friends. I've heard many stories that didn't make the news, stories of cyclists being forced off the road, of having objects hurled at them, verbal abuse or worse. It's oh so brave of a driver in a 2 ton car to be playing chicken with a cyclist, or abuse them and speed away. Lower Springbank road is notorious for that sort of thing.

This is in my neighbourhood, maybe 2 K from my house, so I often run through that intersection, not just ride. I think I've seen Allen on his bike. It might have been one of my neighbours that hit him, and then just left him in the street. I don't like to think about that. I suppose he is fortunate that the driver didn't actually run over him, if it happened at the turn like they think. If the driver was on the phone he might never have noticed.

This is a fairly busy intersection so it wouldn't have been long till someone else came by, and I'm glad someone did. I hope someone saw it and reports it, even if they didn't realize at the time what was happening, or saw it and were afraid to get involved. Allen got a wicked nasty bruise around the left side of his torso, and a concussion. It's a good thing he was wearing a helmet. I don't know if he wears Road ID or not, but that is exactly the reason why I do.

At this point, nobody but the driver knows his or her side of the story, if in fact they even realize they hit someone. It would not astonish me if they read the story, and said to themselves, gee, I hope they get that bastard, while never knowing how their mirror got broken or bent. Maybe they were on the phone, or looking at a map, or arguing with their kids, or were impaired somehow. Unless they man up, or someone comes forward, we will never know. That must be horrible for Allen, wondering if that truck passing him today is the one that hit him, or if that driver lives a few doors down from him.

Just another thing to think about, for both drivers and cyclists. It's almost enough to make me get one of those mini cameras, and mount it on my bike so there is a record of who comes up behind me.

I've ranted about drivers before, but at the moment I'm too heartsick to give that jerk the blog lashing that is so well deserved. What does it take to get drivers to pay attention to the task at hand, that is, safely driving their weapon to the intended destination? Events like this I can understand why people want the CCTV cameras everywhere.

In other news, today was active in terms of house chores. My lawn is a mess with weeds and crap, and I'm not a fan of dumping poison on it. Anybody know of someone that does xeriscaping? I'm tempted to having someone come in with a bobcat and take the entire lawn away outside the flower boxes, and the flower box dirt as well. Then put down about a mile of weed proof landscape fabric and a few tons of nice gravel with decorative rocks, with maybe a few more flower boxes for variety.

There was a good session of stretching with some core, including 70 seconds of plank. I am amazed. There is an elbow to opposite knees thing while on my back, that is getting much better. Thanks to Darryl, I found the only massage therapist in Calgary that isn't on vacation. Or so it seems.

So, on IMC day, if you aren't in the race, and aren't at the race spectathaleting, what will you be doing?