The weather is finally looking up! A little windy perhaps, with a steady 20 mph breeze from the north, but the temperature of 70 looked good, so after a late breakfast of pancakes I packed up and washed all the dirt off the bike, so it would look new again after all the (radioactive) rain we've had recently. It's a Bianchi Infinito Ultegra, full carbon frame and racing wheels. With the pedals and tax it was about $4k, but it rides really nice and my last bike was just getting too tired after all those miles and twenty years of new technology that seemed to slow it down year after year, or everyone else was just getting faster? Of course even a mild bump at 5 mph would make the carbon frame toast, but that's the trade off over steel.
So with my dried apricots and almonds, tube, patches and pump, I was off. Since it was so windy I used my long sleeve pants and top. It may be a little warmer on the way over, but on the way back it really helps since the way down is shady under the canopy of trees and I'll be going at least 40 for quite a few miles. And then there's the bridge, which is always so windy.
To keep this short, let's just say no one could keep up with me along the entire way, again. I also made a new personal best of 1:24, beating my previous best by 6 minutes. If I take 10 minutes off for the stop lights, the average was 17.8 mph for 22 miles and about 3000 feet of total climbing. The end was at 1719'. The way back was just as awesome. One guy managed to pass me up the last hill to the bridge, but then I caught up to him at the end, just as a little kid yelled out 'Nice bike!', but I was going too quick at that point, and merging with traffic, to answer. I've been riding this same route since the 80s.
I pass the golf course and exit at Arguello Gate to Arguello Blvd, which is the final stretch back to the park, and then to the Haight where I live. We have a nice bike lane there too. Everything had gone perfectly!
So then there's this particular intersection, with a red light and a police car stopped there. So I stop, but as it's a T intersection, and I'm not merging with anyone, and there's no one in sight anywhere, except the cop of course, I start up again and go, thinking this will be interesting, and so it was.
I hear the honking behind me, and then this officer has her window down, and says "That was a stop sign!". I look over and see that she's a young, female, blonde officer, and so I say, "Hey, let's talk about this!", and pull over to chat. She stays in the car to give me the standard authoritarian lecture, for my own good of course, and I'm saying, eventually, that yes I'm sorry, but I didn't really see it as a problem since I have my own separate lane. There's no marking on the bike lane on the street of a white line to stop at, or anything but a clean, straight lane with nothing but bike symbols there.
Her point was "It was a stop sign so you have to stop there." I agreed, but then said that I thought it was safer to then start up again to make sure I was out of the way of cars. And certainly, anyone stopping there would be rear ended by the other bikes; no one stops and waits for this particular light to change. She said I have my own lane to stop at. Knowing the perfect response, at all times, is my specialty. "How about that deputy that ran over all those bikes in Cupertino, they were in a bike lane too."
Then it got interesting.
She gets out of the car, and I see she's about 5' 4" and rather petite, and with a gun, so even I stop myself from saying "You're cute when you're angry", because that would be disrespectful, and I want to keep this focused on the issue at hand, which was, what is the right thing to do in that situation? Of course, when there's a police car there, I know the rules change, but I really thought it'd be interesting to push this particular issue at that time. I think the laws need to reflect the reality of riding in a big city.
She takes my license and heads into the patrol car to run my history. It takes a while. I notice the patrol car has lots of rust on it, and inside looks rather messy. And then I say, "Hey, look at all those bikes running right through that light!". "I'm only interested in you right now" she responds. Typical. So to one of the group I say, "I''m getting a ticket for going through that red light you just ran!" They ride off, and group after group do the same thing, and really, if the police really felt it to be a problem, they could just sit there, or most other intersections, and give out tickets all day long. But they don't do that.
"What else have you been arrested for, Mr. Obsure???". I stay silent, thinking this is pretty strange, like she's trying to belittle me. "You hate cops!" she says to me as she hands me the ticket. She's trying to get me into an argument? I'm not buying, nope, and really, I don't hate cops in general. I think they have a tough job to do, one that I wouldn't want to do.
I read the ticket over and make a correction to the date, and then leave, looking to go over to the intersection to take some pics. I notice she put the wrong name of the intersection down and go back. "That was Euclid, not Clement. You wrote down Clement." "Well, that's where I pulled you over." "Yes, but that wasn't the intersection". She corrects the ticket and speeds off as I'm leaning inches from the door. What a nice day. Totally worth getting that ticket. Now I know they have me in their database as a "cop hater".