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Saturday, May 19, 2018

Rachel Rents a Bicycle

Dockless bicycles are the latest thing in San Diego. These are bikes located randomly throughout the city They don't require a docking station.You download the app, scan the QR code on the bike, the bike unlocks and off you go. It costs $1 per 30 minutes. Easy, right?

I read up on these bikes prior to renting one. Because, of course I did. I learned that the chief complaint is that these bikes ride with little regard to traffic, nor do many adhere to the laws of the road. I want going to add to that statistic. I would be the most courteous biker in the town.


The rental went smoothly enough. I used my phone to scan the QR code with the app, the bike unlocked itself, and I was off. I was off straight down a hill that had a four-way stop at the bottom hill... Don't get ahead of me.


This hill was (and still is) steep. You know when your going downhill on items that roll or glide and you start to get that "Oh no, I am going a little too fast, but I've still got this"? Yeah, that was my first thought as I was picking up speed quickly. I squeezed the handbrakes harder and harder until it dawned on me, "This bicycle is not stopping."


With a car directly behind me and the four-way stop approaching quicker than I would have preferred, I started to drag one foot along the road. When that didn't cut it, I planted both feet and dragged as hard as I could, thinking, "I HAVE TO STOP!"  as if internally yelling commands to myself would be the difference between my success and an untimely hospital visit. The stop sign grew closer and closer. I grit my teeth and dragged my feet with all my might until I finally I came to a stop - right before the stop sign - much to the relief of the three other cars at the four-way stop who had suspended their morning drive to serve as potential eyewitnesses for the police report that would come along with the loss of control of a lime green and electric yellow bicycle, barreling through an intersection, and finishing with the inevitable crash. .


I am not exaggerating when I say, we ALL breathed a collective sigh of relief when I came to a complete stop. All of this in the first 5 MINUTES of my journey.


The next portion of the journey varied between uphill, level road, and GENTLE downhills. I could handle this and successfully made it to the grocery store.

I placed the bike on the sidewalk, out of the way of pedestrians, and pressed the lock button twice. The bike locked itself and a-shopping I went.

I left the grocery store with two reusable bags, filled with groceries. The bike was still sitting outside, so I figured why not rent it again, because apparently I hadn't had enough two-wheeled adventure for one day.

The first VERY FULL grocery bag went into the adorable basket on the front of the bike. The second I slung over my right shoulder, unevenly distributing the weight and making more of a challenge to maneuver the bike. A challenge, yes, but one I could surely overcome.

Currently, downtown San Diego has at most a handful of dedicated bike lanes. But with the influx of bike riders and it being illegal to ride electric bikes on sidewalks, a change had to be made.Their solution? Paint the bike lane symbol on one of the car lanes, insist that everyone "share the lane" and hope for the best. Do you know how many people I gave the "I'm sorry" wave to as they sped around me? Neither do I because I lost count.

Not only did I wave my apologies, but I also used the power of the wave to indicate my turning actions. As a bike doesn't have blinkers, you use your arms. But any time I lifted my left arm to indicate, the bike would tip to the right as the groceries on my right shoulder embarked on a game of chicken with gravity.

And it wasn't enough to merely gesture with my left arm to indicate a turn. No, no,no. That wasn't enough for me. I wanted to make sure everyone on the road. their passengers, and relatives knew my intentions. So I combined the graceful arm motions of light attendants as they indicate the locations of the six main exits of the aircraft and coupled it with the magic that is Spirit Fingers introduced to us by the 2000 classic, Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union.

I eventually reached home, parked the bike on the sidewalk,  pushed the button to lock bike, and deleted the bike renting app from my phone.

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