Ah here we go, waiting to start a downhill run at the top of Alamo Heights
*. I’ve seen this more on Golden Gate, ’round about Divisadero, in an area where it makes more sense ‘cuz bike riders can “take the lane” at speed and make it all the way to Gough with timed lights. Anywho, you don’t see this go slow to go fast approach on Fulton so much, but here you go, stopped for a while next to Alamo Square staring at traffic signals :
So I pass him by knowing that he’s prolly going to pass me in a block or two, so I leave room on both sides of me. But Brocephus isn’t aware of how the lights are timed these days, so he begins his run too early. I think the game is don’t pedal and don’t brake. Anywho, whoosh, above 25 MPH already near deadly Fulton and Steiner.** But then, this, this woman, who could have been going faster on her electric-assist rental but chose not to, spoils the fun by preventing Bro from easily using the bike lane to pass this cute-ute:
So Bro just squeezes through (cause braking would ruin the game) after tailgating a bit, so if the driver of the cute ute braked for any reason, there’d be contact with a quickness. This is a like a racing maneuver like what you’d see in a NASCAR race, where, of course, tailgating isn’t against the rules, it’s part of the fun.
But then the fun ended soon after as the somewhat corrupt SFMTA and/or the somewhat more corrupt DPW has recently rejiggered the lights on the east side of this downhill run on Fulton, perhaps to not reward extra fast bike riders with all greens from Divis to Van Ness, but more likely for a more random reason like nearby construction or whatever. Anywho, Bro has to brake anyway for a red that he mistimed, basically ending up stopping at the red, well Idaho stopping, jumping the green a bit. All that mo’ wasted oh well.
IDK, there’s something to be said for going with the flow instead of having ppl pass you only to pass them right back again, oh well…
*A distinct ridge running from your Western Addition all the way down to Market, more or less. The pass through it is at McAllister and Divisadero, sort of. The vaunted but not so hot IRL Wiggle bike route sort of avoids AH except for one extra-long uphill block on Market, which isn’t “flat” at all and that’s just one of the problems with the marketing for the vaunted Wiggle bike route
**Where somebody once ran a red at speed and then crashed into the side of the bed of a pickup truck that didn’t run a red.
