Illigitimi Non Carborundum

When I blogged the other day about my disdain for bicycle commuting, I did so for three distinct reasons. The first being that I am getting older, and riding doesn't come as easily as it once did. There's not much to be done about that I'm afraid, but I accept this and hopefully will be able to accept the fact that I will not be able to ride as much as I once did.

The other two facets, really, are things that are the reason this blog exists in the first place -- one being the other drivers on the road, and the other is how the road is funded.

It was a combination of me being tired and the "feel" of traffic the other day that ground me down. That day, with two bad drivers worthy of the finger and a host of others that also deserved it, I was worn down by those bastards, felt as if bicycle commuting was nothing but grinding work, not a pleasurable act whatsoever. But I've recently discovered that the "feel" of traffic is indeed a real phenomenon.

I've tried to pinpoint when and why traffic feels threatening and why it doesn't on other days -- maybe on full moons, on Mother's Day (the day EBT cards are credited), during hot weather, or based on some other specific reason...but I have never been able to find it. But it's there. Some days I get shirtless blacks feigning running me over in their Dodge Neons and white alpha-males racing past me in their Ford F250s, while most days this doesn't happen at all. It comes in clusters, or so I think. But it's not just me on a bike who's on the receiving end of these posturing male impulses from 159,000 years ago: my best friend also gets it on the San Fransisco Bay.

He noticed how, while anchored at Point Blunt off Angel Island on his sailboat, power boaters would accelerate around the point as soon as they notice him anchored, and would let off the power as soon as they knew their wake would no longer impact him, providing the greatest wake possible just to screw with him.

My friend at work with whom I goose hunt in the winter did the same thing against a female bicyclist on Tomales Rd. when we were driving from Pt. Reyes to Santa Rosa. He forgot for a moment that I was in the passenger seat, me, the outspoken commuter bicyclist, and mumbled how "she was going to eat my exhaust" as he punched it past her while giving no clearance whatsoever. "Do you suck or fuck?" was his rhetorical question to her as we raced past. Really, I had never been in such a situation before, but it became clear to me that alpha males, when alone or in groups inside the carapace of their own fossil-fuel powered vehicular units, intentionally create bad environments for non-motorized users of the roadway...or the waterway.

Today riding home was fun, because these sorts of people weren't present. They are out there, presumably, but they just weren't on Franklin Blvd. the same time I was today. I had the wind at my back, 89 degrees and no assholes on the road; a good day. It's days like today (and yesterday, too) that compel me to ride. And I do.

The second facet, that of how roads are funded, took another turn following the disclosure of the new California State "budget," passed onto the Governor to sign, which increases the vehicular unit registration fee another 12% to manage these "tough economic times."

One more reason why commuting by bicycle is a net economic loser, and why it's becoming increasingly hostile to even attempt it in this most golden of states. It should be obvious to most that 96.3% of those riding a bike to work cannot jettison their ownership of their cars; far from it, particularly in our land of low-density suburban sprawl where car ownership is compulsory for all and used for every facet of living by most. Riding a bicycle is but a hobby for me, and as you know, hobbies cost money; only interests are free. I go out and save the world by not driving and get screwed by the state to pay more to register a car that sits in my driveway. A real worthwhile endeavor, that bicycle commuting, eh? No -- can't charge the real users of the road through gasoline taxes; no, can't do that. We have to siphon tax dollars from the general fund to support the roadway and siphon car registration fees to refill the general fund. When we increase registration fees instead of user fees, the guy driving 34,000 miles per year in his Honda Civic to commute from Lodi to Sacramento pays the same as I do to use the road who drives 4,000 miles per year and who rides a bike.

I should hope that the bastards don't continue to wear me down...but there's precious little evidence to convince me that they won't still continue to do so...