Live for the Weekend

There are those that live for the weekend. Right now, this weekend, has been a rejuvenation time for me. The first two weeks of clinical rotations are done and the fatigue of those two weeks melted away today with a little bicycle ride through Sierra Madre down to South Pasadena and around back to Monrovia. The stress faded with the bright clear skies and cold breezes of this mornings ride. This is good. So, I live for the weekend too.

What is it with the Traffic Police? These last two weeks it has been bicycle ticket hell along the San Gabriel mountain range. Yesterday, the City of Monrovia passed out over 50 traffic tickets to bicyclists. Yes, over 50 tickets for failing to stop at signs and such. These tickets go on your driver’s license and carry the same weight as a moving violation in a car! Insurance rates will increase and the whole nine yards. Traffic School anyone?

Evidently what has happened is that a few concerned citizens have complained to the local City Council concerning the bicycle ‘gangs’ in their neighborhoods. There is a racing club based in Montrose that have very fast rides through the streets from Pasadena to Duarte and the locals are tired of them running stop lights. What happens in these large very fast groups is that a cyclist will get dropped from the lead group and will hurry through stop signs and lights to catch up. It’s easier in the main group because of the draft advantage not to mention the shame of getting dropped by the lead group.

The little bicycle group I ride with would never be called a racing club. We might get tickets for loitering but not for speeding. This morning as we rounded a small side street going out of Monrovia, a Traffic Cop, pulled up along side of us with all his lights flashing and yelled at us to “stop blowing through stop signs”. We looked at him like he was a little crazy. Really, he had an extremely rude attitude; it was amazing how angry he was. We waved and were on our way without any additional incident. Later on we heard the news at the rest stop that several of the riders were stopped and given tickets. These people are out of control, really.

Several of us are talking about going down to the City Council and local Police Station to complain about the harassment. These Traffic guys are going out of their way to make it difficult for the cyclists. Another tack is to talk to the local coffee shops and restaurants that we haunt to let them know that if this keeps up we will take our business to another city and local. Lets see if that raises any eyebrows at the local City Council.

In the end no one wins here. Going through some of these hillside communities is going to be slow going but that is the way it is for now. It must be stated that safety is the number one concern for every bicycle rider and we know that we share the road with pedestrians and motor vehicles. Being polite and courteous is the best attitude to keep safe. Obeying the traffic rules is the best policy even in large cycling groups. No one is contesting this but the harassment is a little too much right now from the local constables.