[SDCBC] Wrong Way Cydist: Busted!

[rob_leone at earthlink.net]

Dear SDCBCers:
   Sometimes there IS one around when you need one. After Tuesday evening's Knickerbiker festivities and braving the 8:30 PM (approx) traffic heading to the Midway post office (backed up onto the freeway offramp that tax-filing deadline eve!), I was center lane ready to make the left turn from Mission Bay Park's Mission Bay Drive onto the northbound Mission Bay Drive. Southbound Mission Bay Drive at that point is a no bikes, peds, mopeds zone as it's an I-5 on ramp. A no-lights/helmet (not that it'd make much difference given the behavior and it's consequences) beach-cruiser rider zoomed southbound in the northbound lane of Mission Bay Drive and made a right turn to go straight at me (oh, yeah, I'm in a one way section), decided better of it, uttered a profanity directed at me (this about four seconds after my light had turned green, but I wasn't gonna move with this nut in the intersection) and then made a left to finally go with traffic -- onto I-5. So I make my legal left turn -- and saw, in my rear view mirror, the marked police car that had been in the real southbound Mission Bay Drive lane hit the lights and slowly follow guess who.
   Double bonus cop car credit (wish I knew which agency was represented) for waiting until I'd made my move before going in for the potentially life-saving intervention.

Robert "I love my generator hub" Leone

-----Original Message-----
>From: Fulton Martin <public at exwis.com>
>Sent: Apr 16, 2008 7:32 AM
>To: sdcbc <sdcbc at bikesandiego.org>
>Subject: [SDCBC] Wrong way cyclist threat
>
>So there I am on Tuesday morning, cycling north on Fairmount Ave, 
>between Olive & Quince, when I see a wrong way cyclist heading toward 
>me. As I usually do, I holler "Ride on the right!" and continue on. 
>About a block later, I sense a presence next to me--it's the wrong way 
>guy, and he calmly tells me I have no right to tell him what to do. He 
>says he sees me every day, and he's going to hire a couple of high 
>schoolers, for $200, to beat me up. To my observation that there are 
>better things to do with $200, he says he makes $400 a day, and it's 
>worth it. (I'm not exactly sure what kind of bike he was riding, but it 
>was my impression it was pretty much a beater beach cruiser type--maybe 
>it was his "blend in while dealing drugs" conveyance.)
>
>I'm used to being told to "F#ck off!" and that "it's none of your 
>business how I ride..." but this is the first time I've been threatened 
>with hired violence.
>
>At least I got him to ride on the right for a while... 8-)
>
>
>-- 
>Fulton Martin
>__=o&o>__
>public at exwis.com
>San Diego, CA
>N32 43.950, W117 05.867
>_______________________________________________
>
>You are subscribed to the SDCBC mailing list as rob_leone at earthlink.net
>To unsubscribe or change mailing options, go to http://www.bikesandiego.org/mailman/listinfo/sdcbc
>List privacy information is located at http://www.stickman-computing.org/aup
>Opinions expressed here are those of the individual poster and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the SDCBC or it's Board.
>For help or to talk with someone other than the mail robot, send e-mail to postmaster at stickman-computing.org