yunt.net

Today my day started out a bit more chaotic than usual. I didn’t have my bags packed, slept in too late to walk the dog and didn’t decide what bicycle to ride to the train until 5 minutes before I left. Because it was dry out, and I had just finished building a new front wheel – I chose my LeMond. My morning commute would be the maiden voyage for the wheel I’d just finished late last night. I’d never even rode in a circle on the drive way. In fact it wasn’t until about 6:00 am (pre-dawn), while approaching 40mph descending Lea Hill that I realized the wheel was good.

To anyone who said a radially laced front wheel wasn’t the best option – pfft!

I made it to the train without incident and arrived at King St. in the usual way. My normal cycling buddies weren’t on the train for whatever reason, so I debated taking the Alaskan Way waterfront rather than 3rd Ave, since there was no one going up to Belltown. What the heck, I’ve got my nice bike, with pimped out wheels (Dura-ace hubs, DT Swiss DB spokes and Velocity Deep Vs) – I’m going to climb 3rd solo with speed and style.

Anyone who’s familiar with 3rd Ave in downtown Seattle knows it’s closed to cars. Only public transit and bicycles are permitted. For some reason the buses were particularly annoying today. They’d stop at red lights while occupying both lanes, changing lanes sporadically etc.

I was getting feed up with stupid slow buses piling up in the right lane, so I decided to ride in the left. As a Seahawk fan, I’ve incorporated some techniques from Shawn Alexander’s rushing into my riding. Basically I head for daylight. If there are no cars, I go there. If there are cars behind me I move.

While I was riding like this on 3rd Ave I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop. I was curious as to why I was stopped: maybe I didn’t use a hand signal, or my headlight wasn’t turned on. Turns out it’s illegal for me to ride in the left lane, if I’m unable to ride at the speed limit. Ironically I was going much faster than the buses in the right lane – which was the whole point of me choosing that lane in the first place.

I verbally confirmed with the officer that this was not a “driving” violation – meaning it wouldn’t be counted on my driving record. Interestingly the $94.00 ticket says that it is in fact a “driving violation”. Hooray for stupid I guess.

My only hope is that I’ve got some bad luck out of the way for a while…

edit: Here’s some interesting material from the Seattle bicycle code that I plan to use in my defense.

SMC 11.44.020

Rights and duties of rider.

Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all
of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to
a driver of a vehicle, except as to the special regulations of this
chapter and except as to those provisions of this subtitle which by
their nature can have no application. (RCW 46.61.755)

11.53.200

OVERTAKING A VEHICLE ON THE LEFT.
The operator of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left of such overtaken vehicle at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.

11.44.040

RIDING ON ROADWAYS.
Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed slower than the normal and reasonable flow of motor vehicle traffic thereon shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe, except as may be appropriate while preparing to make or while making turning movements, or while overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.

A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway that carries traffic in one direction only and that has two or more marked traffic lanes may ride as near to the left side of the left through lane as is safe.  A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway may utilize the shoulder of the roadway or any specifically designated bicycle lane if such exists.

source:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikecode.htm on 2007/09/17

http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CHAP&s1=11.44.h2.&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/chap1.htm&r=1&f=G on 2007/10/05

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.61.755 on 2007/10/05