Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Motorcycle Season

It's officially motorcycle season in the greater Sacramento region - that glorious and tricky time where easily 1/3 of the vehicles on the road are motorcycles. It seems like there's more this year than ever before, which does not surprise me in light of the way gas prices have been in recent years.

I totally love all the motorcycles, and make a point of watching out for them. Not just for the important reason (not hitting them), but I also like to move over when I can so they have more room for lane sharing.

As an aside, for anyone who doesn't know, lane sharing is legal* in California. So all of you who get all grousy about it - get over it! Admit it: you're just mad because you can't do it.

Drivers get so unreasonable about motorcycles and I just don't get it. I mean, I get that they're jealous, but what I don't get is how they can let that affect their understand of basic physics.

Not just the jerks who try to squeeze out lane sharers. I've actually witnessed someone, on the freeway, pass a motorcyclist who was in the far left lane, by going around to the left.

Think about that for a minute.

Go ahead, I can wait.

The jackass was so impatient about following the motorcycle, that he drove around him, halfway on the shoulder, halfway in the lane with the motorcycle.

It was insane! How do you even justify that maneuver?

Like I said, I love the motorcycles, and I love motorcycle season. I love it when they're loud. I love it when they lane share. I love it when they race me down that one street**. I love it when they travel in packs, and I love it when they're soloing.

My favorite thing?

Women on bikes.



How awesome is this? This is, far and away, the girliest bike I've ever seen. And the woman rode it like she meant it. Good on her!

Ride safe out there. And if the vehicle you're riding is enclosed, keep an extra careful eye out for those riding unenclosed vehicles. Really. It's important.

*By "legal", I mean "is not against the law". Which is totally the same thing.

**I'm maybe not naming that street anymore. It's not that I drive it really fast. It's just that I drive it... You know... Faster than everyone else.

3 comments:

DawgDyke said...

the weather isn't cooperating up north and my motorcycle is calling my name ... I'm totally moving to Cali!!

Nice ride and rider :)

Wine Dog said...

Lane splitting is illegal. So on a motorcycle you can't be next to a car in the same lane. You can change lanes on a narrow space to avoid lane splitting but then you risk the chance of being tagged for unsafe lane changed.

Not only that, you have to give the lane to a bicycle and you have to give them at the very least 3 feet of space to pass them.

dolphyngyrl said...

According to the dude from the Sacramento Bee who has asked the question of CHP directly.. Lane splitting is, strictly speaking, not illegal, and they won't pull someone over for it unless they're doing it recklessly or dangerously.