Wild gesticulations, hands on the wheel

I’m a wild gesticulator when I talk. Give me a little personal space IRL because at some point, I’ll probably be doing the breast stroke with my arms floating through the air. 

I love gesticulations, in myself and others, but on Thursday, as I was biking home after an excellent breakfast with friends (schmoozing over tater tots and eggs. Priorities people!) I discovered one of the oddest public interactions of gesticulations. 

Here’s how it went. A driver honked at me, as I was biking through one of the most high accident intersections in DC. 

Then the driver, proceeded to drive next to me and say, “you need to bike in the right lane” in a voice that I’d categorize as not angry. They then passed me and as as I ignored their pleas, they took their left arm out of their window over the hood of their car, pointing to the right screaming “RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT.”

DUDE!  

DUDE! 

DUDE!

Thank goodness this person had stickers on their bumper that included something about peace ☮️ and a hamsa hand 🪬 . It allowed me to hold that this person was really trying to encourage safety…. but while doing the following:

1. Engaging in really unsafe driving behavior

2. Trying to teach me to engage in unsafe biking behavior. 

So here’s my 10 cents of a response to this driver (which has some nuggets for us drivers and cyclists)!

Dear Driver-

Thanks for your concern.

First, I kindly ask that you let me ride my bike and don’t spook me by honking at me and then driving up beside me as I ride and telling me what to do. Unfortunately, this behavior is dangerous! Did you know that this could perhaps startle me and that could lead to an actual crash? 

Second, please keep your eyes on the road and two hands on your steering wheel. Lest you forget, your job as a driver is to stay safe. Driving with two hands on the wheel and with all your limbs inside of the vehicle is safe driving behavior.

Lastly, please do not question my lane positioning! Contrary to popular belief as (a woman) cyclist, I have a lot of knowledge about lane positioning and riding safely. I actually am trained as a League Cycling Instructor to engage in and teach safe biking behavior to willing members of the community (For clarity, I was not your willing pupil as you tried to teach me as you drove by). I am fully aware that as a general rule, you want to be in the right-most lane that is traveling in the direction you are going. 

However, it is not wise to encourage a cyclist to bike in the right most lane, if that lane is frequently dotted with parked cars! Essentially a lane that has parked cars has become the shoulder and is no longer a lane of travel. 

It’s a lane of parked cars. 

Just as cars are avoiding driving in a lane of parked cars because you’d constantly have to change lanes, bikers are doing the same. Asking me to change lanes every say 1,000 feet or less to stay in the right most lane, actually is more of a safety risk for me and YOU (!) because I’d be less predictable in my biking.

I had full confidence when I chose my lane of travel…. All to say, please stay in your lane (metaphorically and literally)!

If you have more questions about lane positioning while biking or driving safely, please check out this video from the League of American Bicyclists and if you are a woman or non-binary individual (which based on the strong showing of mansplaining, is doubtful to me), drop me a line. We can have a private coaching session. To clarify, I’ll be teaching.

Wheels up, 

Ellen

PS- If you have not, please take a moment to read this essay from Rebecca Solnit, “Men Explain Things to Me.”