This way
Laval, QC, August 2010
The day has dawned cold, grey and wet. I can live with the temperature and the color of the sky. But the moisture thing is another story. I'd rather not bundle myself and my cargo into a human Ziploc bag, then curse the very existence of the planet as road spray works its way into the very fiber of my being. It's a miserable way to travel, and I'm just not into it when I can just as easily take my car and avoid yet another head cold.
Yes, I've become soft and lazy. Discuss.
To compensate somewhat for the guilt I now feel as I pick up my car keys and head out the door, I'd like to share this scene with you, shot from my in-laws' window. I enjoy shooting from tall buildings primarily because I do not live in one. So being way above the ground gives me new opportunities to look at the world. And on this day, I looked way down and saw a freshly paved road with a newly painted bike path running against traffic. Ding!
Would I ever ride on this path? Quebec (and, by inclusion, Montreal-area) drivers, are widely thought to be among the most aggressive on the planet. So no thank you. My let's-get-hit-by-a-car adventure years ago came courtesy of just such a wrong-way path that converged with an arguing-with-his-wife-and-forgetting-to-see-that-stop-sign man. This place is chock full of these death traps, which if you follow the stats are 55 times more likely to turn cyclists into hood ornaments.
So I'll follow the experts' advice and take my chances riding in the lane, along with traffic. I'm sure the honking and the cursing will begin shortly. For the record, I can hear it, but I'm not listening.
Your turn: Why can't motorists and cyclists get along? I still can't figure it out, and I wish I knew why.
One more thing: This is a parallel-themed photo. It's parallel week. You know what to do.
