The Chainlink

"I" was doored on Saturday 7/20. This is the first time I have been doored in my life, in over 4yrs commuting in Chicago with over 20k miles ridden. Plenty of close calls under my belt but I have to say, I didn't expect my first time with these circumstances...

My wife and I had house guests this weekend, married friends and their son who is 10 years old. While they were in town, they wanted to ride around the city being cyclists themselves and go to Lincoln Park Zoo. My wife and I lent them some of our N+1 bikes for the weekend. Given their son's age, his only option was to ride with me on the back of our tandem. So, the 5 of us headed out on our 4 bikes - and now you know why "I" was doored... it was a group activity.

Everything was going well, the group had stopped by Wrigley Field and was headed down Clark towards the zoo. We were riding about 12-14mph given the nature of the group. The kid and I were in the lead at Clark/Deming when it happened. We were riding toward the left side of the marked bike lane when I saw a car door start to open about 1ft in front of the front wheel. I had no time to react.

Knowing the real danger is getting hit by a car behind you, I white knuckled the brakes and moved a little to the left. I knew we would make some contact, thankfully it was only the kitty litter panier on the back right side. I still don't know how the door missed the kid's right leg and only hit the panier. When the kitty litter bucket hit we were still moving at a decent speed and the impact stopped us instantly. Thank God the kid was holding on and didn't go flying in the street. At this point we are bound up with the car door, I put my feet down to deal with the situation.

Another cyclist not in our party was right behind us, followed by the kid's dad and then my wife. The other cyclist - thank you by the way - said that she saw everything and stopped for us to see if we needed a witness. We first determined the child was not harmed, and honestly not impressed by the situation at all. This kid is precocious as shit. At this point I turn my attention to the driver. My wife witnessed the whole interaction. She described my interaction as rage which quickly turned to exasperation as I noticed the driver was a ~70yr old women. She had nothing but apologies for us and admitted full blame. I had few words for her but given her age they only amounted to "watch out, that is illegal, this is a child, etc."

So what was the conclusion? What should you do with this person? The only damage was a zero dollar panier which was easily fixed with more zip ties. Doored by a person who is unlikely to be more attentive with a ticket or more harsh talking to. No personal injuries. We simply gave a scolding and moved on. I left the whole incident thinking "wow, hat was an odd way to get doored for the first time".

I never would have expected my first dooring to be under these circumstances. It goes to show you that you always need to be vigilant, even on a fun ride.

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There is some construction on 33rd now but when the street is paved again you should take 33rd from Western, jog south to 34th at Archer, continue on 34th to Justine south (in line with the ace hardware parking lot) to Iron east then south,  to 35th east (just long enough to cross over Bubbly Creek).  Then back north on Racine to 33rd, and take that as far east as you can until 'forced' north to 31st.

 

The target at Damen creates a bit of congestion but overall this is still a relatively stress free way to go.
 
Jose A. Terrazas said:

I start by Western and 35th, and connect with 33rd after Halsted. No proper bridge on 35th to cross so I weave to 31st after MLK blvd. It's the stint between Western and Halsted that's very edgy. Although, the 35th St. bridge is closed and being replaced with an amazing new one that will be handicap accessible and bike friendly. Thought of taking Archer before but traffic is way to speedy for my girls taste. They have let me know under no uncertain terms.     

h' 1.0 said:

Not sure where you ride from, but trying 33rd instead of 35th as far as you can take it might allow you to ease up on those grips a bit.

Jose A. Terrazas said:

Whew! Started reading and was like, OH NO a kid! Very suspenseful post. So awesome it turned out the way it did. I pull my girls in a trailer pretty often to 31st street beach east bound on 35th and I'll admit I pretty much white knuckle all the way, so I really felt this post. Nerves, nerves, nerves. But hey, my girls want the beach, we go. It's so much easier to bike there. No worrying about parking, fees and so on. There have been close calls with doors but the pace is always pretty light and that helps with reaction time. But the look in the drivers face is always the same. 8-o

It's really something about most peoples mind set once they get in that BOX. My box, my road, me me me me. 

  

Thanks, I'll give that a dry run soon.


h' 1.0 said:

There is some construction on 33rd now but when the street is paved again you should take 33rd from Western, jog south to 34th at Archer, continue on 34th to Justine south (in line with the ace hardware parking lot) to Iron east then south,  to 35th east (just long enough to cross over Bubbly Creek).  Then back north on Racine to 33rd, and take that as far east as you can until 'forced' north to 31st.

 

The target at Damen creates a bit of congestion but overall this is still a relatively stress free way to go.
 
Jose A. Terrazas said:

I start by Western and 35th, and connect with 33rd after Halsted. No proper bridge on 35th to cross so I weave to 31st after MLK blvd. It's the stint between Western and Halsted that's very edgy. Although, the 35th St. bridge is closed and being replaced with an amazing new one that will be handicap accessible and bike friendly. Thought of taking Archer before but traffic is way to speedy for my girls taste. They have let me know under no uncertain terms.     

h' 1.0 said:

Not sure where you ride from, but trying 33rd instead of 35th as far as you can take it might allow you to ease up on those grips a bit.

Jose A. Terrazas said:

Whew! Started reading and was like, OH NO a kid! Very suspenseful post. So awesome it turned out the way it did. I pull my girls in a trailer pretty often to 31st street beach east bound on 35th and I'll admit I pretty much white knuckle all the way, so I really felt this post. Nerves, nerves, nerves. But hey, my girls want the beach, we go. It's so much easier to bike there. No worrying about parking, fees and so on. There have been close calls with doors but the pace is always pretty light and that helps with reaction time. But the look in the drivers face is always the same. 8-o

It's really something about most peoples mind set once they get in that BOX. My box, my road, me me me me. 

  

Glad you and the kid are OK!

Glad to hear that you and the tandemonium escaped the collision (mostly) unscathed. Hopefully the kitty litter pannier made it, too!

Thanks all for the nice wishes. It felt great that we escaped the situation without injury or any real damage. The parents were very grateful and we had a nice day at the zoo and riding home on LFT from that point on.

On a side note, I decided to fix this safety graphic in light of newly discovered techniques. Please keep them in mind going forward and pass them on to anyone without the necessary riding prerequisites:

It's sad the kid couldn't ride a bike. When I was 10, I was riding all over my neighborhood without adult supervision. Not down Clark, but still.

Easy there yourself, Pal. Sometimes posts get deleted because they are too aggressive, just something to keep in mind as you continue to develop as a more complete forum member. Regarding this particular forum conversation, we should consider the following:

        on Monday:

"4 years is not enough time to learn the hazards of street riding."

Then on Tuesday:

"Years of riding all year round would also have one seeking out side streets or even polite sidewalk stints when carrying loads."

So, again, what is the fixation on years and experience? At what point do I cross the threshold between polite sidewalk rider and qualified right hand lane street rider? I'm not sure and I differ to the revised safety-graphic. 

Please tell me in one complete sentence how this was not an experience based discussion.



h' 1.0 said:

Easy there. Juan's point is that the streets are much more dangerous to ride in than they should be (witness your particular incident) - I don't think he was looking to make a statement about your skill level.

Well done with the updated revision.

Thanks, I like it alot.

Perhaps you can join us for Critical Mass this Friday, helping cork intersections and yell at unruly people.

Your safety graphic rocks.  Glad you're okay!

Heh... I did what I could. Look, we disagree on some aspects but I felt it was a fun way to get my opinions across. I will be at the critical mass tomorrow. I tell you what, we should squash our internet beef tomorrow with a unity tandem ride around the plaza. I'll where my orange shirt and we can ride on the sidewalk - J/K. Happy Friday :)


Juan 2-8 mi. said:

Well done with the updated revision.

Thanks, I like it alot.

Perhaps you can join us for Critical Mass this Friday, helping cork intersections and yell at unruly people.

Thanks! I went for funny, even though some people can't take a joke. MSpaint + comic sans font = comedy gold in my opinion!

 
KayCee said:

Your safety graphic rocks.  Glad you're okay!

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