Riding the rural roads during wild fire season

California's wild fires season has extended a lot over the last decade or so. It used to be just a few months long from mid-summer to late fall (generally from September to early November). Now, it's almost all year long. 

As much as I love riding my bike on lonely rural roads out in the mountains east of town, I generally avoid it during the worst of the fire season (the old August - November time frame) even when there is no fire burning in the area. The summer heat and the mountain horse flies have both proven themselves more persistent than me. 

Even on rare days when I'm both off work and feeling strangely heat-resistant, though, there are things to consider and check on before I head east away from town this time of year:

Smoke plume from the Lilac Fire as seen from central Vista in 2018. 

1. Santa Ana Wind Event: If there is one going on, I stay in town and away from the mountain roads. Period. I made the mistake of heading out to Warner Springs during an early Santa Ana event once, early in my cycling career and will never forget how murderous having that hideous gale as the crosswind on the narrow shoulder-less Hwy 79 could be. I was blown completely off the pavement 5 times between the intersections of San Felipe Rd and Hwy 76. Rare are the days when I love riding the 76 with all its casino and boat trailers and hay and horse trailers traffic... but it runs east-west rather than north-south, so the crosswind became a tailwind then, and I wasn't about to get killed every time I was passed by a big truck.  

2. Check wild fire status before heading out (and if it is possible to re-check during the ride, do). Generally the fires around here burn west... though sometimes they regress a bit back east with the morning onshore wind. Make sure you have secondary escape route if your main route gets (or is in danger of getting) cut off by a fire or its smoke... And, you definitely don't want to be riding on the roads the locals will be using to evacuate for a live fire. 

3. Really... if the Santa Ana Wind is in town, and there's a fire burning within 15 miles of your route, go a different way or just stay in town or on the coast. 

4. If you are one of those stubborn mules on wheels that will go no matter what (shame on you, and doubly so if you end up having to call for help and thereby endangering your rescuers), make sure your cellphone is all charged up (tho... out in the county you may not have cell reception), carry more than plenty of water with you, and have a print out map of the area you will be in. No cell service usually also means no internet... and the Garmin will only be able tell you the uploaded route, but maybe not the possible escape routes. Definitely also be sure someone knows your exact route and when to expect you back. 

5. But, really... don't be an idiot. When the Santa Ana Wind is in town... whether there is a fire burning nearby or not, stay in town or on the coast. Don't head east of town!

CicloSDias is on Sunday Aug 11th: Come Out To Enjoy Car-Free Cycling, Skating, Walking San Diego Streets

Feel like going out for a casual bicycle ride in San Diego but don't want to tango with cars? Come out to the CicloSDias, San Diego's version of the Ciclovia next Sunday in South Park. This is a family-friendly low-speed 5 miles ride on closed-to-cars route from Logan Heights (30th & K) to City Heights (Cherokee Point Elementary School) by way of Golden Hill, South Park & North Park.

CicloSDias 2013 car-free route

You can bike or walk or skate part of or the whole length of the car-free route with friends new and old from 10am - 4pm, at a speed that allows you to see and enjoy the neighborhoods. It's safe and it's a lot of fun!

A lot of people would like to go out riding their bike more, but don't feel safe riding the streets of San Diego without 'proper bicycle structures' like bike lanes or cycle-paths. Well, what better way to convince city officials to put in the necessary structures than to turn up in great number at car-free events like the CicloSDias and show them that better bike-friendly streets is what a whole lot of tax-payers want? The more cyclists there are riding around, the more the city is likely to do something to protect cyclists and the more aware drivers will become of bikes on the streets. You don't even have to donate any money. Just show up and have fun!

To Drivers: Don't Make Cyclists Pass On Your Right At Intersections

Another car tried to get me to pass him on his right side this morning (he wanted to turn right, but instead of hanging behind the group to make the turn behind us, he chose to pass us and then just hung at the intersection in the middle of the lane and irritably waved at the line of cyclists to pass on his right)...

If you are a driver and have tried doing that; thank you for trying to be nice, but please refrain from this maneuver in the future. It makes things MORE dangerous for the cyclists and not less. It doesn't matter that you see and know that we are there behind and to your right, you are blocking both our view of traffic and the traffic's view of us. There may be cars coming from opposite direction that want to turn left in front of (stopped) you... That left-turning car is the car that will hit us if we pass you on your right side! Don't get mad at the cyclists for refusing to enter that big blind spot on your right. Go ahead and turn right IN FRONT OF us when you see us yield.

Better yet, wait behind the group of cyclists and make the right turn behind us (it may only slow you down for just a few seconds, but at least you wouldn't be putting anyone in danger). If you had already passed many cyclists and are now 'stuck' in the middle, though, if the cyclists wave for you to make the turn in front of them, please GO ON and make the turn. There is a good reason why you should only overtake on the left... (picture yourself getting stuck between a semi-truck and his right turn... You wouldn't want to pass the truck on his right either!).

And to fellow cyclists: If you are riding in the middle of a large group and see a car front and left of you that want to turn right (look for turning signal), it is safer to slow and make room for the car to turn right in front of you (be sure to signal for the riders behind you to follow your deceleration, though) than for him to end up hanging there, stranded between other traffic, you, and the right turn he wants to make ('cause then he'll end up blocking your view of the rest of the intersection along with all the other cars' view of you).

Why aren't the cyclists riding in the bike lane/road shoulder/far right edge?

I often see complaints by a subset of drivers who probably don't ride their bike on city streets that cyclists are often seen riding in the traffic lane when there is road shoulder/bike lane available. So, why don't cyclist always ride in the bike lane/road shoulder/far right edge of the road?

People don't always check their six before opening their traffic side car door...

You can't see this from the car, but 3/4 of this bit of bike lane is covered in broken bits of glass.

These won't do anything to car tires, but road bike tires go flat riding over them. Even the ultra-tough Gatorskins aren't immune to punctures!

Pine cones & other fruits are cute as long as they aren't in the bike's path! Also, when there are big trees lining the street, there tends to be root bumps and cracks right under them in the bike lane/road shoulder.

I added the vertical red bar to make the ickiness of this root bump more visible... Try hitting that thing while going at speed on a bicycle. It can really destroy the wheel (among other things)!

A bit of sand on the road won't cause a car to skid, but these can really cause a bike crash.

We cyclists haven't got a windshield.. Try riding into protruding tree branches at 15 mph. It hurts!

Branches are hard to see, even from a bicycle. This particular limb was at throat level...

You wouldn't drive a car over this, why should a cyclist ride his bike?

With all the broken glasses and radial tires' wire bits on the road, I get punctured most often from goathead thorns...

Some roadside protective ramps have ends that jut out. This one will easily take a shin off a cyclist and send him spilling into the traffic lane.

Every week from the night before to the night of the trash collection day, of course, there are extra obstacles in the bike path/road shoulder.

Also... a lot of time it is safer for a cyclist to ride left-center of the only through traffic lane when entering an intersection if he is behind a tall car so that the cars coming from the opposite side of the road that might be waiting to make a left turn would see him and know not to try to turn right as the tall car in front of the cyclist is going past.

A lot of street corners here have cars parked right up to the intersection. A street-savvy cyclist going straight will also ride more toward the middle of the right-most through lane rather than far to the right so that cars coming out of the side street will be able to see him (drivers tend to just look to the middle of the road for other cars before they make the right turn onto the cross street... and end up hitting a cyclist they should have seen but didn't).

So, the next time you see a cyclist riding in the middle of the traffic lane, please think about what legitimate circumstances that might force him to be riding there (believe me, most cyclists are sane and really dislike riding in traffic, surrounded by cars) rather than to immediately go into the road rage mode and assume all sort of evil motifs on the cyclist's part.