Tripleshot Cycling

In honour of Bike to Work Week, I agreed to a commuter challenge from John Luton, a veteran bike fanatic and former city councillor in Victoria.

The course was from the Starbucks at Uptown to the downtown Starbucks on Fort Street. Teams were sent off in three-minute intervals. He was on his bike and I was in my hybrid green machine. The object of the exercise was to see which mode of transportation would arrive at the final destination first.

“Jumping John” got a slight lead off the start at the Uptown Courtyard, but we met at the first red traffic light, where he stopped smugly, blocking my path, impersonating a real motorized vehicle. After what seemed like an eternity, the light changed to green and we got going again. John made a right turn on a red light by squeezing between cars and the curb and proceeded to our destination as I cooled my jets while waiting for the light to change in my favour.

Surprisingly, we met at the very next red traffic light.

That was the last I saw of “Luton the Lesser,” since by some ordained higher power, I got every single green light all the way to our finish line. This has never happened to me before and I expect it will never happen again. John had some legitimate excuses. His fast bike was in the shop and he rode a second-fiddle substitute. He was mortified, not by my luck and happenstance, but by seeing “Dynamic Dean” Fortin, the mayor, come from behind, by a whopping three minutes, to lap him. “Libellous Les” Leyne fared no better. Jack was exposed to the school of hard “Knox.”

All in all, it was a very telling journey. The bike riders were very credible throughout the challenge. They arrived at the finish in relative close proximity or ahead of the motorized vehicles in every instance. In more than 80 per cent of the cases, the bikes won the commuter contest. Not a single car won the West Shore to Fort Street segment. The Colwood Crawl conquered all motorized vehicles in favour of the bikes.

The organizers and sponsors should be commended for proving the efficiency of two-wheel travel.

All the participants obeyed all traffic laws throughout the contest. When I asked John how many everyday bike riders were obviously riding in violation of traffic laws, he had a surprising answer. He estimated that about five per cent of everyday riders acted like fools on their bikes. I was somewhat skeptical. For that entire day I counted the number of “numbskull” riders I saw, and sure enough, John was right on. No matter how many times I counted, the result was roughly the same. About 95 per cent of all the cyclists I saw had a helmet and were riding in a safe and skilful manner. It would seem that the bad bikers are in the vast minority but all too easy to spot, while the legal ones are much less noticeable.

Come to think of it, the ratio is probably the same for drivers of motorized vehicles.

Next year, John will finally have his fast bike. “Wallace the Winner” may well become “Wallace the Whiner.” Maybe Luton will get a “Student Biker” sign next year and have the traffic part like the Red Sea as they so often do when they see the “Student Driver” sign. Just a thought!

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