They say bikes get in the way of traffic

55,000 automobiles traveled on Ocean Street into Santa Cruz on Saturday, and 55,000 automobiles traveled to get out of Santa Cruz on Sunday night.

The next time a cyclist holds you up in traffic, count "1001, 1002, 1003." Two or three seconds is probably usual, and you'll make the time up at the next traffic light anyway. Over ten seconds is very unusual, but then try this next experiment.

The next time you're held up by automobile traffic -- you have to sit at a light for cross traffic, or your stuck behind a car trying to make a left turn, or you're at a stop sign and waiting to get across an intersection, or.... NOW count "1001, 1002...."

Some of these guys on Ocean Street, after they got onto Highway 17, took TWO HOURS or more to go 20 miles. Bikes are a solution, people, not the problem. I know it's not realistic to expect many people to bike from San Jose to Santa Cruz, but it is reasonable to mitigate traffic problems by encouraging cycling for short distance trips.

Oh, note the bonehead illegally parked across the sidewalk and into the bike lane.

Man I sure am being cranky right now. Must be because I haven't eaten dinner yet and it's nearly 10 p.m. Truth be told it was thoroughly enjoyable zooming past everybody in the bike lane.