Santa Rosa High sophomore Martha Fast walks her bike on a crosswalk where she was hit by a car 3 years ago when she was a student at Santa Rosa Middle School. She started riding a bike again this summer after avoiding riding the since the accident.

Converging traffic: Cyclists, motorists jockey for space on Wine Country roads

DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

On a sun-splashed afternoon in Sonoma County's Wine Country, a Norwegian tourist rode a rented bicycle in the middle of a two-lane road, recording the natural beauty around him with a video camera that he cradled in one hand.

The bucolic setting west of Healdsburg has helped fuel the county's growing reputation as a world-class destination for cycling.

But as Bengt Eliassen kept pedaling and filming a few weeks ago, he was oblivious to a sport utility vehicle that had driven up behind him on Lambert Bridge Road. The truck followed Eliassen for several hundred yards until turning at the intersection with Dry Creek Road.

At a general store across the street, Eliassen chuckled when he was informed about the truck. "Normally, I don't ride with a camera," he said.

The brief encounter turned out to be a nonevent. But similar encounters between cyclists and motorists on Sonoma County's back roads and on city streets have led to some tense moments, and even crashes or intentional acts of violence. The CHP reports an increasing number of complaints from both cyclists and motorists who blame each other for flouting traffic laws and putting people's safety at risk.

This comes at a time when cycling has never been more popular in Sonoma County, where the number of people using bikes to go sightseeing, work out, commute or just cruise around town has proliferated.

That popularity is bolstered by the world-class athletes who train here, including Santa Rosa's Levi Leipheimer, and by the prestigious cycling events that are staged here, including the Amgen Tour of California and Leipheimer's King Ridge GranFondo, which drew 7,500 participants in October in only its third year.

"I think it's the best place on earth to ride a bike," Leipheimer said of Sonoma County during a recent speech to the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce.

But paradise still has its ugly side. Ask Martha Fast, a 17-year-old Santa Rosa High School junior who was struck by a car last month as she rode her bicycle to school. The irony? She was riding on Humboldt Street, the city's designated bike thoroughfare.

"I guess it was a moment where me and the driver both had different expectations of what the other was going to do," said Fast, who was not seriously injured.

Cary Yerves, a retired facilities manager for American Express who lives in Santa Rosa, said he feels his native city is being overrun by cyclists who "do whatever they want."

He said he was walking on the sidewalk to the bank last week when he narrowly escaped being hit by a bicyclist who was riding on the sidewalk.

"The girl yells, &‘I almost ran you over!' And I turned and said, &‘You have no damn business riding on the sidewalk!'"

Road-rage concerns

CHP Officer Jon Sloat said the No. 1 complaint he hears about cyclists is when they ride several abreast on roads and impede traffic.

That can trigger road rage, which is the foremost concern the CHP hears about motorists. Sloat said the CHP has taken three or four reports this year about motorists who deliberately forced cyclists off the road.

"It's our culture of impatience," Sloat said. "When cyclists are taking their time on the road and you can't pass them, motorists get very frustrated."

But he said no matter who's right or wrong, a person driving a 4,000-pound vehicle always has the advantage over a person riding a bike.

"If you use your vehicle like a weapon, there are repercussions," he said.

Such tensions are nothing new in Sonoma County. As far back as 1895, a local newspaper reported that "silent steeds" were becoming a nuisance to riders on horseback. And they were seen as a threat to the local livery industry, according to research compiled by Sonoma County Museum curator Eric Stanley for the museum's current exhibit on the history of cycling in the county.

Passions have ebbed and flowed in the intervening decades, and they appear to be running hot once again, as an increasing number of cyclists jockey with vehicles for space on the county's roads.

"We've had an increase in complaints from both sides, about motorists not respecting the rights of cyclists, and complaints from motorists saying cyclists shouldn't be taking over the road," Sloat said.

"It's kind of a juggling act between the two," he said.

Crash numbers steady

The number of bicycle collisions that have occurred on unincorporated Sonoma County roads has held steady in recent years, including 34 collisions reported so far this year. That includes solo crashes in which only the cyclist was involved.

In 2008, 22 cyclists were injured in crashes on county roads and state highways. That compares with 23 injuries reported to date in 2011.

Some view those statistics as evidence of the relative safety of cycling here.

"For the number of cyclists who are out on the road riding, I think the number of incidents is probably relatively low," said Sandra Lupien, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. "Certainly we remember them when they happen."

The coalition keeps an online database where cyclists can report when they've been harassed. The reports range from cyclists being yelled at by passing motorists, to being run off the road or threatened with physical violence. The incidents aren't limited to rural roads, but also have been reported in every city in Sonoma County.

Sloat said the CHP will contact a motorist who hassles a cyclist if officers have a license plate or some other solid form of identification. But he said drivers almost always deny having done anything wrong, so the visits usually result in nothing more than a verbal warning.

Cases of motorists intentionally harming cyclists are not common but generate the most public attention.

GranFondo rider hit

That includes the case of San Francisco cyclist Anoush Zebarjadian, who was run down on Graton Road during the 2010 GranFondo and narrowly survived the crash. The CHP has yet to locate the vehicle, described by witnesses as a Ford Explorer.

Fast, who in addition to being struck by a car on her way to school this year, was hit by a car five years ago as she walked her bicycle across the street using a crosswalk, said she still feels safe most of the time.

"But it does come as a wake-up call when people honk at me or yell at me when I'm not going fast enough for them," she said.

Mike Charleton, a Windsor pharmaceutical salesman and a member of the Red Peloton Cycling Club, said many cyclists have a hard time understanding the perspective of the driver who is delayed.

"The cyclist is participating in a recreational activity while the driver is most likely trying to accomplish some task," he said.

But Charleton said most interactions he has with motorists are positive ones.

"The majority of drivers out there are so courteous and patient, and give us plenty of room," he said. "But every once in a while you come across someone who's in a hurry."

Inexperienced cyclists

The growth of bicycle tourism in Sonoma County has brought with it concerns about inexperienced riders, some of whom have been drinking, riding on roads they are unfamiliar with and perhaps are not equipped to handle.

On the same day that Eliassen was spotted filming and riding, another man aboard a rented bike was texting on his cellphone as he rode on West Dry Creek Road, despite the higher-than-usual number of trucks and other traffic on the road that day because of the grape harvest.

John Mastrianni, owner of Wine Country Bikes, said his business has taken off since he relocated his company to Healdsburg seven years ago; he now has thousands of bike rentals every year.

He said a number of national touring companies also include Sonoma County's Wine Country or coastal areas on their itineraries.

"There are very few places in the world that have such a nice network of roads," he said.

He said the feedback he hears most often from his customers is how friendly drivers are here compared with where they are from. "That being said, there's always room for improvement," he said.

He said he and his staff counsel customers, who have to sign a liability waiver, on the rules of the road and recommend routes for them to ride. He said he also discourages people from consuming alcohol while out on a ride.

But Mastrianni used the analogy of someone driving a rental car to say he can't be responsible for everything his customers do.

"You can give them suggestions and you can say that we recommend you ride in this area. But it doesn't mean that they will," he said. "They can take that bike and, using their judgment, ride where they want."

Dangerous road

William Appleby, who lives on Mill Station Road west of Sebastopol, complained about tour groups using the two-lane road, which he said is too dangerous for cycling.

He said he's gotten stuck behind riders who struggle to pedal up a hill on Mill Station that features a blind curve.

"They think they're being polite by waving you around, but no way are you going to cross on that double yellow line," he said.

Cyclists have all the rights and responsibilities that motorists do when they are out on the road. But one common complaint about cyclists is that they are selective about which rules of the road that they follow.

Sloat said the CHP has been "more vocal" about letting cyclists know that that they are "not above the rules of the road. We will write you a ticket," he said.

That includes even for Leipheimer, who Sloat said was given a citation about five years ago for running a stop sign.

"The officer now has Levi's autograph on his locker," Sloat said.

Santa Rosa cyclist Chris Lyman said "there is no question that there is room for improvement with the present level of compliance" on the part of his fellow riders. But he said motorists need to be better educated about the exceptions made for cyclists in California's vehicle code, including when they are legally allowed to "take the lane."

State law states cyclists must "ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway" when they are going slower than traffic that is headed in the same direction.

But cyclists can legally move into the roadway to avoid objects ahead of them or when it's unsafe to continue riding along the edge. In cases where the lane is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side — a common situation on Sonoma County's backcountry roads — the cyclist is legally allowed to be in the road.

Governor vetoed bill

Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation proposed this year that would have required a minimum three-foot space between passing vehicles and bicyclists. Brown cited as his reason a provision of the proposed bill that would have required vehicles to slow to 15 mph when passing cyclists.

"On streets with speed limits of 35 and 40 mph," he wrote in his veto message, "to pass a bicycle could cause rear-end collisions. On other roads, a bicycle may travel at or near 15 mph, creating a long line of cars behind the cyclist."

Caltrans, the CHP and the Automobile Association of America opposed the bill.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.

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