SheRidesToday

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Biking up the ramp

Last night I biked up the parking garage ramp at work. This is a milestone of sorts. That ramp is a hated thing. The narrow, short ramp quickly travels 2 floors in a 360+ degree loop. The curve is sharper than the turning radius on the Ford company van. I drive the ramp as slowly as I can, wheels squeaking the whole way, blindly hoping that no oncoming vehicles come my way. It is a ramp I would never take with a manual transmission. In the company van, the driver's seat sits so high that I cannot see the sidewalk until I am on it (the first place the ramp levels out). This isn't a problem on a lower car, and I have come to expect the glare of pedestrians shocked that I proceed into the sidewalk while they are crossing. I wish they knew I couldn't see. There is the loud "caution vehicle exiting" announcement, but still I understandably shock them. When I worked my later shift, I could exit the building via the front doors. Now that I leave while the building is still open to the public, the ramp is my only polite option. I usually walk up it. Other commuters cycle up it without much concern. I have visions of a co-worker in a company van blindly smashing into me. One commuter fell cycling down the ramp. He blacked out with amnesia, and his head felt the impact for a couple of weeks. I am so careful and tentative, but last night I had a brief window with no traffic so I bombed up the ramp to see if I could get the whole way up without crossing the invisible center line. I did it all the way until the very end, where I was able to see if anybody would be coming my way. It worked out well. I'll probably ride up it again, when there is another window of no traffic.