I go over railroad tracks on my way to and from work. The tracks are for commuter trains, Caltrain. My co-worker who used to rely on Caltrain called it Failtrain because of it being late or slow or defective. I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other excepting that I think when those funny striped rails come down and the lights turn on and you hear a loud dingdingding noise it's a good idea to stop and wait.
That's because trains are huge and fast and being turned into a mile long greasy stain is not my idea of a pleasant start to the day. Others disagree.
A few days back, the Contraption Captain and I were on our way home from work together. We turn onto Alma and the lights come on and the guard rails come down and we hear that distinctive dingdingding noise and we do this boring crazy middle-aged thing called stop-and-not-be-killed-by-express-train.
Even when a train is not coming a bicyclist needs to be careful crossing the tracks because you hit the embedded rails at an angle, they have deep grooves and a slim bicycle tire can get caught and throw you.
The angle you hit the rails at changes sharply when you need to weave through the crossing rails which is what this one bicyclist did in the incident I am describing. Contraption Captain and I sortof gaped while the guy hit the brakes, wove through one side of the rails and then the other and arrived on our side maybe three seconds before the train. Got to say, the look on the guys face suggested he'd cut it a little closer than he intended.
1. Mr Bianchi, you get idiot prize for the quarter. Congratulations. We hope you enjoy your turd shaped award.
2. If I see you again (and the image of your dumb face is seared across my retinas) I'm suing you for loss of brain cells due to PTSD.
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