Nightglow Window

There But For The Grace Of God ...

It's 18 miles, there and back, from my house to Pannikin in Encinitas. It's a great bike ride -- not too long, gently rolling, and the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) is scenic as all get out as it hugs the coast. But it can be a bit sketchy, too -- especially in the quarter mile or so past Ponto when the bike lane ends, the road turns choppy, and traffic whizzes by your elbow.

But we're a bike friendly region and the two-wheeled traffic is continuous, so no worries, right?

That's what I thought. Last Friday a 40-year-old woman was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver in Solana Beach as she rode her bike along PCH. The driver of the SUV may have been drinking, says the San Diego Union Tribune, and was quickly arrested after a witness wrote down his license plate number.

It's a tragedy and I hope the guy rots in prison, but considering all the bike traffic, it's an exceedingly rare problem. Nevertheless, I did find myself gripping the drop bars a little tighter than normal this morning every time I heard a car coming up behind me, engine racing.