How to be an Invisible Bicyclist

Every now and then, I find it is helpful to travel around the city inconspicuously. Say you just robbed a bank or had a really bad break up with your significant other, there are simply times you don’t want to be seen. Now there are the obvious things like dressing in dark clothing, removing all reflective materials from yourself and bike and of course ditching the lights*, but there are some other, less obvious,tricks. Below are a few of my favorites:

Bike on the Sidewalk Against Traffic
The principle on this is pretty straight forward, motorists simply won’t be looking your way. You could be wearing a clown suit and they still wouldn’t see you. It’s like this, when a car is turning from a side street or driveway they are looking for a gap in traffic. Unless they have eyes in the back of their head, you my friend are invisible. Caution is advised though, while you will be focused on avoiding the cars pulling out of drives on your left you just might miss a car turning into a drive on your right. This complex task is best handled at a very slow pace.

Weave In and Out of Parked Cars
This is an old standby. When you bike down the empty space between parked cars, hardly anyone can see you as they drive down the road. And when you dart in and out of the travel lane the drivers will be so startled they will never even see your face, that is unless it ends up plastered across their windshield.

Passing on the Right
No one expects to get passed on the right, even when there is plenty of room for a bike to slip by. You can often pass an entire line of cars and most of them will not have a clue. Which of course can be a bit of a drawback should one of them decide to turn right just as you are passing. And as shocking as this may be to believe, I have found that some people do not use their turn signal. And it is a known fact that most drivers are still not sure why there is a mirror on the right side of the car.

* Careful about the no lights and reflector though.  It is illegal and it would be a drag to be pulled over after robbing a bank simply because you didn’t have a front light!