[Fleas]

I know you've heard it 1000 times. I'm posting anyway.
I got out for some actual distance last week. The trails are a mess so I hit the path and some side roads on my MTB for 28 miles. Yes, it was rush hour, but I was on the path 90% of the time.

:madmax:[Rant]
Incident 1: I am riding on the parkway because children are riding on the path parallel to the road. Man in car drives into oncoming traffic to pass me. The oncoming car had 2 wheels in the grass to avoid him. At the red light about 200 yds. ahead I ask him why he took such a risk. Over his dangling side mirror, he complains that I should be on the path. After that, I beat him off the light and pointed to the "Sharrow" painted on the road that indicates shared usage.

Incident 2: I am crossing an intersection at a Stop sign. I stop while the crossing vehicle signals, then negotiates a left turn. This blocks the lane for other crossing traffic so I proceed to cross. The next vehicle in line, however, immediately follows the left turning vehicle but proceeds to accelerate straight at me in the cross walk. I yell "Nice stop!" and narrowly escape across the road.

Incident 3:
This time I actually am on a road - a largely deserted road. The one vehicle that passes me has to cut closer to the edge of the road while passing me, then gets back to the center of the lane after he has gone by. Richard with a capital "D".

Either freeze or thaw, but I gotta get back on some trails! And this is supposed to be a "Top 40 bike friendly city". These people are awful!
[/Rant]
-F

 

[evasive]

I've done some road rides lately, and I'm planning another this afternoon. Looking forward to riding an AM bike weighing in the mid-30s on the road for ~10 miles or so is an indication of how keyed up I am to get some dry trails.

 

[Gumbi4Prez]

You learn to deal with it. I enjoy riding the road in the spring. In fact, ordered some lycra and saddle for the road bike today.

 

[citiznkain]

Don't ever count on the people on the road seeing you. I commute to work and there is usually a couple of a-holes that don't like the idea of sharing the shoulder of a road. so wear your helmet and make sure your health and life insurance are up to date

It's 30º in the mornings but I've got cabin fever and need to get out on the bikes.

 

[evasive]

Hopefully the community pump track dries enough in the next day or two. That's a lot more fun.

 

[twd953]

Have experienced incidents just like those three too many times to count. Currently live in probably one of the most bike friendly towns in the US, but there are still a fair number of Richards out there on the roads.

The majority of issues I have on the roads are not intentional on the driver's part, mostly just not paying attention, or just crap driving skills.

Regarding your incident #3, depending on how blatant it was, the swerve may not have been intentional.

Most drivers scan a couple seconds ahead on the road. When they see a bike on the road, they may move left to pass, then move back to the right too soon after since they are scanning (and thinking) a couple seconds ahead. They cut back in sooner than they realize (thinking they have already made the pass) which brings them very close to the cyclist without ever realizing it.

Many drivers also over correct with the steering wheel, so when they move back to the right, they get too close to the shoulder and end up having to move back towards the center. Their travel path looks like a big S curve (left-right-left). From the cyclists perspective, you never see them move left, you only see the part where they move to the right then back to the left again which makes it look like they intentionally swerved at you.

Never made this connection until I was driving and the car in front of me did this exact thing when passing a cyclist, but now I notice it a lot.

Of course, if they honk, yell, rev the engine, fly the bird, accelerate hard, slam on the brakes, or throw something at you, then the intent is pretty clear.

I had a guy hit my hand with his mirror sending me into a speed wobble and nearly crashing. That was inattention on his part. He realized he hit me, slammed on the brakes, fishtailed his car. Saw his eyes get huge in his rear view before he punched it and ran away.

When it comes right down to it, the level of skill most drivers have is pretty low, and their attention spans are even lower. That makes me feel only slightly less upset at the ones that nearly kill me unintentionally.

 

[John Kuhl]

I get treated the same riding my bike
or driving a car. Most people can't drive.

 

[PoorBehavior]

I get treated the same riding my bike
or driving a car. Most people can't drive.

This. Most people are barely in control of their vehicle and just manage to not hit stuff while driving. The 20% or so by my estimate that are actually thinking about what they are doing you will never notice because they are background noise amongst the other 80% of drivers and cyclists who in a decreasing level of competence cover the roads in almost accidents.

I ride a local MUT for my road time. I am lucky that I can get in a 5 mile to work on residential/neighborhood roads and a 26mile mostly MUT home with only about 5 miles on the road. If I had to ride open road all the time I would not do it. Just too many self absorbed and distracted drivers. When I drive home it is not unusual to see 9/10 people on their phone, how the hell can they talk and drive and still be able to notice me on my bike? They can barely drive as it is, with their phone added into the mix and it is just a matter of time.

 

[Fleas]

...When I drive home it is not unusual to see 9/10 people on their phone, how the hell can they talk and drive and still be able to notice me on my bike? They can barely drive as it is, with their phone added into the mix and it is just a matter of time.

Thanks for the pep talk.

-F

 

[127.0.0.1]

you put way too much thinking into it

did you get run over by a car ? no ? then there is nothing to report. this is road riding.

source: roadie who went mtb now does it all

 

[linklight]

you put way too much thinking into it

did you get run over by a car ? no ? then there is nothing to report. this is road riding.

source: roadie who went mtb now does it all

Lol... I actually enjoy road biking and mountain biking. I'm more nervous road biking because somebody else is in control but the irony is that all my biking injuries have been mountain biking related - cracked ribs, broken tib and broken fib.

I've never fallen off a road bike but I've fallen or crashed many times on my mountain bike. Maybe I just need to learn to ride my mtb bike. Lol

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

[rideit]

Four letter words

Road
Cars
Wind
Text
Food
Talk
Tint
Turn
Splat

 

[mm9]

A lot of roadies say something like "just get over it" and ride. I've tried, but personally I haven't been able to achieve that. Something about a driver, intentionally or unintentionally coming very close and putting my life in danger makes me angry, and I don't like the feeling of being a sitting duck. I like riding around my town, but I try to avoid riding on the street on busy or dangerous roads by using whatever means necessary This is also the reason that I've gravitated back to flat bar bikes - better handling, no matter what type of route.

Thank goodness there are a bunch of linking neighborhood routes on quiet streets not too far away. A typical 10 - 20 mile ride will be 85 - 90% quiet neigborhoods and 10 - 15% combination of parts of sidewalks with no pedestrians, trails, grass fields, fairly deserted parking lots through schools and churches, roads behind shopping centers and businesses, and hopping a few curbs and parking lot structures in order to link to the quiet neighborhood routes.

 

[127.0.0.1]

two things help road riding, well...three

-brightest tail light possible, and solid, not blinking. spend thousands an a bike, spend a hundred on a tail light...niteflux rz4 or better. drivers respect a rider whom they have seen from a mile away in daylight and can plan going around you better

-ride near the edge and jump crap or ride through dirt and water if cars are near...hold yer line and track straight. drivers respect a rider in control
tip: if you ride open country quiet roads then use your zero gram thin hp tires, if you ride congested city areas then use a kevlar tire so you can ride through more crud

-ride fast as though road riding is serious business. drivers respect that a bit. plus when you are fast you can hop crud

you can't fix stupid so there will be close calls so do pick wider and quieter roads when possible

 

[crossracer]

Once I read "rush hour" I knew that it wasn't going to be good.
People are crazy at that time. I refuse to ride at that time anymore. Even group rides are too risky.
If I want to ride that late I have a couple or super safe routes. Boring but super duper safe.
And Mtn trails can be crazy at that time also. So many people bombing down trails, riding like the devil himself was right behind them. Makes Mtn biking almost as bad as road biking.

Bill


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Iamrockandroll13]

the key to reducing the bad situations is to not be on the road during the ttime when people are going to or from work. When they are on their way in they are pissed off they have to go, and when they are on their way home they are in a hurry to GFTO of there. Neither mindset is going to result in good outcomes for you. Unfortunately there are always a few super ignorant, ADD riddled a-holes on the road that can't detach from their electronic devices or drive sober on the road, and they are going to kill people, and that's just a risk you have to take every time you clip in on a road bike. there are a lot of things you can do to minimize the chance that the person they kill is you, but you can never eliminate the risk entirely.

 

[dgw2jr]

Two words: Open. Carry.

Flame on!

 

[rideit]

Two words: Open. Carry.

Flame on!

Won't do you much good when you are a mangled heap in a borrow pit somewhere...

 

[dgw2jr]

Won't do you much good when you are a mangled heap in a borrow pit somewhere...

You could put yourself out of your misery before the 'yotes get to ya.

 

[Flamingtaco]

Please, do NOT ride the edge of the road, you give drivers the green light to try to squeeze past you in your lane when you do that. You WILL get hit, and possibly run right over.

Take your lane, but don't be stupid and ride during heavy traffic periods. Most thorofares are overwhelmed due to decades of sub-par transportation planning, juvenile light timing schemes, asinine traffic funneling, etc.

The shortest route is rarely the best route, and at times is not the fastest route. I see a lot of roadies sitting at long red lights in the summer heat that could be using neighborhoods adjacent to the thorofares to maintain forward motion. Sure, there are a lot more stops, but they are signs, not lights, and who stops at a stop sign on a bike in a residential neighborhood when there is no other traffic? I used to avoid neighborhoods like a plaque as well. Eventually I realized that not all intersections are four-way stops, and picking the right path may result in a non-stop route.