Riding in Traffic



slyjackson said:
I can deal with the traffic, I never gave it a second thought. It's the damn bugs that I keep Swallowing that pisses me off. I swallowed something yesterday, not sure what it was, but it was the biggest thing that flew down my throat so far..
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Ya need to get over it. Just think of it as an extra source of protien and keep riding.:rolleyes:
 
kdelong said:
Ya need to get over it. Just think of it as an extra source of protien and keep riding.:rolleyes:
I woke up this morning and it felt like something was moving around in my stomach. I know it's all in my mind though. The thing flew right down my throat, it felt like I swallowed a grape. I drunk half of my water from the bottle and kept on going. I did have a little more "PeP" yesterday afterwards though.:D
 
slyjackson said:
I woke up this morning and it felt like something was moving around in my stomach. I know it's all in my mind though. The thing flew right down my throat, it felt like I swallowed a grape. I drunk half of my water from the bottle and kept on going. I did have a little more "PeP" yesterday afterwards though.:D
When I see a swarm of gnats ahead, I hold my breath and close my mouth. Other than that, I haven't had any bug-related problems other than the occasional small collision.

The funny part about this is my fiancee suggested "I eat bugs" for a signature. :D
 
slyjackson said:
I can deal with the traffic, I never gave it a second thought. It's the damn bugs that I keep Swallowing that pisses me off. I swallowed something yesterday, not sure what it was, but it was the biggest thing that flew down my throat so far..
mad.gif
i always get bugs, and sometimes bees, sucked into one of my helmet vents. The bees stung me, too. That was not fun. One time while running, a hornet flew into my mouth and stung me on the lip. OUCH!:mad:
 
I'm extremely lucky. I live in a small city of 110000 but within 15 minutes I'm on country roads that go forever today I did 100km and only doubled on a 5km stretch.
 
In Chicago, I can bike Lake Shore Drive for a nice long distance workout. But in Bowling Green, Nashville, Atlanta GA, Louisville, and Houston - it seems like you gotta work out in the streets and take the risk with traffic.

Houston summer sucks - hot, humid, and rain nearly every day!
 
JTE83 said:
In Chicago, I can bike Lake Shore Drive for a nice long distance workout. But in Bowling Green, Nashville, Atlanta GA, Louisville, and Houston - it seems like you gotta work out in the streets and take the risk with traffic.

Houston summer sucks - hot, humid, and rain nearly every day!

You know, it's normal to actually ride on the streets, possibly having to ride a bit farther to get out in the open.

You need to broaden your horizons. I think most cyclists would be bored shitless riding the same stupid path day after day. Seeing T&A adds very little to a ride.

Learning to ride in traffic is actually a good skill to develop. Traffic isn't the scary boogie man you make it out to be.
 
alienator said:
Learning to ride in traffic is actually a good skill to develop. Traffic isn't the scary boogie man you make it out to be.

Hey alienator - I just bought a JVC GZ-MG130 HD camcorder and it has an internet video mode and when I get back to Chicago I'd record my LSD ride and post it on Youtube - but I don't know how to do that yet.

Riding in traffic is very risky because you take chances that there is a careless driver talking on a cell phone and not watching for bikers on the road. When I worked out at Humbolt Park after work - if I take a certain route in that park that uses the streets - I almost got run over once in traffic - I heard a car screech and suddenly swerve behind me to avoid me like he just suddenly saw me. So now I'm afraid of riding in the streets unless I have no choice.
 
JTE83 said:
Hey alienator - I just bought a JVC GZ-MG130 HD camcorder and it has an internet video mode and when I get back to Chicago I'd record my LSD ride and post it on Youtube - but I don't know how to do that yet.

Riding in traffic is very risky because you take chances that there is a careless driver talking on a cell phone and not watching for bikers on the road. When I worked out at Humbolt Park after work - if I take a certain route in that park that uses the streets - I almost got run over once in traffic - I heard a car screech and suddenly swerve behind me to avoid me like he just suddenly saw me. So now I'm afraid of riding in the streets unless I have no choice.

Well, you're missing out on a lot, because one of the great things about cycling is that you get to go places while you work out.

The risk on the street isn't so extreme. There are a lot more things that are more dangerous. I mean, if you're alive your under threat of dying unexpectedly.

I've been hit twice by cars on my bicycle, and once by a car on on a motorcycle. Neither event made me doubt for a second whether I should ride on the street or not.

I do know there's no way in hell I could ride the way I want on a multi-use trail.
 
I still maintain that while a tangle with a car will cause you more damage you are more likely to get into an accident on a MUP. Case in point - I was hit freaking head on by another bicycle just this Thursday. I came around a corner and there someone was on the wrong side of the path and looking down (I think she was struggling to clip in or something). I had about enough time to yelp and hit the brakes a little before I smacked into her - and no I couldn't swerve around since her buddy was on the correct side of the trail and there was a wall on my right. Normally I avoid trail riding, but I need to take a few miles of one along an interstate where there isn't an alternative to get across the water from Bellevue back to Seattle on the day I volunteer at the animal shelter. I'm just lucky neither of us was going very fast, so all I got was a few bruises and some wounded pride from being all tied up in my messenger bag and barely able to untangled and up. Poor woman who hit me was absolutely mortified - she even managed to do it right in front of a sign that said "all trail users keep right", so maybe she'll be a little more careful from now on.....
 
BigUgly said:
I'm extremely lucky. I live in a small city of 110000 but within 15 minutes I'm on country roads that go forever today I did 100km and only doubled on a 5km stretch.
I study in a small Italian city too (about 110,000 people), but Italian traffic is awful for bike!
Anyway, my fixie is perfect for Italian traffic, but not for Italian roads... Moreover in the centre there is only pavees (and I use 21mm tubolars...)
 
I've had a bit of a rough time with riding on the road, this season... Been bumped by one car, hit by another (neither driver 'noticed' me until after-the-fact), and just yeterday I was pinched by a carhugging the side of the roadway and ran into a granite curb (resulting in the destruction of my front tire).

Of course, I have to keep in mind that I live in a big tourist area, so all the roads are overcrowded and not built with the sheer volume of traffic they endure in mind.

My only real gripe is ignorance... by cyclist and motorist. Too many cyclists ride way too aggressively (for traffic conditions on roadways, and ESPECIALLY on Multi-use paths) and give those who try to follow the rules a bad name; and there are also plenty of casual bikers who just don't know the 'rules of the road' and are a hazard. As a result, you get a bunch of drivers who look at cyclists as a menace... and others are just plain ignorant.

The woman who nudged me into the curb said "you should be on the sidewalk!", so I recited her MA state law regarding cycling on the roadways... ignorance.

Just be aware, be defensive, and be safe.

Multi-Use paths are a whole other rant ;)
 
[Multi-Use paths are a whole other rant ;)[/QUOTE]
Rant on dude. In my area there's a new section of multi-use trail opening soon.
It has some nice hills. I wonder how long it's going to take for the first collision of roller blader and stroller to happen? It's going to be ugly. Since my original post I haven't thought much about it. I've just been trying to be safe. However, today I chose to ride on a section of dangerous road as opposed to the bike trail. I didn't even think about why. It just seemed like the thing to do.
I usually average between 100 to 150 miles a week so a short stint on the bike trail is sometimes a nice break.
 
The mutli-use paths I see around Corvallis usually say "Cyclists yield to pedestrians -- alert pedestrians when passing" (or something along those lines). Do they say that everywhere, or is it just implied? Traffic's light enough on them whenever I ride that it's never been an issue for me.
 
Says that here in Cleveland also. I love riding the trails, I like how they zip in and out. The one thing I hate though is when I tell the person that I am about to pass on the left, most don't acknowledge me, so I have no idea if they heard me or not. The nice ones raise a hand or say "Thanks". When they do I thank them back. But most people have their iPods on and can't hear me anyway.

I do think it can be dangerous, but I just love them. I am planning to make more trips south to Medina County or west to open country roads of Lorain County.
 
SweetLou said:
But most people have their iPods on and can't hear me anyway.
Riding home from campus, I was coming up on a skater doing some zig-zag bends. I had a clear pass on the right, so I started speeding up, but then he swerved right. So I went left, said "on your left!" and sped up.

Then he went left. Apparently he had his iPod on, too. :mad: Maybe next time he'll think first after having a cyclist crash into him :D. (It was actually kind of hard not to laugh -- I slammed the brakes trying to stop.)
 
I live three miles from my job and can ride to work if I want. I can take a lot of back streets to avoid heavy traffic, and it is a smart move to do so. Most drivers are careful around a cyclist, but there are a lot who aren't. I can't point at a specific group, men, women, young, old- all the same. Some people are just ignorant assholes and will try to hit you at any chance. One of my biggest complaints is riding around a school. Kids walking in front of you, parents in a hurry- and buses. I go out of my way to ride away from school areas now...
 
I don't like having to stop at intersections, so I use the Chicago lakeshore bike trail whenever I can. I've never had any major problems on this trail. The one that runs through Evanston is another story entirely.
 
I really don't have any problems riding in traffic. Most of the drivers around here that actually bother with a street other than the Interstate seem to be wary enough of cyclists. Occasionally, I get the chuckle-head who has no idea what three feet is, or the teenage boys in Daddy's SUV yelling at me about a sidewalk.

As to multi-use trails... the biggest problem I have with those are the numbskulls who don't know they are supposed to stay to the right on the trail. This is mostly rollerbladers. It seems they like to think they are entitled to use the entire trail and everyone eles be damned. If you come upon them from behind, they almost invariably have iPod earphone jammed in their ears such that they couldn't hear a train horn. Thankfully, no one seems to be using the trail in the early morning hours.

The trail around here states that fast trail users must yield right of way to slower users and alert them when passing. Somtimes, I think a train horn would be a nice thing to have.
 
Riding on the street is really the only choice if you want to really ride. MUPs aren't really very good - too many other people and you can't go very fast. Of course, if all you want is a little ride around at 15 km/hr or less, go on the bike path.

So obviously I drive on the road. I pick my spots as best I can - I don't ride at night, and I certainly would never ride very late when the drunks come out. I try to avoid very busy roads, and take roads with multiple lanes where possible so the traffic has lots of room. I also avoid roads (again where possible) where the drivers tend to speed.

However, after doing all this, I was hit last week by a careless driver on my commute to work. The guy was in a pickup truck, and when he passed me, he was very close. He missed me, but the thing he was towing behind him (wider than his truck) didn't. I think I was doing about 35 km/hr at the time which was a good thing, because our relative velocity was small. Somehow, I miraculously escaped injury (I didn't even go down), but this incident has made me very wary of riding on this road. Too bad, because I've never worried about it before.