The LA Traffic Jam Freeway Ride

[Ryan Cousineau]

Courtesy a post on Boing Boing, this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NLmiuyLa98

Still pix:

http://laist.com/2008/05/14/photos_from_fri.php?gallery3018Pic=10#gallery

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/bicyclists-on-la-fre.html

What interests me about this ride is that it, to me, demonstrates every
mistake Critical Mass makes.

These riders weren't holding up traffic, they weren't "being" traffic,
they transcended traffic!

Isn't that the fun of urban cycle commuting?

I'm not recommending freeway cycling as something people should do, but
as a fluid, physical demonstration of the absurdity of gridlock
commuting (and the available escape hatch), it was lovely.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

 

[max]

In article
<rcousine-93F4F4.19472414052008@[74.223.185.199.nw.nuvox.net]>,
Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:

> Courtesy a post on Boing Boing, this:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NLmiuyLa98
>
> Still pix:
>
> http://laist.com/2008/05/14/photos_from_fri.php?gallery3018Pic=10#gallery
>
> http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/bicyclists-on-la-fre.html

Wow!! I'm glad i looked at the video -- the still pix just don't give
any sense of how smokin' fast the bikes were, blowing by all those stuck
cars like they were ...parked! Very nice vid.

i've often fanasized about doing this on the Chicago expressways.

The still pix make it look kinda suicidal. the vid makes it look
transcendent is good, i might say DO/\/\INATING. I'm getting all pumped
just sitting here, ambien-soaked and drooling. now i gotta take more
ambien.

thans for the post. i had skimmed over it on Boing Boing.

..max

--
This signature can be appended to your outgoing mesages. Many people include in
their signatures contact information, and perhaps a joke or quotation.

 

[Paul M. Hobson]

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
> What interests me about this ride is that it, to me, demonstrates every
> mistake Critical Mass makes.
>
> These riders weren't holding up traffic, they weren't "being" traffic,
> they transcended traffic!
>
> Isn't that the fun of urban cycle commuting?
>
> I'm not recommending freeway cycling as something people should do, but
> as a fluid, physical demonstration of the absurdity of gridlock
> commuting (and the available escape hatch), it was lovely.

I've dreamed of doing this in Atlanta for years. Every afternoon, I
ride over the I-75/85 connector and see 14 lanes of stopped traffic.
It's so absurd.

\\paul


--
Paul M. Hobson
..:change the f to ph to reply:.

 

[recycled]

"Paul M. Hobson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ryan Cousineau wrote:
>> What interests me about this ride is that it, to me, demonstrates every
>> mistake Critical Mass makes.
>>
>> These riders weren't holding up traffic, they weren't "being" traffic,
>> they transcended traffic!
>>
>> Isn't that the fun of urban cycle commuting? I'm not recommending freeway
>> cycling as something people should do, but as a fluid, physical
>> demonstration of the absurdity of gridlock commuting (and the available
>> escape hatch), it was lovely.
>
> I've dreamed of doing this in Atlanta for years. Every afternoon, I ride
> over the I-75/85 connector and see 14 lanes of stopped traffic. It's so
> absurd.

I have to admit I got a kick out of the guy on a bike who outran a police
chase.

 

[DennisTheBald]

On May 14, 9:47 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:
> Courtesy a post on Boing Boing, this:

L.A. is one big freeway, put a hundred down and buy a Huffy.

 

[John Kane]

On May 14, 10:47 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:
> Courtesy a post on Boing Boing, this:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NLmiuyLa98
>
> Still pix:
>
> http://laist.com/2008/05/14/photos_from_fri.php?gallery3018Pic=10#gal...
>
> http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/bicyclists-on-la-fre.html
>
> What interests me about this ride is that it, to me, demonstrates every
> mistake Critical Mass makes.
>
> These riders weren't holding up traffic, they weren't "being" traffic,
> they transcended traffic!
>
> Isn't that the fun of urban cycle commuting?
>
> I'm not recommending freeway cycling as something people should do, but
> as a fluid, physical demonstration of the absurdity of gridlock
> commuting (and the available escape hatch), it was lovely.
>
> --
> Ryan Cousineau [email protected]://www.wiredcola.com/
> "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
> "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

I have just been reading a couple of mystery books set in L.A and both
writers comment about the slow - slow traffic. I guess it was not an
exageration.

I have seem myself passing kilometre long lineups in Ottawa but that's
on normal streets. Mind you the Queensway often looks slower at rush
hour.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article
<a517e4f7-d70f-49b3-8446-5f9aa0b51523@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,
John Kane <[email protected]> wrote:

> On May 14, 10:47 pm, Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Courtesy a post on Boing Boing, this:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NLmiuyLa98
> >
> > Still pix:
> >
> > http://laist.com/2008/05/14/photos_from_fri.php?gallery3018Pic=10#gal...
> >
> > http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/14/bicyclists-on-la-fre.html
> >
> > What interests me about this ride is that it, to me, demonstrates every
> > mistake Critical Mass makes.
> >
> > These riders weren't holding up traffic, they weren't "being" traffic,
> > they transcended traffic!
> >
> > Isn't that the fun of urban cycle commuting?
> >
> > I'm not recommending freeway cycling as something people should do, but
> > as a fluid, physical demonstration of the absurdity of gridlock
> > commuting (and the available escape hatch), it was lovely.

> I have just been reading a couple of mystery books set in L.A and both
> writers comment about the slow - slow traffic. I guess it was not an
> exageration.

I spent a brief internship in LA in 1996. One memorable day, I had an
errand to run up to a shop in the valley, and some foofaraw or other had
stopped traffic on the freeway.

Not a little; dead stopped, for miles and miles.

Fortunately, I was on a motorcycle, and I lane-split (legal in
California) for miles and miles, getting to my destination with only a
modest delay.

That wasn't the norm for that route, but it happens.

> I have seem myself passing kilometre long lineups in Ottawa but that's
> on normal streets. Mind you the Queensway often looks slower at rush
> hour.

Just outside of Vancouver, the Trans-Canada Highway crosses the Fraser
River via the Port Mann Bridge. The combination of the bridge, an
on-ramp just before the bridge, and sheer volume means that traffic
comes to a dead stop there quite routinely.

The on-ramp feeds from 152nd. In the morning rush hour, traffic is
routinely "backed up to 200th" and much longer tailbacks do happen.

This is not the only long, routine tailback on a Metro Vancouver freeway.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."