I'm moving to the outskirts of town in a few months, nice quiet place with great neighbors and not too far out, but unfortunately just far enough to be a pain to start a ride from! I'm really not inclined towards driving my bike somewhere to ride it, (bleah!) and I'd have to drive a while anyways as parking the car on the side of the road outside of town would just fetch a beer bottle through the back window sooner or later.
Anyways... Option #1: The two lane road. 45 mph speed limit (50-60), occasional 70+ oncoming passing traffic. The ditches are so deep that you can walk across on a car door when a car falls in. No shoulder, just a fog line. It's at most half a mile of slight downhill to a friendlier road, the visibility is good, maybe I could eyeball a big opening in traffic and open the ride with an Adrenaline Death Sprint. (you know, this didn't sound like such a stupid idea before I wrote it down...)
Option#2: The other direction on the same road, would involve hopping from driveway to driveway for a half mile inbetween traffic to a four-lane road that would take me to saner riding conditions, after navigating a few miles of shoulder-to-shoulder business driveways, past the county dump, (whew!) two propane shops, (whew!) and the lawn clipping disposal/compost center. (WHEW!! Nasty!) The 4-lane road isn't that bad, it just requires close attention, but that lawn waste center is just gut-wrenching on some days!
Option #3: Hike the bike down the railroad tracks. The only use they ever see is a Dodge maintenance pickup with drop-down rail wheels, the tracks are rusty from lack of use. It's a short walk, to a much less formidable road, but it's county property and I'd probably get arrested (and bike impounded! ) if I got caught!
I'll have to come to my own conclusion when I get there, sure... But I'm curious what other cyclists would do in the same situation!
Anyways... Option #1: The two lane road. 45 mph speed limit (50-60), occasional 70+ oncoming passing traffic. The ditches are so deep that you can walk across on a car door when a car falls in. No shoulder, just a fog line. It's at most half a mile of slight downhill to a friendlier road, the visibility is good, maybe I could eyeball a big opening in traffic and open the ride with an Adrenaline Death Sprint. (you know, this didn't sound like such a stupid idea before I wrote it down...)
Option#2: The other direction on the same road, would involve hopping from driveway to driveway for a half mile inbetween traffic to a four-lane road that would take me to saner riding conditions, after navigating a few miles of shoulder-to-shoulder business driveways, past the county dump, (whew!) two propane shops, (whew!) and the lawn clipping disposal/compost center. (WHEW!! Nasty!) The 4-lane road isn't that bad, it just requires close attention, but that lawn waste center is just gut-wrenching on some days!
Option #3: Hike the bike down the railroad tracks. The only use they ever see is a Dodge maintenance pickup with drop-down rail wheels, the tracks are rusty from lack of use. It's a short walk, to a much less formidable road, but it's county property and I'd probably get arrested (and bike impounded!
) if I got caught!I'll have to come to my own conclusion when I get there, sure... But I'm curious what other cyclists would do in the same situation!
