Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Commuting
Reload this Page >

whats the scariest part of your ride????

Search
Notices
Commuting Bicycle commuting is easier than you think, before you know it, you'll be hooked. Learn the tips, hints, equipment, safety requirements for safely riding your bike to work.

whats the scariest part of your ride????

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 10-19-11, 05:35 AM
  #1  
yep202
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
yep202's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Indiana
Posts: 295

Bikes: giant revel 1

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
whats the scariest part of your ride????

I'll start. The hwy I cross at the very end of my ride coming to work. Very scary. For some reason while I'm riding I'm always thinking and looking out for someone who might not be looking. Stressful I feel like I need to relaxe a little but as soon as I do look out there I am laying on the concrete with my new winter pants and and jacket torn to shreds. That's hasn't happened yet. Just saying. Also are you riding more carefree or at least you feel that way?? So back to the scary part I feel like someone is not going to care even if they see me and just hit me from behind. I can't drive that part I don't own a car. I have been looked for a different route but they are all filled with careless drivers and narrow roads with high speeds.

Last edited by yep202; 10-19-11 at 05:38 AM. Reason: none
yep202 is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 05:39 AM
  #2  
FunkyStickman
On a Mission from God
 
FunkyStickman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Thibodaux, LA
Posts: 2,010

Bikes: '10 Surly LHT, Rat-rod Klunker, '82 Peugeot PH12 Centennial

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 3 Posts
Most of the roads I ride on don't have shoulders (and you can forget about bike lanes or MUPs). There's one particular spot that bothers me, but it was a spot that I wasn't worried about that got me. I should learn a lesson from that.
FunkyStickman is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 05:49 AM
  #3  
yep202
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
yep202's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Indiana
Posts: 295

Bikes: giant revel 1

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Sounds pretty bad. I find its.always the crapy cars that pass to close. I'm not trying to complain or anything.
yep202 is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 06:41 AM
  #4  
Amoxicillin
Waiting to commute...
 
Amoxicillin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Posts: 137

Bikes: Number of bikes changing ...

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
... arriving at work is the scariest part for me
Amoxicillin is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 07:32 AM
  #5  
niccig
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Lexington, KY
Posts: 71
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Amoxicillin
... arriving at work is the scariest part for me
I lol'd at that.

One of my routes into downtown is a road that merges left onto a major artery, and then I have to cross two lanes to make a left after about 1/4 mile. The past couple days I've been taking a different route that's a little longer but avoids that intersection.
niccig is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 07:33 AM
  #6  
dcrowell
Fat Guy Rolling
 
dcrowell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Louisville Kentucky
Posts: 2,434

Bikes: Bacchetta Agio, 80s Raleigh Record single-speed, Surly Big Dummy

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by Amoxicillin
... arriving at work is the scariest part for me
My scariest part is getting out of bed. I dread that every morning.
dcrowell is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 07:48 AM
  #7  
Jim from Boston
Senior Member
 
Jim from Boston's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 7,384
Mentioned: 49 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 800 Post(s)
Liked 218 Times in 171 Posts
whats the scariest part of your ride????

I have on occasion had nightmares about ABSOLUTELY needing to be at work at 7:30 AM, and being nowhere near there.

Rarely in reality I have found myself in that situation, but had more leeway than in my nightmares. Lightning also make me nervous when it catches me on the road. Otherwise, I have a pretty safe route, and a rearview mirror alleviates a lot of anxiety.
Jim from Boston is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 07:50 AM
  #8  
idc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Virginia/DC
Posts: 1,454

Bikes: quite a few

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Any parts where there's traffic. Drivers around here are generally terrible.
idc is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 08:56 AM
  #9  
Surrealdeal
a.k.a., Point Five Dude
 
Surrealdeal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Twin Cites, MN USA
Posts: 794

Bikes: 1987 Trek Elance 400 T

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I have a spot about 15 miles in on the way to work where there are two lights within a couple hundred feet of each other, the second crossing a big highway. the MUP peters out right before the first and picks back up on the other side of the second so for about 100 yards or so I have to mix it up with traffic. The thing is that if you move at a decent clip you can make both lights (even on a bike) so everyone is trying to get through there as quickly as possible.

I figure if I ever do get creamed that's where it's most likely going to happen. But as FSM points out, we never really do know until afterward, do we?
Surrealdeal is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 09:55 AM
  #10  
alan s 
Senior Member
 
alan s's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 6,977
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1496 Post(s)
Liked 189 Times in 128 Posts
I don my invisibility cloak for crossing Key Bridge into Georgetown. It works, because drivers are obviously unable to see me. Even my eye-searing helmet light is not enough sometimes.
alan s is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 10:17 AM
  #11  
Booger1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Gaseous Cloud around Uranus
Posts: 3,741
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 38 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 11 Times in 7 Posts
Riding in front of 2 high schools in the morning.Crazy people......
Booger1 is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 10:25 AM
  #12  
SlimRider
Banned
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Northern California
Posts: 5,804

Bikes: Raleigh Grand Prix, Giant Innova, Nishiki Sebring, Trek 7.5FX

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by dcrowell
My scariest part is getting out of bed. I dread that every morning.
Hi there Crowell!

It would be even scarier, if you woke up, but you couldn't get out of bed!...Now, THAT'S what to dread!

- Slim
SlimRider is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 11:20 AM
  #13  
hyhuu
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NoVA
Posts: 1,421

Bikes: Specialized Allez Sport

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 12 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Deers around late Oct and Nov.
hyhuu is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 11:33 AM
  #14  
Seattle Forrest
Senior Member
 
Seattle Forrest's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 23,208
Mentioned: 89 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18883 Post(s)
Liked 10,646 Times in 6,054 Posts
Honestly, there really isn't one. If part of my route terrified me that much, I'd find a different route.
Seattle Forrest is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 11:37 AM
  #15  
dcrowell
Fat Guy Rolling
 
dcrowell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Louisville Kentucky
Posts: 2,434

Bikes: Bacchetta Agio, 80s Raleigh Record single-speed, Surly Big Dummy

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Originally Posted by SlimRider
It would be even scarier, if you woke up, but you couldn't get out of bed!...Now, THAT'S what to dread!
Good point!

As far as my route - no real issues. I have a short urban commute. There is definitely traffic, but most everybody is pretty well behaved and no specific area is more prone to problems. If I had to ride in the 'burbs it would be different.
dcrowell is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:20 PM
  #16  
Kojak
Senior Member
 
Kojak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: PNW - Victoria, BC
Posts: 1,486

Bikes: 2002 Litespeed Vortex - 2007 Trek Madone 5.9 - 2004 Redline Conquest Pro - Specialized S-Works Festina Team Model - 93 Cannondale M 800 Beast of the East

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
This place : Don't even try to ride by, take a different route. It has a gravitational pull 3 times stronger than the sun.


Kojak is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:34 PM
  #17  
Kojak
Senior Member
 
Kojak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: PNW - Victoria, BC
Posts: 1,486

Bikes: 2002 Litespeed Vortex - 2007 Trek Madone 5.9 - 2004 Redline Conquest Pro - Specialized S-Works Festina Team Model - 93 Cannondale M 800 Beast of the East

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
Once you're sucked inside, ohhh it's horrible and cruel:

Kojak is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:40 PM
  #18  
Mithrandir
Senior Member
 
Mithrandir's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 2,401

Bikes: 2012 Surly LHT, 1995 GT Outpost Trail

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
I made a thread about it a while back:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s-intersection.

I have since switched to a longer route to avoid the intersection, as well as the road with no shoulders. It takes longer, but in the long run, saving 15 minutes a day isn't really worth the rest of my life when some cager inevitably kills me.
Mithrandir is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:44 PM
  #19  
Sixty Fiver
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
 
Sixty Fiver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 27,267

Bikes: See my sig...

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 67 Post(s)
Liked 129 Times in 96 Posts
If there is one place I am going to get run over it is on a short one block stretch which is preceded by 3 southbound lanes, narrows to 2, and then expands to three... but I refuse to re-route and increase my riding time.

You don't even need to ask on whether or not I take the lane here.
Sixty Fiver is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:51 PM
  #20  
Doohickie
You gonna eat that?
 
Doohickie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Fort Worth, Texas Church of Hopeful Uncertainty
Posts: 14,715

Bikes: 1966 Raleigh DL-1 Tourist, 1973 Schwinn Varsity, 1983 Raleigh Marathon, 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS

Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 164 Post(s)
Liked 67 Times in 44 Posts
This part. From about 17 to 32 seconds of the video, where most of the way is no shoulder country 2-lane.
__________________
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.


Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."

Last edited by Doohickie; 10-19-11 at 12:56 PM.
Doohickie is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 12:54 PM
  #21  
trevor_ash
Happy go lucky
 
trevor_ash's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Illinois
Posts: 286

Bikes: 2010 Nagasawa (Track), EAI Bareknuckle (Track), Custom Jonny Cycles (Track), 90's Eddy Merckx (Road), 2002 Colnago Tecnos, 200? Felt F60 (Road), 1992 Schwinn Paramount Series 3 (Road)

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I only commute about 9 miles, but I have this super annoying left hand turn I have to make on the way home (no lights, the road I'm on T's into the road I want to get on). It's a very simple one lane each direction road. Speed limit is 45. To my left is a stop light about 1/4 mile away. To my right is most of the traffic heading home from work (the busy direction). Behind me are other cars trying to turn left too and getting just as impatient as myself.

It's a pain because the cars on the right are pretty much non-stop. Sometimes someone from that direction stops to turn left where I'm at and they try to wave me through, but the cars on my left aren't clear OR the car/s behind the car waving me through are passing that car on the right (illegally).

It's a huge pain in the ass. I *could* ride about 2 miles out of my way to cross the street further down to my right where there is a light.
trevor_ash is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 01:04 PM
  #22  
pallen
Descends like a rock
 
pallen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 4,034

Bikes: Scott Foil, Surly Pacer

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7 Post(s)
Liked 16 Times in 8 Posts
The last mile on the way in to work is a somewhat busy 4 lane road with traffic going 50+mph or so. Its not too bad, and I've never had any issues on that stretch beyond a lady yelling at me once, but some days it can be a little nerve racking with cars whizzing by. There's no way to avoid though - its the road my office is on.
pallen is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 01:14 PM
  #23  
Bud Bent
Wheezing Geezer
 
Bud Bent's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Crowley, Tx
Posts: 1,782

Bikes: Bacchetta Corsa, RANS Stratus XP

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Mine is a spot I never would have suspected before I started riding the route. It's where Crowley Road intersects Risinger Road at the south edge of Fort Worth. I approach that intersection on Crowley Road from the south at dark-thirty every morning, and go straight through the intersection. Crowley Road is a 55 mph speed limit there. I ride the shoulder, but approaching Risinger Road, the shoulder becomes the right turn lane, and something like 80 percent of the northbound Crowley Road traffic turns right onto Risinger Road.

There's no good way for me to behave there. Drivers just don't seem to know what to do. I finally gave up on moving out of the right turn lane into the first lane that goes straight (unless the right turner behind me is the only other vehicle around). Vehicles trying to go straight would run up close behind me at speed, and I even had a couple of drivers move into the left lane, then try to right hook me, making their turn onto Risinger Road. These days, I usually just stay in the turn lane and watch for drivers trying to right hook me.

Last edited by Bud Bent; 10-19-11 at 01:19 PM.
Bud Bent is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 02:25 PM
  #24  
mgw189
Senior Member
 
mgw189's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Binghamtony,NY
Posts: 171

Bikes: 2011 Trek 7.3 FX

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
This is the spot I dislike the most. I ride route 11 through this area where there are two on off ramps and trafic traveling about 45 - 55 mph there is a large shoulder and bike lane before and after the on/off ramps but in between especially over the bridge can be a littel sketchy. There is a pedestrian bridge that bypasses that area I may give that a try tonight and see how that works out



Oh and that area is travled by community college strudents
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
exit 5.JPG (35.5 KB, 13 views)

Last edited by mgw189; 10-19-11 at 02:35 PM.
mgw189 is offline  
Old 10-19-11, 02:46 PM
  #25  
david58
Senior Member
 
david58's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Los Alamos, NM
Posts: 1,846

Bikes: Fuji Cross Comp, BMC SR02, Surly Krampas

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Amoxicillin
... arriving at work is the scariest part for me
Yep. First ride in before sunup, survived the ride down the hills, through town, and almost got wiped by a maintenance pickup truck that pulled out of an alley without looking. 4 lights (3 blinking), reflectors, illuminite vest, etc.
david58 is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.