hotbike

My Data Recorder "Black Box" caught this yesterday, fortunately, I was able to swerve onto a driveway apron. The camera takes a picture once every five seconds, and it saw the "salmon" before I did:
Salmon Cyclist by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

I'm Not sure if "salmon"is the correct term, as spawning salmon (the eponymous fish) go uphill , while this fool is going downhill at about 28mph.

And when I Googled the term , I get brake pads :
Kool-Stop Salmon Linear Pull Brake Pads > Components > Brakes & Shifters > Brake Pads | Jenson USA

Good, because you're going to need them !

Who else remembers when wrong way cyclists were called salmon ?
I must be getting old.

Milton Keynes

I think they still are called salmon, since I've learned that term on this site. Not salmon for riding uphill, but salmon for riding upstream, or against traffic.

raqball

I still call it that.. But more often than not the people doing it are not what I'd call cyclist.

bobwysiwyg

No, more like not at all bright.

noisebeam

Sure he wasn't overtaking the black car? I am surprised you didn't see him long before that pic was taken.

FBinNY 

+1

I understand youwere climbing and probably figured a low risk of hitting anything, but still.....

Slightspeed

There was a wrong way woman rider killed in LA a few days ago by a hit and run driver. Surveillance video showed the car turning right out of a commercial driveway, hitting bike coming on the immediate right (wrong way). Driver took off, was later caught. Who looks right when turning right out of a driveway, and merging with incoming traffic from the left? I know you are supposed to, you're also supposed to be riding with traffic flow. LA seems to be trying to be the world leader in hit - runs. Why make it easier for them by riding stupid?

CliffordK

Was he passing the black car?

I encounter a LOT of wrong-way riders, usually in the street-side bike paths. Maybe 10% of the riders I pass? And, they frequently seem to know they're going in the wrong lane because I hear the occasional "sorry".

Wrong way riders still surprise me a bit, as it doubles the closing speed one would ordinarily get for "road hazards" ahead.

I do think there is the occasional reason to go maybe 1 block in the wrong direction (on the sidwalk?), for example when one has just made a turn and can't get across, or one is planning on stopping on the left side of the road just ahead. But, the riders I encounter seem to be going for quite some distance against traffic.

KD5NRH

There is one spot where I occasionally salmon the shoulder of a 45mph highway for two blocks, simply because both ends of the trip are on the left. Never met a right-way cyclist during any of those, but if I did I'd either take the traffic lane (the road is straight there, and level enough to see if it will be clear long enough) or stop at the edge of the pavement to let them past.

A few places on city streets I generally won't fault the ones who ride wrong-side when there's no traffic, as on some of those one side is much smoother than the other.

Either way, do it with an attitude of "I'm doing something at least questionable, so I need to yield immediately to anyone using the roadway correctly."

atbman

If he was he was:
a) riding an awfully long way out
and
b) still leaning away from the car, some distance after he'd passed it.

Unlikely, I'd say.

nayr497

I live just off a major university campus, with a main uni road that connects the two campuses. Road is two lanes (one each way) with a moderately wide bike lane and then a very wide, double-wide sidewalk. Joggers have even beaten a dirt path into the sidewalk where the grass used to grow, trying to save their knees.

Here is a species I want someone to explain: rather than using the wonderfully wide, dedicated sidewalk some joggers choose to run in the bike lane. Some even choose to run in the bike lane...going the wrong way. I scratch my head in amazement. They've been given this amazing sidewalk, wide, dedicated, not that busy...and they choose to run in the road, in the painted-off bike lane. I'm at a loss when I see these people.

mr_bill

First, some see a salmon, but others see someone who NEVER RIDES IN THE DOOR ZONE!

Second, BikeSnobNYC coined the term, NSFW(?) warning since bad words.



Well, some runners have knee problems, some have ankle problems. If you have knee problems, you avoid the sidewalk and the road and run on the dirt path. If you have ankle problems, you avoid the dirt path, but still would rather run on the "soft" road rather than the hard cement.

Around here, the third reason is looking for a surface, any surface, without snow/ice in the run up to the marathon. One runner running against traffic in the bike lane was screaming BIKE LANE! BIKE LANE! at the driver driving their car in the bike lane. Clearly the runner needed an AirZound.

-mr. bill

jefnvk

They exist. I was behind a car coming home last night on a 50MPH road, who abruptly jerked to the left. Soon as he moved over, I saw the blinky coming towards me. Not too bright (the intelligence of the cyclist, the light itself was plenty bright).

hotbike

Yes, the black car was going faster than the cyclist. But I did not expect the salmon, I had less than 2 seconds to react. Lucky even the camera took the picture at that moment... ahh, I also cropped the photo...

CliffordK

Around here we have nice sawdust paths... but they aren't for everyone. And that is OK.

It can be handy to have joggers going in the same direction as the cyclists. I'll frequently pull behind a jogger until the path ahead clears enough to safely pass.

I suppose that is the problem with the wrong-way cyclists. There is no way to adjust one's speed to avoid them. One has to either stop, or quickly find a way to safely pass.