rumrunn6

lights a fire in yer belly, don't it?

meaning, compared to road riding other times of the day, or on the weekend & especially compared with riding a paved rail trail

rather than a tempo based on yourself, we have to adjust for prevailing traffic & circumstances. I think this is more tiring but also a better workout

Skipjacks

I purposely don't ride WITH traffic when commuting. I take a lot of side streets and cut behind shopping centers (where the delivery bays are and stuff) all to avoid being in traffic as much as possible.

It's safer per mile than running on the main 2 roads through my area. But when I have to cross those roads it's like playing Frogger at rush hour.

I'm safe, but I have to hustle to be safe.

Lemond1985

I enjoy it, it's fun. Not for all my riding but, it's good sprint and interval training for me.

In my town, the traffic lights don't react to bikes, so when I see a light turn green up wayyy up ahead, I know I'm gonna need to be on the bumper of the last car through the intersection to have a prayer of getting a green. That's my sprint training. And then I draft off the pack of cars going 35-40 mph, for as long as I can, those are my intervals.

Steely Dan

i go about 1.1 miles out of my way to catch an MUP that keeps me off-street for 75% of my commute.

and another 12% of my route (the final mile into downtown evanston) is on a protected bike lane.

so i just don't have a whole lot of interaction with impatient and frustrated rush-hour motorists.

that's by design.



but ages ago, i used to ride through downtown chicago everyday (in the pre-bike lane era), and that was harrowing at times (effing cab drivers are THE WORST!).

now that i'm middle aged with children depending on me to stay alive, i can't say that i miss it.

no motor?

Most of the time when I ride with rush hour traffic I'm crossing busy roads without a traffic light. That means I'm often stopping half way across waiting for another break in traffic and get to sprint to get across whereas the rest of the time I'm on side streets or paths with a lot less traffic.

Knowing it was going to be too hot and/or rainy for me to commute this week I went out for a ride last night to get some exercise and ended up exploring my new neighborhood. I ended up coming out on some of the busy streets and didn't recognize them at first due to the lack of cars. Nice for me then, but much different than during rush hour.

beachball42

Mornings aren't an issue for me as I leave early enough and the traffic is light when I do have to be on the road. As for my ride home, that is a different story but I take MUP's probably about 90% of my route so I don't have to get in with all the cars. I have two busy roads my MUP crosses and the cars have the right of way but they usually all stop and let bikers and pedestrians go so it isn't too bad to get through. After that, I run for a couple of miles along a busy main street but have a MUP that runs parallel to it so while cars are zipping by me at 50 mph I have some separation. I do have three intersections to deal with but other than waiting on the light to change, most people are pretty respectful for me when crossing. I actually have more issues navigating the increased number of users on the MUP's in the afternoon commute than I do dealing with the cars.

Skipjacks

Children of the 80's understand.

pdlamb

My town is big enough to have more than two streets, but not so big that all of the streets are jammed during rush hour. On the bike, rush hour is the time of day when I go to work or come home. Since most of the traffic is on the larger roads, there's a huge variation on how long a commute will take in the car, depending on traffic, accidents, special events, etc.: 12-40 minutes. If it takes me more than 10% longer than normal on the bike, it's because I decided to take a long way.

Hardly counts as fire in my belly. That's the hot salsa from the Mexican restaurant.

Lemond1985

There's definitely a game aspect to it. It's feels great to be free and on a bike, around a bunch of people trapped in steel boxes on their way to jobs they probably hate. Especially if I have the day off. Forced staycations due to lack of work have their benefits.

Commuters do sometimes seem to be highly impatient, and will often pass pretty closely. I guess they have their commutes timed down to the millisecond, and some bike on the road that causes them to miss a green light and be delayed 30 extra seconds is pretty unforgivable, worthy of a close pass or honk of the horn. The good part is that if they ever hit you, they'll be easy to track down since they're probably on that same road at the same time every day.

Notso_fastLane

I like having control over most of my commute of whether I want to deal with rush hour traffic, or get to the MUP as soon as possible. I often don't make that decision until I leave work and see how it looks.

The worst of it is getting on or off base (I work on a military installation), but the drivers are pretty good on base (cuz if they do hit, they'll have to deal with the MPs). Almost 70k people working on base, and only 3 entrances/exits, makes for some sporty lines getting out the gate, but I bypass a lot of cars that way.

I actually hate those days I need to drive because I know how bad the traffic is. All of the main routes I take have really wide shoulders (wide enough to be another car lane, really), so the stop and go traffic on them doesn't bother me, I spend most of my time passing cars, not the other way around.

Jim from Boston

riding with rush hour commuter trafficI have posted to this thread: "New York City Cycling -- CRAZY!!!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by C.Jester

...I’ve always felt safer riding in heavy traffic in town than out on the back roads. At least if I get hit in town, there are witnesses and someone to call 911

Quote:

Originally Posted by noglider

The weird thing is that traffic in NYC is aggressive, but I find it easier to survive than other places.

I'm not sure I'm ready to say NYC drivers are better than in other places, because it may simply be that I understand the dance and know how to do it .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

As a social ballroom dancer with years of lessons, as well as urban commuter, may I say, "Well said."

There was thread once about rural vs urban cycling, and a concensus was that urban cycling was safer, because of the congestion and slower speeds. Even with heavy traffic, I know the patterns of traffic, the "dance steps," and can anticipate the car's movements.

Earlier on this thread, I wrote: An important aphorism I learned on BF is, "To know where a car is going, watch the front wheels, not the body or hood," though we don't watch our feet when we dance.

riding with rush hour commuter traffic

rumrunn6

haha nice vid! never saw that one before. I can personally attest to horses on the highway, tho! this is Route 2 Acton

Skipjacks

First guy: That's a funny looking car you've got there. How many horsepower is it?

Second guy: One.

Daniel4

There's a big difference between fast moving rush-hour traffic and congested rush-hour traffic. In fast moving traffic, the cars will try to either race you to the lights or intersection or try to bully you out of the way if they don't have room to change lanes. Those I try to avoid. Sometimes, at a light, I wait for the bulk of the traffic to go by before I proceed.

In congested traffic, there's not much any car can do but to sit there and inch along while you pass them all.

And then there's fast moving traffic that gets halted by some sort of lane restriction or road construction. I take advantage of those so I don't have to use my alternate route.

Yeah, I know I'm trying to show off.

RubeRad

Do you mean taking the lane all the time?

I ride as fast (a.k.a. slow) as I feel like in the bike lane, whether car traffic next to me is 20mph or 60mph, dense or light.

daoswald

I take the light rail an extra two stops past 'optimal' to route through a safer course on the way home for this reason. That makes what would be a 4 mile commute closer to 5.5. On days where I ride the whole way home I take a 21 mile route with 2k feet elevation gain instead of an 18 mile route with 750 feet elevation gain in order to avoid the worst traffic snarls. So I go three miles out of my way and 1250 feet extra elevation gain to reduce my traffic exposure.

My morning commute is all downhill to the light rail, and the roads in that direction have better bike lanes, so I'm both less exposed, and riding closer to the speed of the flow of traffic. That being the case I just take the direct route (4 miles).

rseeker

The first time I sat at the head of the line in front of a traffic light waiting for the green, taking the lane until I could cross four lanes of traffic and get established on the far side, was The. Biggest. Thrill. I felt like such a bad-a$$. Every muscle taut, ready to leap forward at the green. Fantastic.

Lemond1985

That's usually when my rear wheel slips in the dropouts, right on cue, on my very first pedal stroke. Due to the immense power transfer, of course.

Seriously though, on some days it feels like life or death out there, and it's a great motivator for feats of strength, and moments of great cunning. Of course it helps that you can fit through small gaps in traffic and out maneuever the living hell out of any car that rolls on 4 wheels. I definitely "get it" when it comes to riding in traffic, it's a blast.

jon c. 

I don't ride in heavy traffic often which makes the rush of adrenaline more fun when I do.

RubeRad

lol my goal riding on the street is to avoid rushes of adrenaline.

Jim from Boston

I previously posted to this thread, "Commute by bike? But that's dangerous!"

pdlamb

Yeah, that has some pucker power. Only matched by sitting first at the red light, and snapping the crank as I started. I didn't quite crash, but the cager second in line had to demonstrate his horn. (Wish that type drove a vehicle with a turn signal...)

daoswald

Intense traffic seems to have an adverse effect on my ability to engage clipless pedals on the first try. Left turn lanes are even worse, and the worst of all is uphill starts. I've practiced for twelve years with both SPD and SPD-SL systems. Both of them become like I'm wearing shoes with soles of greased ball bearings when the light turns green on an uphill start with traffic piled up all around me. On my commuter bike I've switched over to MTB platforms, and they're great for commuting.

Korina

Dang, dude, them's some serious legs! Props!

Korina

With a top cruising speed of 14 mph, I ride AFRAP.

That said, I did a stupid last week and got in the left turn lane of a busy intersection. Don't know what got into me; fortunately it wasn't the cager behind me.