indyfabz

I wonder if it's because people don't take the time to read all the replies in a thread. Opinions like yours and mine have been formed after reading thread after thread after thread. We did not simply jump to a conclusion based on one incident. You would think readers of threads like these would understand that, but again, they may not be reading all the replies.

And I gave to wonder how long it will be before one or more of us gets heat from the mods.

RPK79

Two options really:
1) Contact your congressman and get them to mandate that the city lengthen the bike lane
2) Change lanes and continue on with life as if nothing happened

Chris516

I just continue, and the traffic has to accept it.

LGHT

I usually just stop and go back the way I came. No way would I ever continue riding on a street that didn't have a dedicated never ending bike lane.

ItsJustMe

Yes, a lot of people on YouTube are wrong.

Drew Eckhardt 

Move over before it ends so there's plenty of time to merge. Streams of cars have gaps which a bicycle can fit into. Traffic moving at normal speeds has long ones from traffic lights. Bumper to bumper traffic moves slower than cycling speed so you need less room.

FBinNY 

It has nothing to do with making a point of any kind (for all but a few), and everything to do with getting from point A to point B, and living with and adapting to the real world.

Let's face some basic facts. 99% or more of the roads in the USA don't have bike lanes of any kind (let's not quibble, it might only be 98% or less), and until fairly recently that number was more like 99.999%. So anybody who rides a bicycle and wants to be able to go anywhere he pleases has to ride in mixed traffic on regular streets and roads. That's simple reality, and not necessarily a preference of any kind.

I've been riding in traffic for 50+ years and consider it as normal as driving or walking on the sidewalk. I'm not proving anything, just going about my daily life like everybody else, except for my choice of transport. I don't prefer heavy traffic, and when I have a choice will opt for different routes that lend themselves to a nicer ride.

But traffic is only one element of my road choices. Other factors like pavement, condition, road width, terrain, scenery, cross streets, stops along the way and just plain whim all enter into the decision. For instance, I have 5 basic routes to/from work, and while I use my first choice about 60% of the time, I'll switch to one of the others for any of the reasons above, Usually opting for a longer more scenic ride home at the end of the day, that may change my 6 mile trip to 30+ miles if it's a nice day.

So, unless you want to limit yourself to the options presented by bike lanes, you'll need to overcome your (unfounded) fears and venture out into traffic like the millions of us out there.

badger1

Sigh. And so it continues ...

79pmooney

I ride high traffic streets fairly often for the same reason people in small cars get on freeways with 80,000 pound trucks. Those roads get me to where I want to go faster and with fewer stops. Much of the time, I am riding to get somewhere. Makes sense to me to use the roads that go there. And it is in Oregon law that it is my right to do just that on the vast majority of secondary roads (and some of the freeways though I rarely use them). (Those busy roads often have fewer dogs, kids, unaware drivers opening doors - they tend to loose their doors on those streets if they don't look/think.)

Ben

GP

1. As you turn your head, press your left knee into the top tube. This will keep you from drifting left.
2. Put out your left hand and point or signal where you're going.

I-Like-To-Bike

Indeed, playing electronic Patty-Cake is a requirement when responding to imaginative posts that emanate from the keyboards of BF dreamers. Must not create any negative waves that could upset delicate feelings.

atbman

I come to a halt and wait for the men with the whitelining machine to come along and complete the work

DreamRider85

*delete*

DreamRider85

Well today, I was in the bike lanes of Skyline Blvd for a little and I knew the bike lane was ending. The problem though is there were a few cars behind me and I can only really see 10 to 15 feet behind me, when looking over my left shoulder. Cars can be just a little bit further back and I wouldn't know. Plus, cars are also turning to their right, right where the bike lane ends. So it's very tricky, mostly because I can only see 10 to 15 feet back while I'm peddling. And one of the other aspects that makes this a challenge is I'm descending downhill. People need to realize that there are situations that aren't blatantly obvious in terms of what to do or HOW to do it.

FBinNY 

The best kept secret of bicycling in traffic is that you don't need to see cars behind you until/unless you need to make a serious maneuver across their path.

They have o see you, and they do so very reliably. Faced with an obstacle up ahead, make a long and gradual shift to he left, and the traffic stream will do likewise. The key is to make it gradually, so the first car to pass (the one only a few feet behind you barely has to adjust, then each car will be adjusting more maintaining the needed clearance until you're fully in your new line.

The system works, no need to do it another way.

DreamRider85

Great, but I still have to make sure there are no cars around me. What if there's car coming at 50 mph and I don't see him and he's wreckless? Doesn't it make sense for me to be able to know who's behind me?

I-Like-To-Bike

Probably aren't any cars in Mom's basement

DreamRider85

But there are cars on the road and that's what the topic is about baby

FBinNY 

Why?


So a car might be coming up, how could you possibly determine who's at the wheel?

It might make sense to you, and if they ever invent mental telepathy it might be handy. But the simple fact is that you'll never know who's behind you, just that someone is.

I've said it before and I repeat it. Your fears are all in your head, and you're projecting an imagined scenario that doesn't exist in the real world. I assume you cross streets and engage in all sorts of activities where people sometimes die. The only difference is that for some reason you've fixated on death by motor vehicle while bicycling (a truly rare event) and obsessing over it.

Some here are making light of your worries, others calling you a troll, but I have to wonder about the extent that reading some of the nonsense here in the A&S forum might have contributed to your distorted view of bicycling safety.

As i said earlier, I don't think that anything I might say will help you. Either seek out a professional who specializes in fears and phobias, or try to deal with the fear by working up to it riding in traffic on quieter streets, until you're comfortable there and ready to try busier streets.

Or

Continue as you are now, limiting yourself to the bike lanes you're comfortable on, and turning around and heading back when you come to an obstacle.

I-Like-To-Bike

I thought the topic of all your threads was your peculiar nightmares and paranoia about cycling on the road in the presence of motorized vehicles. Got bad news for you, your fantasy that cars will be removed from streets and roads so you can ride in a car free world in the foreseeable future ain't very likely. The on topic solution may be found in the basement of your parent's house; return to it and keep pounding on the keyboard and a solution might be generated; it might work for a roomful of monkeys and it might work for you.

Chris516

Same here MD suburbs of DC.

caloso

OP:

Learn to look behind you without swerving. Practice by riding on the fogline, turn your head, hold your line. Start with looking over your left shoulder, since that's they way you'll look most of the time, but once you've mastered that, practice the right as well.

We do this with our juniors. After learning to look without swerving, we start on learning to drink, eat, and put on/take off clothing while moving.

It just takes practice, but these are skills that a young child (literally, not figuratively) can master.

vol

I only trust bike paths/lanes that are separated from vehicle lanes by (substantial) physical dividers. If the bike lanes are simply marked as such, I regard them as hardly different from unmarked at all. I think of them as telling drivers that they are not supposed to drive into them, but am fully aware they are capable of driving into them and nothing can prevent that from happening if they do (and they do it all the time).

smarkinson

Skyline Blvd? I assume San Francisco? If so you need something like this: https://www.sfbike.org/resources/urb...ing-workshops/

If not sf then look up a similar organisation in your city. Someone else mentioned league of American bicyclists.

I really don't think the threads you are starting here and the answers you are getting (particularly when you dismiss most of the sensible replies you are getting) are going to make you a better or safer rider.

You need some real hands on teaching if you want to overcome your hangups.

Of course, you may not want to overcome your hangups. Some people are just like that, they think having a bunch of neuroses makes them special or more interesting. Or you could just be a troll like others say.

kickstart

Help!

Stuck at the end of a bike lane!

Phones almost dead!

Out of water and energy bars!

Flowers only, no ghost bike please!

Goodbye cruel world..............