stockholm

OK, maybe not all that bad. But, here goes:

I'm one of those cyclists who never, ever run a red light, or run on sidewalks, or... you get the picture. But lately, I've been forced to. At the very end of my commute there's this long hill. Going to work, I roll down it and it is long and steep and fast. I have two left turns and it's always an adventure to let go of the brake and signal left. Anyways, on the right of the road there's a huge construction site, and we're talking trucks, gravel, glass, heavy machinery I don't know what they're called and signalling and all in all a quite dangerous road for a cyclist and her bike.

So I've taken to the MUP going down. Only problem is, it's one-way and in the wrong way, so every morning now I'm bothering my fellow commuters going up that long, steep hill. And I hate it. Every second of it. I want to yell sorry to each and every one I meet.

Sorry about the rant, and I guess it's kind of silly, but I do feel bad about it. Thanks for letting me vent.

John_1961

Thats ok we all need to let off a bit of steam from time to time.

AdamDZ

When you ride a bike your safety is your #1 concern. Then it should be everybody else's safety, then the laws and other stuff. I also try to obey the laws as much as I can. But if I need to break them for my own safety, I will. I also sometimes ride on a sidewalk to avoid dangerous intersections. Lucky for me, the sidewalks in those areas are not busy but I still feel very bad about doing that. But if that's what you gotta do to lower your chances of being a roadkill then be it.

Ridefreemc

Ask your local government to do a plan allowing you and other riders to temporarily divert to the route you cited. That should have been considered in the contruction plan. If pedestrians are in the same predicament they should be safely rerouted too.

umazuki

Confession time:
I don't stop at every stop sign. If there are no cars coming in any direction, I just go right through. I believe this is called an "Idaho Stop", but I'm not in Idaho.
I stop at every light, but usually if it's red I'll hop on the sidewalk and hit the pedestrian button, rather than hope my kickstand will trigger the traffic signal loop in the road.
I fully admit to riding on the sidewalk sometimes. I don't have the nerves to ride on a 45 MPH road (where everyone drives 60) during rush hour.

kookaburra1701

Hey, as long as you're using your head and thinking through your actions, instead of just rolling along, blithely ignorant of any inconvenience you pose to others.

My confession: I salmon up the bike lane for ~1/8 of a mile outside of my apartment if I want to turn onto a certain road. If I didn't, I would have to cross a 5 lane highway (with no signal or crosswalk) ride for that short distance, then attempt to turn left across that same 5 lane highway. So I salmon. I just turn my spidey-sense up to 11 and assume that I'm invisible to everyone, and make way for cyclists who are going the correct way. (but I've actually never run into any in that short stretch.)

alan s 

Do what you need to do to get safely from A to B. As long as you ride with the assumption that you are invisible and inaudible to others, you'll be OK.