BlazingPedals

That's way too narrow to be a bike lane. That's nothing but a fog line meant to keep motorist off the curb.

rsbob 

Have to agree. They are usually twice as wide (or more) and are denoted by signage either next to the lane or painted on the lane itself.

rumrunn6

correct. route 27 has a bike lane that comes & goes. not helpful to bikes or cars

I was only sharing the photo to a responder who was going to try a route that used a combination of paved bike trails, bike lanes & raw road riding

rumrunn6

there's a multiuse path under construction (I'm guessing). until it's done, we'll have to deal with this. this is Beach Rd, Oak Bluffs before the hospital & before the sharp right up Eastville Ave

Maelochs

I should snap some pics of similar sites where i ride .... but we have all seen it. Definitely the best part of your ride, I'd imagine.

rumrunn6

hehe yeah. on the positive side, drivers were super nice, in general. when we first started out, there was one driver that passed me then blew their horn at my partner in front. kinda mean. startled her but she pulled over to check her machine. the rental guy asked her to turn it on, but she didn't. so the button had no effect. she was in a road position, where, if she could accelerate she'd be fine but hence just pedaling, she should have been over more. got it on video. if I think of it I'll grab a frame. sounds like a bad recipe to me in summer months, but apparently it's working

we were passed quite a lot





Wifey is a cool cucumber

rumrunn6

I think the driver was not aware they should stay back until it was safe to pass so they passed when it wasn't safe due to oncoming traffic & we were taking the lane legally


they blew their horn & forced my partner to the side

where it's not very safe right behind parked cars. what does that plate say? go nutz? ;-)

fresh off the (ferry) boat I think

rumrunn6

passing a pedestrian forces cars to then go further off around us


if I were the pedestrian, I would have been on the cobblestone

darnit hope I'm not hijacking the thread

Maelochs

All my favorite biking roads have no lane .... just a fog line, sometimes not even an inch of pavement to the right of it .... but they are the best roads of riding when there aren't cars. So many years of urban commuting, I just don't care.

CliffordK

I generally take off-street bike paths when I can find them. Although I don't like places where they make street crossings every block, so I might take another low traffic side street until I can come to a section where the path goes for several uninterrupted blocks at a time.

Case in point. In Springfield, Oregon, I like the Pioneer Parkway path. However, I hate the section from Main Street, A, B, C, D, E, & F streets. Then it is good from F to Q street, or to Hayden Bridge Road.

So, for those blocks from F to Main, I'll hop over to Mill Street, taking slightly different routes depending on which way I'm going. If heading south, I'll hop onto Pioneer Parkway West for a few blocks which is a busy road, but I usually hit it between traffic pulses.


When I was in Missouri, I used to ride along the Katy Trail from St. Charles to Defiance or Marthasville, and back. Fine packed limestone trail. There was one section where there was a low traffic country road that went parallel to the Katy trail. I hopped onto the paved road once or twice because I got tired of riding on the higher rolling resistance limestone. I did have at least one driver honk at me. Obviously not someone who had just ridden 40 miles on limestone.

Daniel4

A lot of joggers, motorized wheelchairs and pedestrians use the bike lanes when there are sidewalks present. It occurred to me that bike lanes are so much better than sidewalks. Cars and bikes don't have to go up and down at every intersection. And sidewalks are always full of stuff like signs, furniture and other types of obstruction by businesses.

b88

That's one sorry excuse for a sidewalk, if it is indeed one.

rumrunn6

yeah I get it, but if I was that pedestrian, at that moment, seeing 2 bikes coming toward me & auto traffic, it would be easy to take a step to the side

storckm

Lately I've been deliberately avoiding routes with bike lanes. Too many right turning motorists, cars parked immediately to the right of the bike lane where the doors open into the bike lane, cars parked in the bike lane, busses stopped in the bike lane, grates, obstacles, debris, and bike lanes that end suddenly in the middle of the block.

I'll ride an off-street path if it takes me where I want to go and doesn't have a lot of driveways cutting through it.

Paul Barnard

When people are aware and courteous, the "dance" between road users works beautifully.

Welshboy

I'll use whatever suits me because whilst bike lanes can be safer they are often strewn with glass or simply don't go exactly where I want to go. I've only had one motorist blast his horn at me for not using the bike path that was parallel to the main road but the road was almost empty at 8am on a Sunday morning. I was hoping to catch up with him for a chat but he got through the lights just before they changed to red.

b88

I think some motorists are selective which cyclists they confront, depending on physical size, age, gender. I find it a waste of time exchanging words with such motorists. But how much aggravation can you tolerate before blowing a gasket. One benefit of biking is supposedly stress relief. But at times, I'm more stressed after a bike ride.

Maelochs

I have learned to laugh when drivers are idiots or else they win.

urbanknight

I try to implement something I saw one of my riding buddies do a few times... he waves in a friendly manner, as if the honk was a "hello" from someone familiar. My temper gets in the way sometimes and I end up waving one finger instead of the whole hand.

rumrunn6

up ahead, the bike lane has it's own light, separate from the 3 lanes to the left

Maelochs

Oh, yeah .... it is a learned response which took me years to adopt and it is far from perfected .... Rumor has it that I might have responded in ways which might get an "R" or "NC-17" rating after a few close calls.

I do it in part to keep myself in check ... I hate wasting five minutes getting calmed down after going off at some idiot, because that is my riding time and I don't want some idiot in a car to have any of it.

Still haven't mastered it but I'd say 90 % of the time (because I can say anything ... no way to verify. )

rumrunn6

Maelochs

Hopkinton? Marlboro?

b88

Never seen this scenario before.

livedarklions

It's Arlington, MA where the Minuteman crosses Mass. Ave. He's about to visit Uncle Sam.

There can be an incredible number of cyclists at those crossings.