urbanknight

I know it sounds crazy to expect motorists to follow the basic rules of the road, be attentive, and perhaps use the middle/left pedal on occasion.

Where I live, bike lanes stop and start depending on where the roads were wide enough to have them, so there's no way to go more than a couple miles with a bike and not have to do the next couple miles without one.

bampilot06

We do have a vague bike lanes, but it’s the shoulder where the junk is. 1.5 years ago I was in a bad crash on a brand new bike because VDOT decided to leave a road work sign stand with no sign in the bike lane. I never saw it, and it wasn’t there the day before. I avoid the couple of roads with a bike lane.

Carbonfiberboy 

No. Roads with shoulders around here are maddeningly busy and then the shoulders disappear for bridges, thanks a lot. Some of the bridges have walkways but I'm not riding our tandem down a 2' wide walkway with steel on both sides.

merlinextraligh

The point of this thread is? The Forum is called road cycling. Some of you find riding on the road to not be an acceptable risk. Fine, but no reason to fear monger for the rest of us who do ride on the road.

SoSmellyAir

Hmm, the bike lane is still part of the road, isn't it?

Maelochs

I do believe the poster in question was responding to people who said they would not ride on any road without a bike lane.

I do believe the bike lane that is not there is not part of the road.

Just a clarification, there .... I am on neither side of this point. I know folks who stopped riding on the road because it only takes one stupid driver, and there is certainly more than one. No debate there .... differing strokes. I also know at least one guy who rides anywhere he wants ... but he is considered an idiot by many here.

biker128pedal

I agree with what’s a bike lane. My county we used to have barrow 12 inch shoulders on the secondary roads but VDOT has been going crazy with the rumble drunk bumps taking away the place to be a courteous bicyclist and make room. The state divided highways mostly have wide shoulders. Still the rumble drunk bumps are to the left of the white lane line taking up some of the shoulder.

I have some less traveled routes on the road but riding more of the mountain bike lately to avoid the road and make the SO worry less.


I should add one of these accessories


Less traveled roads

SoSmellyAir

Precisely. So those people would only ride in the bike lanes of roads with bike lanes, which (at least to me) is still road cycling.

You lost me there. Are you referring to Schrodinger's bike lane?

Agreed; there is no universally right answer, it depends on the road and/or bike lane in question, as well as time of the day, etc.

mschwett 

i'll admit i almost responded to the implication that the bike lane wasn't part of the road, it hadn't even occurred to me that there was a metaphysical problem here. if the road is unknown, is the status of the existence of the bike lane a known unknown!?!?

We also know there are known unknown bike lanes; that is to say we know there are some bike lanes we don't know. But there are also unknown unknown bike lanes - the ones we don't know we don't know. It is the latter category that tends to be the dificult ones.

merlinextraligh

ok, fine, your personal risk balance is to ride only in a bike lane. That’s your call, but I don’t need to know your personal decision, let alone a thread collecting such personal decisions

My point is what value does is added to a road cycling forum to have a thread about people, stating t their own subjective judgments that it’s unsafe to ride on most roads.

A thread with actual data about actual risks might be of some value. But a thread that is at best subject to huge self selection bias, imho, adds little to no value, almost always devolves to fear mongering, and given, numerous logical fallacies, including the self selection bias mentioned tends to paint a distorted picture of the risk of god forbid riding a bike on a road.

merlinextraligh

and bike lanes we know to be bike lanes but in fact are not bike lanes. It’s the known knowns that in fact are unknown that will get ya.

Eric F 

I was riding with a group of about 10 yesterday, we came upon a section of bike lane with pylons separating the bike lane from the car lane. The bike lane was filled with small rocks, broken glass, misc. trash, and what looked like the burned remains of a couple of pallets blocking pretty much the entire lane. Even if a street-sweeper happened down that street, they would never be able to sweep the bike lane because of the pylons, and cleaning up the burned debris would require a moderate amount of labor and a dumpster. We stayed in the car lane.

NomarsGirl

Once i get 3-4 miles away from my house, there is a bike lane on my road. I have to take my chances for the first few miles. I love my mirror so i can see if anyone is coming before i hear them.

eduskator

No bike lanes 90% of the time - I ride on shoulders (unless you consider shoulders as bike lanes).

howsteepisit

All depends on the road for me. In town, I tend to look for bike lane streets, rurally .. I take what I can get.

SoSmellyAir

I understand your desire for statistically relevant data from objective, controlled A vs. B studies rather than a host of subjective opinions. If BikeForums ever becomes that I would eat (or at least vigorously chew) my old cycling helmet.

merlinextraligh

Yet, how is it helpful for me to know you draw your personal risk balance at bike lanes?

SoSmellyAir

It is not. In fact, none of the other posts in this thread meets your criteria. Perhaps you should consider unsubscribing to this thread?

merlinextraligh

Valid point. I was simply trying to point out that the “wow is me, traffic is too dangerous” lobby has an outsized influence, and that it isn’t helpful for advancing Road Cycling. Please proceed with the fear mongering. I didn’t realize I’d clicked on the A&S forum.

SoSmellyAir

Perhaps you overstate the influence of this thread. And how is any post in this thread fear-mongering, either individually or collectively?

MyRedTrek

Nothing nefarious I promise, just curiosity regarding how common it is for people to ride under circumstances similar to that shown in the OP.

merlinextraligh

The problem is the responses you get in this thread won’t tell you that. People who only ride in bike lanes and roads with wide shoulders will post. People who ride on a wide variety of roads won’t post. So the results will be skewed to the point of being worthless, which is where I started.

UnCruel 

I do, but the road pictured isn't ideal: one lane each way, striped for no passing, and the lane doesn't appear to be wide enough (14 feet) to share. I would think twice before planning a ride on such a road. My choice would mostly come down to how busy the road is and how far the site distance is.

exercion

Yep

Eric

eduskator

Yes. However, I'd be on the other side of the white lane (unless there are debris), and my taillight would be on and flashing.

When the roles are inversed (when I am driving), I will either get around the cyclist by driving in the opposite direction if there is no car coming or I will wait until it is safe to pass the cyclist. And yes, being a cyclist, I always exaggerate the distance between my car and the bike.