Where do you ride?

[dirtworshipper]

Around here (Lawrence, KS) cyclists tend to fall into one of 3 pretty easily identifiable categories:

1) People who ride on the bike paths / sidewalks

2) People who hug the right edge of the road

3) People who ride down the middle of the lane, even if that means a line of cars following them waiting for a chance to pass

I'm sure the best method varies from city to city-- where do you all ride? I've been in more debates than I care to count over the "sidewalk or road" issue, but haven't hear any definitive arguments either way...

ps. we have "bike lanes" on like two roads, but neither of them are along roads that I ever ride. It'd sure be nice to see them along my commute...

[manwebi]

In Colorado Springs we are fortunate to have some bike lanes and a bike path network that facilitate travel to most areas of town (if you're willing to go out of your way to avoid street travel). That being said, I mix equal amounts of bike lane, street (no bike lane, usually neighborhood/interior streets) and bike path for my commutes. I believe in being unobtrusive to traffic when possible, but I have no qualms about taking up space (the whole lane) when needed for my own safety or right of way. And even though I encounter the occasional retarded driver, I feel for the most part that drivers in my town are accomodating and courteous to cyclists on the road. After all we have the Olympic Training Center, CTS and many pros that live/train here in addition to many recreational riders, so drivers are used to seeing bikes on the street. I'm sure that makes commuting here easier than somewhere that cyclists are not as commonplace.

Another observation I've made over many years of commuting is that drivers react differently depending on a cyclists appearance and behavior. I wear a variety of clothing depending on destination/distance/season/etc. Drivers seem to yield sooner and give me more space when I'm on my road bike in lycra than they do if I'm on my mtb with cargo shorts or dickies on the way to work. I always try to ride with a sense of purpose and assertion. If you appear to be going somewhere in a hurry you get more consideration from drivers than if you appear to be lollygagging along on your way to the park.

[Bartman]

No bike lanes in Culpeper. So I usually hug the white line on the side of the road. When traffic gets heavy and slow I have to be more aggressive so I move into the middle of the lane.

[fxdwhl]

The only thing hugging the shoulder does is scare the shit out of me. If the shoulders too small here I come out into the lane. You have to positon yourself to try to keep following cars from making stupid moves. They'll still try but hitting oncoming traffic isn't appealing. You need to take up enough room to eliminate the chance of a glancing blow; if I'm getting hit I'm coming through the windsheild.

[robmdem]

We are fortunate enough to have nice wide backstreets so I rarely have traffic issues. The only cloose call I've had was my own fault. I was passing traffic stopped at a light and someone turned right without signalling. Now I wait in line just as if I was on my big black bike with the 800cc engine. I get thru the intersection and get on the shoulder and out of the way. I'll take the lane to turn left but I don't force my way. I wait for an opening and get in line. But there is usually very light traffic on my commute route, except for cross street traffic at the major roads I only see about 3 or 4 cars traveling on the same road as me in the morning, and maybe a dozen or so in the afternoon.

[Bartman]

Hey Fixed, I didn't say hugging the white line doesn't scare the shit out me:eek: I too will be greeting the driver through the windshield. The county road I take has no shoulder, if you cross the white line you are in the grass, so i also tend to make the traffic deal with me and still be passable at the same time.

[CJN]

Here in NY state a bike is concidered a vehicle. Not everyone knows that though. I ride the shoulder and in the lane when I turn left. Haven't had any close calls yet, but I try to make myself very visable. My ride home is at 11pm or later.

[davkatreb]

I take my lane. F*ck 'em.

[MrTits]

well...i ride in baghdad...so im pretty much anywhere the hummers and water trucks aren't....

or blackwater for that matter

[RandomV]

I take enough of the lane that the cars behind me have to make an effort to get around. I've discovered that if they think they can squeeze past without moving over, they're gonna try... And sometimes that hurts.

[monkeyboy]

My daily ride to work is around 5km each way. I only have to deal with the road for about 500 metres in total. The rest of the trip is on concrete paths beside a creek and a river so it's a really good ride and mostly flat. I have noticed lately, due to the increase of people riding to work, that some people are really bad at riding bikes as are some at driving cars. Some tool (on a bike) ran up my #rse the other day as I hit the brakes to avoid a tram carving me up. He said he didn't see me! I had a fluro green jacket and lights on and it wasn't even dark. And I thought it was only cars I had to worry about!

[adam12]

I just moved 6 miles outside of town...believe it or not that's a whole other state. (Oklahoma) So I have to ride on the highway. That means I ride the shoulder...otherwise I would catch a bull hauler in the a$$.

[poison idea]

It’s a balance of personality, safety and efficiency. My needs are: getting to my destination quickly, unharmed and trying to avoid being a dick without swallowing my pride.
My puny bike can’t compete with a car so If I can keep up with traffic I ride in the lane. If it’s stopped, I take the yellow line. If I’m too slow, I stay to the right. Sidewalks are for pedestrians. If PGH had more bike lanes. I’d use em.

[S. cerevisiae]

So, my commute involves about 31 km. The gooder part is the second half. I have a buggy lane along the road that is only really dangerous on rainy Amish wedding day *can you say horse-crap soup?*.

The first half is very rural and the largest danger is sleepy drivers.

Admittedly I haven't ridden to work since the sunrises have come later than my needed departure time...I am such a wuss, but I also have two kids I want to watch grow. Can't very well do that from a road ditch.

[monkeyboy]

There are a lot of shared paths around here that mostly work. The problems are usually caused by non locals on foot who don't expect a bike to be on the same path. I ride past a football stadium and a casino that tourists like to take photos of (can't work out the casino's attraction. Ugly, big and grey). That's cool, just don't do it standing between the bike and pedestrian lane. Usually I go easy on em but if they don't move after a few rings of my bell sometimes I may let loose a few choice words to take home with them.

[robcycle]

I mostly commute in the urban part of the city. One of the first things I learned was that you take different roads on a bike than in a car. Generally I avoid the two-lane, one-way, cars-parked-on-both-sides that cars seem to prefer. I generally stick to the two-lane, two-way streets. Speeds and volume are much lower, which allows me to take my lane, as the speed limit is 25, and with the stop signs, I am generally going the speed of traffic. Otherwise, I take or yield my lane, as seems appropriate.

-Rob.

[kennbenny667]

I usually take side roads and hug the shoulder, but I will ride sidewalks for a block or two if I feel the situation calls for it.

I commute 9 miles to PIT from Moon, PA, at 415am and back around 220pm. I do it two or three days a week.

[INTENSEe]

I live in Kansas City and I use to live in lawrence. I have found that I like to just ride. The only thing I will stop for is a car in front of me. Its just makes more sense to use cation but not necessarily abide by the same laws as cars. Just ride.