Originally Posted by
cramej
I've been lurking for quite a while here and garnered LOTS of information and entertainment but I've got something that's been bugging me for a while now.
First, I commute occasionally to work and hopefully this summer will increase to twice a week or more. I don't mind sharing the road with other bikers when I am driving, barring stupidity or breaking laws and I'm always courteous to other bikers, runners, etc. who use the sidewalks or roads. BUT....... there is one guy I see riding to work - pretty well outfitted (lights, bright colors. etc.) but he picks the absolute worst time to ride. He's riding on a narrow 2 lane with no shoulder (as in white line and then ditch) during school rush hour in the morning alongside buses, high school drivers, and parents rushing to school. There are other road options and to top it off, I watched him blow through a 4 way stop this morning!
What's your opinion? Smart, dumb, do you ride this kind of road?
John
Some of us really don't have much choice in terms of time. Three days a week I'm responsible for getting the kids off to school so I can't leave any earlier, nor would it be good for me to arrive at work any later.
As to other route options I guess I can't say. Some people will bike the same route they would drive without realizing that a different route might be much less stressful or even faster by bike.
Would I bike on road like that? Sure, depending on the speed limit and what my other options were. There is a very narrow road on my way to work I will sometimes take if I feel up to maintaining pace with traffic. The speed limit is only 25 mph and I can maintain that (or pretty close) between stops. Often the traffic isn't moving quite that fast anyway and it's only for a mile or so.
Streets around my house can get quite narrow during the winter and at times I'm slowing down traffic behind me (including the occasional school bus) but my safety comes first. I will pull over now and then to let people by if there's room. When I'm in my car, part of the understanding is that the speed limit is just that, - the upper limit. It's not a guarantee. Lots of things can cause traffic to move slower and most of the time it has nothing to do with bikes. We as drivers (or cyclists) just have to deal with it. Having said that if you're riding at a 12 mph pace in a 45 mph lane and you've got 20 cars stacked up behind you the courteous thing to do is periodically let them by.