sbhikes

I've been teased that I can't ride without a bike lane. Well, I guess it's true.

Today I decided maybe I should test myself and make sure I'm not a total weenie. I decided I would go visit my sister 10 miles away. I gave it some thought. Hmm. Hollister? No, that has a bike lane. Cathedral Oaks? No, that has a bike lane too, plus a lot of hills and I just want an easy ride today. Calle Real where that kid was killed? Nope. Bike lane there, too. I suppose I could cobble together some kind of residential street ride. Bah. Who wants to stop at a million intersections? It would take all day.

Thwarted even before I could leave the house, I weenied out completely and rationalized that if I had to suffer the indignities of a bike facility I might as well go all the way and take the Obern trail. At least then I could veg out and suffer the hot Indian Summer sun sans diesel fumes.

Feeling defeated, off I went. Darn it. Even the approach route to the Obern trail has a bike lane. Damn those bike advocates who set up this network. How am I to prove my mettle? If I can't hold my own with the denizens of Philadelphia or Phoenix, then how on earth can I call myself a bicyclist? How can I prove my relevancy?

As I snoozed along the bike path, I cursed the advocates who created this monstrosity. I mean, the turkey vultures were circling. For sure they knew I was a gonner. There was an intersection coming up in about 5 miles and I was certain they knew I was going to die in that deathtrap.

I managed to survive the intersection intact. Darn it! I couldn't even test out the inherant death trap of the configuration because nobody was there but me.

I take an offramp to another trail on this network, cursing the discriminatory nature of segregating me way out here next to the lettuce and fennel fields, but I was filled with hope that things might improve on the surface streets of residential Goleta. I cursed the fresh air, the birds, the other happy cyclists. Don't they know they've been pushed aside? This is the damn colored drinking fountain of bike facilities for chrissakes!

At long last, after cursing my way under the freeway (damn it, I should be alpha dogging it through some merge lanes, not bypassing by a creek in the shade) I emerged onto the residential streets of Goleta. After nearly being run down by a BMW, because of the crappy end of the bike lane at a crosswalk (you can't blame him for wanting to run the stop, it's the crosswalk's fault), I finally felt like I had reached some real roads with no bike lanes. Now I could prove I have the right stuff.

So, off I go feeling all cocky and everything but then I remembered, oh yeah, these are 25 mph residential streets. This ain't proving nothing. Plus there's nobody here. I suck. I'm no cyclist. I'm just a pedaling pedestrian in a beach chair. I slink over to the side and start weaving in and out of parked cars. May as well prove I'm totally irrelevant.

I pulled out onto a major side-street. Dang. Another bike lane. But at least I got to alpha dog it to the left turn lane to my sister's street. But again, nobody was there to witness my prowess at taking the lane. By now I'm thinking about hair dryers in the tub or razor blades on my wrist. I'm so inadequate. So irrelevant.

So, sad to say, I'm just a hack. I'm no real cyclist. You folks battling it out in Atlanta, San Diego or Houston, you're the One True cyclists. Those stupid advocates who put this whole discriminatory network in place, who prevented me from experiencing true cycling, who have made me a cripple in the cycling world, unable to go anywhere without being pestered by birds and lizards instead of the comforting sounds of monster trucks with shark teeth in the grille...they should have been vehemently opposed. It really sucks. I hate cycling now.

derath

Almost funny Diane.

Kudos to you. I am happy that you have such a nice network in place. Just try to keep in mind that probably about 90% of the rest of the roads in the country are not like yours (just a guess, but probably close).

So when others talk about techniques we use, it is likely because we don't have the same road situation that you do. Nor would your techniques work for us. Not a right or wrong thing, just a situational thing.

-D

John E

Thank you, Diane. Any time I can reasonably take a modest detour to avoid a high-speed merge or diverge or a fast shoulderless arterial with narrow lanes, I do so. However, as derath abptly observes, one cannot always get from point A to point B on bicycle-friendly roads.

derath

Honestly, I think more to the point is that just because the roads I ride on don't have a bike lane, or sometimes a shoulder for that matter, doesn't make them bicycle-unfriendly. I, as well as other riders I see, seem to do just fine on them. We have to ride them with different techniques, but I can't say I have ever said "if only they added a bike lane..."

Sometimes a slightly wider shoulder maybe...

-D

Bekologist

haven't you heard, Diane? Multiple Use Paths are the way of evil and fraught with danger.

N_C

Diane,

Do you have to ride in the bike lanes? Or can you ride in the lane of traffic if you wish? Are the BL's on one side of the street only or both? What do the laws & ordinances say about using the BL's compared to the travel lanes? Do the BL's go the entire routes you take?

I'm not sure if you're complaining, venting or just informing us about this, what ever the case it is perfectly fine. Just wondering what cyclists are allowed to do in your area with all the BL's around.

Bekologist

irony.

hilarious.

Watch out, Diane, pretty soon you will be rendered unable to pilot your bike on roads if you keep using facilities.... I've heard from some A&S 'experts' that using bike lanes and facilties will make you unable to negotiate simple intersections if they aren't accomodated.

I'm amazed you would subject yourself to such heinous conditions, knowing full well the negative effects of riding over to your sisters' place on the MUP....

sggoodri

I consider every lane to be a bike lane, every street to be a bicycle facility, so, I'm sort of in the same boat.

My bike commute starts on my unstriped 32-foot-wide residential collector street. I then turn on to a 2-lane arterial road with 10' lanes and 6"-1' shoulders, posted 35 mph, where I take the lane until it opens up into three lanes (center turn) at the middle school and drivers can pass me more easily if I ride on the far right side of the lane.

I pass through two closely spaced intersections, turning left onto another 2-lane arterial road, this one with 10' lanes and 2' shoulders, posted 45. I ride the right edge of the lane unless I notice a big truck or bus behind me, in which case I take the lane. I also take the lane as I pass the elementary school because a left turn lane is full of cars, leaving only a narrow through lane.

I turn right onto a 4-lane road with 11' lanes, taking the lane before merging left to get into the through lane (the right lane turns into a right-turn-only lane. The road turns into an unstriped 2-lane road with 12' lanes and a 25 mph posted limit; I share the lane for a few seconds before I merge left to prepare for a left turn onto a 2-lane road with 11' lanes. This one has a steep climb uphill; I ride on the right edge of the lane if there is no oncoming traffic; in 20 seconds I move into the center-lane position to deal with two busy intersections and a sharp bend in the road. The road transitions into a 4-lane road with mostly 11' lanes, with 12' wide sections and 10' sections, posted 35-45. I take the rightmost lane for about 3 miles, proceeding through many signalized intersections, until the road widens and straightens with 14' outside lanes now. I ride the rightmost edge of the lane here until I turn right after about a minute.

I take the lane through some narrow, low-speed office/medical park access roads/drives, making a couple of turns until I'm on another 40 mph 4-lane arterial with 11' lanes. I take the lane down the hill for 1/4-1/3 mile to my office park access road, which is 3-lane with 12' lanes, posted 15 mph. I ride the right half of the lane here until I reach my building.

The (typical) result of the ride? No horn honks, no close passes, plenty of good exercise. I believe that my safety and comfort depends on other drivers thinking that all of these roads, all of these lanes, are indeed bicycle facilities, and that riding the way I do is perfectly legitimate and proper. I don't see anything wrong with people riding in the bike-only lanes where they live, but bike-only lanes have nothing to do with my commute, now or in the future, because the city isn't going to buy the land, rip up the curbs, tear down the trees and relocate the power poles to widen these roads enough to add bike-only lanes.

sbhikes

Well, yes I was totally hyperventillating as I ventured out of my cocoon-like bike lane in order to make that left turn from the left turn lane. Not sure if a cop was going to fly out from behind the fruit stand up ahead and arrest me for leaving my designated space and not shopping for organic vegetables like a crunchy nut-job bicyclist like me should have been doing.

C'mon you guys. I live in California. HH has spouted off the laws here a million times. No mandatory side-path laws. The bike lanes/paths are just everywhere here. And like Bek has pointed out, when well-accommodated bike facilities exist the natural, safe, default position for a cyclist is in them.

lyledriver

Shouldn't you be calling yourself a 'tricyclist' anways?

LittleBigMan

I hate to disagree with you D, but I thought Diane's piece was one of the best-written reads I've come across on these forums.

Diane, that was too good. You didn't miss a lick, you've got a gift, girlfriend! In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I didn't even feel the stiletto! (Keep 'em comin'! )

Pete from the ATL

genec

Nice Diane... guess it just goes to show what runaway advocacy can result in...

Oh the horror of never "taking a lane," of never riding in the right tire tracks on a road lined with parked autos. How can you stand it? And having to suffer through a ride on a quiet isolated MUP, perhaps you should come to San Diego where one of our best MUPs parallels a freeway, so the sounds and smells of the morning rush hour traffic fills your senses and makes you want to be alive. And then for the ultimate challenge, you get to use a ped crosswalk button to make the light red... and you can attempt to cross the street while the motorists stream through the intersection, using their amazing powers of "right on red... and nobody really stops."

And of course here we cyclists like our bike lanes filled with litter and trash and broken roadway, thus we cast ourselves from the bike lanes with zest and zeal while powerweaving down 50MPH roads under construction, while holding back the hordes of impatient commuters.

Oh the thrill of it all... and nary a singing bird to dull your senses as one takes the Dana Point Hiway 1 travel lanes, to avoid the cursed MUP! Strike back I tell you, strike back.

A network... how dare they.

oscaregg

It sounds like.....your town just has a good bike lane network!

chipcom 

Three words - tongue in cheek

Da Tinker

Diane, looks like you are giving Mayo some serious competition for BF Best Writer.

I've been working with a traffic engineer who formerly worked in Santa Barbara. She has gotta see this!

sbhikes

Thanks for appreciative words of those where were entertained. That's all I was trying to do.

Gene, I can almost feel the fresh, warm diesel exhaust right now. Ahh. Deep breath.

joejack951

Diane, that was definitely entertaining but it sounds as though you enjoyed your ride not because of the facilities (except in the case of the fully seperated MUP's) but because of the lack of other roadway traffic. Don't we all wish we were so lucky that nobody in our towns left their houses at the same time we did.

noisebeam

This bring up something I've been thinking about for a while now. There is such a huge difference between a rush hour commute ride vs. a weekend ride (especially one with a group) that they barely require the same traffic skills.

I took 2mo. off this summer not riding to work, but on occasion joining a weekend ride or going for a solo ride weekend mornings. During this time I thought: 'Strange, riding in traffic is hardly what I remember it as', I thought: 'Well maybe it is because I am more relaxed from not working.' I also used more bike lane type facilities more frequently and didn't find them as bad as I remembered.

Then I started my commute again and it once again hit me as it became a totally different type of cycling, the cycling I remembered from before. The bike lane stripes became more of a nuicance, they caused confusion with other drivers. I once again started to become annoyed with poor designs (but still AASHTO 'compliant').

Having a low traffic engagement, 'relaxing' ride has far more in my experience to do with traffic conditions than any form of bike facilities.

Al

JohnBrooking

Well, congratulations, Dianne, on having what sound like good facilities in your area. You know of course that that not everyone is so lucky. My biggest gripe with your post is simply that to criticize the anti-BL position based only on your own local experience is no more valid than someone else promoting it on the same basis.

I admit to anti-BL leanings, but I think I could still be convinced. Whenever I feel tempted to go completely over to the anti-BL side, thoughts of Amsterdam (which I have only heard about, not seen first-hand) tug at me, saying "Okay, it sounds like they can actually work pretty well, if they are done right." It sounds like they must be done well enough around your area, too. Part of my hesitancy no doubt stems from the fact that I don't have many BL's (none on my regular commute), so I do have some pride, maybe too much, in having learned to ride in traffic "the old-fashioned way", by sharing the lane with cars. (Okay, I'll use a shoulder on staightaways, if a sufficiently wide and clean one is present.)

However, if I were to admit to any BL support, it has to be with that caveat "if they're done right". Diane, how are your BL's done through intersections? You mention going through one, but not what the configuration actually was. As we have all heard (and I've seen in my area), many BL's just stop at the intersection, with no indication of what to do next. If yours actually leads you to the correct lane positioning, and/or has its own signal, I'd feel much better about supporting it. If not, then I would say that presence of such a BL on the straightaway is not doing anything to help the uneducated cyclist (which I know you are not) get through the intersection. Therefore, the cyclist still needs education with or without the bike lane, so the BL is adding no value at the intersection. If you subscribe to the belief that the segregrated bike lane actually discourages motorists and cyclists from being aware of each other (which I know not everyone agrees with), it might actually be a net loss. Alternately, if the BL stays to the right throughout the intersection, with no bike-specific signals, I can't see how that is defensible at all. But of course yours may be handled better than that, I hope.

Artkansas 

Yeah, I've had to endure the torture of cycling in Santa Barbara. Ward Memorial Blvd, San Marcos Pass, Cathedral Oaks, Hollister, State Street, Del Playa and the bikepaths at UCSB. Oh the agony I endured.

If you are looking for a vacation from such h*ll, you are welcome to come to Little Rock. We can show you the wonders of an Arkansas bike lane (shown below)


You will have to suffer through bicycle horrors like the Big Dam Bridge though. but if you need relief, come on down!

Brian Ratliff

Great piece of writing, Diane! Sounds like some people here are just a tad bit jealous, forgetting that, in addition to not living in a place with such magnificent cycling, they are actively working against making their locale into such a place. Scorching the earth just to prove that their manhood is every bit as big as those people driving cars (or at least larger than all others riding bicycles).

One point to the trike rider!

sbhikes

Thanks Brian.

Wow, Arkansas is beautiful.

noisebeam

Read each of these and help me understand why one place is considered bike facility heaven by some fo those who ride there and the other is considered BL hell by some of those who ride there and those who don't.

https://www.bicyclefriendlycommunity....ta_barbara.pdf
https://www.bicyclefriendlycommunity....ages/tempe.pdf

Al

Brian Ratliff

Don't know. I've never been on my bike in either place. However, much pertains to the specifics of implementation, not the broad fact that both have 'x' miles of bike lanes. Most of the people who most ardently oppose bike lanes focus on potential inadequate implementations of bike lanes - including yourself. They throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak, and confuse the specifics of bad implementation with the generalities of the bike lane concept.

One thought though: I tend to believe the people who live and bike in a locale to determine how well bike facilities are implemented. If most all from SB like their environment, and many from Tempe don't, then I'd come to the conclusion that there is something about Tempe which makes people not like bike lanes, or not like the bike lanes which are there. It tells me that SB has a better implementation policy than Tempe. And it doesn't just stop at bike lanes, or enumerating bike lane miles, but probably involves the road system and perhaps even the entire city layout as a whole.

While I've never biked in either place, I've spent a couple days in Tempe not too long ago. From conversations here, and from noticing differences between Portland and Tempe (and the Phoenix area as a whole) I can tell you that much of the problems probably has to do with the layout of multi-laned, arterial grids in Tempe, which swings people out of favor of bike lanes, or out of the bike lanes as they are implemented in Tempe. Phoenix is a much more car centric locale than Portland, OR (I am switching cities to the one I know), and it would, frankly, be surprising to me if this one single fact didn't have a major impact on how cyclists ride, and what facilities they prefer.

There is absolutely nothing in conflict with either the person from SB or Portland who enjoys their bike lanes, and the person from Phoenix who hates them. It is absolutely reasonable that environment will shape opinions, and it is absolutely non-essential that a bike facility "strategy" be homogeneous across the country. Why do you think all road planning is local, and why do you think that most successful and popular cycling advocacy groups are strictly local. For instance, in Portland, at the Bike Summit, there was no mention of the LAB or vehicular cycling. It was perfectly clear that the BTA (bicycle transportation alliance, the local advocacy group) has its own thing going.

A city like Tempe, who blindly follows what very different cities such as SB or Portland are doing is likely to fail in its implementation. Perhaps this is the reason for the differing reactions you are looking for.

noisebeam

Thanks Brian - that was thoughtfull. To be clear... I am only aware of one person who like SB bike lanes/facilities and one person who dislikes Tempe BLs. I am aware of people locally who make comments like 'we need more BLs.'

I do recall one interesting convesation between a group of club rides (I was not active in it, just listened in and took notes ) There were about 25 of us. We had two choices to travel - a freeway access road with BL or an arterial with WOL. First to chime in was a guy saying - we are taking the access road since it has a BL, then someone else said, but there is more traffic and its dangerous at the offramps, then response was, but we should stick with route with BL, response: but its clearly safer on [the arterial], eventually many chimed in and the group split in two and met up 10mi later at our meet spot. Then some of the folks using the BL said it was too bad the [WOL arterial] wasn't striped cause the [freeway access road] is so busy and it would have given them a better alternative -which spawned ideas for advocating for a BL on this arterial, sigh. Most interesting to me is that on these club rides, folks very often ride side by side and when there is a BL the outside person is outside the BL, with the WOL we never have this issue.

(this is not intended as argument for/against BL/WOL as the freeway access road will always be less 'pleasant' to ride on BL or WOL relative to the arterial with the matched infrastructure.)

Al