B. Carfree

We (almost) all have "those" roads in our regions. You know what I mean, those roads that never fail to make you feel unwelcome, at risk and generally cause you to wonder why you chose to ride a bike. They take various forms, from the over-used two-lane suburban connector with no shoulders to the six-lane expressway with an on-again off-again shoulder or bike lane (or worse yet, a door-zone bike lane).

How do you handle these beasts? Do you ride them with pride and fly your flag in an act of defiant, "We're here, get used to it." Or do you take the long way home and avoid them. Because, let's face it, "those" roads are almost always the most direct way to where we're going. Just as interesting to me, why do you make your choice?

I'm sure I left out many reasons. Spout off below.

kickstart

Cycling isn't a lifestyle, statement, or ideology for me, its just something I like to do, and happens to be a reasonable form of transportation than meets most of my needs.

As such I'm pragmatic and take things as they come, moment by moment. My daily commute includes single track, single lane rural road, 2, 4, and 6 lane arterials with no shoulder, shoulder, and well engineered bike lanes. Traffic is typically moderately heavy, road conditions from fair to poor, with some rail crossings.
I'm mostly a VC rider using the lane more than most cyclists I encounter in the area, but I'm far more willing than the stereotypical VCer to ride FRAS or take the sidewalk when I'm obviously creating a disruption to traffic, or feel conditions are questionable....but not always.

The dynamics of road conditions, weather, time of day, traffic, energy level, and motivation are constantly changing, I'm not an emotional rider, my need for personal space is small, and I don't dwell on issues, so in short, I will ride the same challenging road in several different ways, but rarely avoid them outright.

jwarner

Well stated. I don't think there is one "right" answer. I think we have to constantly evaluate conditions, and go with the best and safest option, one which will ideally also reflect well on the cycling community.

welshTerrier2

I enjoy mapping out and riding routes on the quietest back roads with the best scenery. I'm not a commuter and I don't need to be anywhere at a specific time. Going way out of my way to avoid traffic just gives me more time on the bike and that's fine with me. I've ridden "those" roads plenty of times but, frankly, I'd much rather listen to the wind blowing through the trees, birds chirping overhead or waves lapping at the shoreline than the noise of traffic screeching along on the asphalt.

mr_bill

Back when there was a child seat on my bike then later a trailer bike, no, for some other reason.

Now, yes. And like Kickstart, it depends.

Example horrific - usually goes better than this. The FTS moment came when the cab behind me gave me "friendly" honks and told me to go as he began inching me out of the way after the light turned red....
(Disclaimer - you'll want two minutes of your life back. And yes, being legal was the last thing on my mind for the last dozen seconds.)

-mr. bill

MMACH 5

It's never black and white.

mconlonx

Voted: "Yes, because I will always take the most direct route" but really it's more about the most convenient route.

When I was living in Boston -- apt on the Medford/Malden line; working in the Fort Point area -- the Fellsway/McGrath route was the most convenient/direct route without going miles out of my way or traveling equally dubious streets, so that's what I rode.

When I moved back to ME and was commuting a couple towns away or to Portsmouth NH, there are a lot of high-speed, 45 mph, 2-lane roads with no or little shoulder, questionable sight-lines, etc., but they are basically the only way to get around from one rural community to another.

There's also parts of my commuting routes where people tend to do sketchy things on a semi-regular basis, which is where I aggressively take the lane.

I'm part of traffic, I go where traffic goes.

EvilWeasel

I ride where i want, when i want. No fear.

Than again i was rasied by a motorcycle enthusiast of a father. When i finally got my first Kawasaki at 15, my father made it clear that i must accept the fact that i am taking my life in my hands every day.

I held a fairly dangerous job in the marine corps.

I tried my hand at motorcycle road racing... any time you roll onto the track might be your last. You pretend it won't happen but you have to come to peace with the idea.

It might sound morbid and i do all i can to prevent it. However i came to terms with the fact i might die on the asphalt a long time ago, and i almost have on several occasions. I'm ok with it. It won't stop me from riding.

TrikeRider1961

At Kickstart...Very intelligent and well stated comment. I agree wholeheartedly.

Thank you

EvilWeasel

Double post wierdness

delcrossv

So to get from Here to There sometimes I just have to ride on heavily trafficked roads. E.g.: To get over the interstate I have a choice of: 1. 4 lane arterial with cars going around 50 or 2. a narrow two laner with cars going around 40. Dammed if you do, damned if you don't.

Slightly more stressfull than on the bike path, but meh, cars don't bother me much ( I think that riding a bent makes drivers think I'm disabled and they give me more room)

Caliper

Yuck, that's a horiffic place to be in a car too.

Around my area, pretty much all paved roads are "those" roads. "55"mph with little to no shoulder. What shoulder exists is often gravel. Heck, sometimes the edge of the pavement has deteriorated and crumbled away meaning the pavement doesn't even extend to the white line. This is why I started gravel biking and enjoy all the dirt backroads. Many more miles available there and with better hills to boot.

enigmaT120

OP, how did you vote in your poll? I don't know if you make it up my way very often, but most of the roads in Polk County are 2 lane 55 mph roads with no shoulders. Luckily the traffic is fairly light, at least in the afternoons when I'm more likely to take a longer ride home. I still stick to the two roads into Falls City that include gravel sections as the traffic is lighter.

B. Carfree

I delayed voting so that I wouldn't distract people at the get-go. I've gone ahead and voted double-wishy-washy. That means that I went with both It Depends and Yes to avoid losing the right to the road.

Let me elaborate on my less than popular choice. I'm not a rabid hate-on-everything-motorized sort of rider, although I dislike what motor vehicles do to people (health issues, personality transformations when driving). However, Justice Scalia's decision in a home-based indoor marijuana grow from Florence OR is ever-present in my mind. In that case, the local cops borrowed infra-red imaging devices to "see" the pot farm through the walls. Scalia threw out the conviction because the resident had a reasonable expectation of privacy to his infra-red emissions. However, he added that once such devices came into common usage, then that expectation, and that piece of his right to privacy, would vanish.

Our use of the roadways hangs by a similar thread, IMO. If no one ever sees a bike, then bikes are assumed to not belong. If we confine ourselves to the few roads that traffic planners put into their metro plans for us, then we're ceding our right to ride where we choose. My sister-in-law had such an encounter with a motorist who nearly hit her some years ago in Davis, CA. The motorist was furious that my SIL was on 5th St when there was a bike lane on 3rd St. The motorist demanded to know why my SIL was riding on that road. My SIL responded, "I live on this street. What are YOU doing here?" In that city at that time, very few cyclists would ride on 5th, with almost all of them choosing 3rd or 4th. That community habit had effectively created the sense among motorists that bikes should not be on 5th and that it was reserved for cars. Sadly, many people on bikes felt the same way.

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for the hassle of riding on a road where I will have to deal with extra hostile motorists. When I've got the time and am inclined to ride in a mellow way, then I'm happy to take the long way around. If my wife is riding with me, then I'm sure to take the long way since she will never ride "those" roads. Typical of such a situation, the only close calls I've had in years are on poorly designed bikey infrastructure like cycletracks*; I never have any safety issues on "those" roads, perhaps because I'm firmly in the center of the lane as opposed to being shunted off to the periphery and I'm totally focused.

*Not really close calls since I saw them developing and took appropriate action in a timely fashion. However, if I had just stayed the course, I would have had some interesting experiences.

As far as your local roads, I've not ridden exactly those, but have been on some similar ones nearby. It's not the road itself that makes for one of "those" roads, it's the combination of the road, the number of motorists and their behavior. As you've noticed, the same road can be fine at some hours and unacceptable at others simply due to traffic volume. Similar roads can have entirely different characteristics depending on the local culture as well.

Also, that culture can change over time. I've watched some roads become more friendly to ride on over time as more people started riding on them. (Between Davis and Vacaville, CA there are a number of examples of this where the roads sucked in the '90s and are great now simply because there are thousands of people riding now as opposed to dozens of us in the '90s. No change to the road surface was made.) Of course, I've seen the opposite more often.

Sullalto

I go around, if I can.

kickstart

I sometimes get the distinct impression that many of the "issues" I see alluded to on BF are actually emotional perceptions rather than factual observations.

Its an over active imagination that makes a dust bunny a monster under the bed.

El Cid

There are two roads that I avoid, not because of regular commuter traffic but because of the heavy truck traffic. I don't feel any guilt over slowing down a motorist (if I don't see another choice), but trucks have a job to do and I'm willing to go much farther out of my way for their sake.

genec

Yes, I ride on those roads... as often there just is no other way. It isn't a matter of choice.

Yes, I will because I always take the most direct route. -- No, it is the ONLY ROUTE!

Yes I will because if we don't ride on all roads we'll lose the right to ride on the road. -- It isn't about my rights, it IS about the need to get somewhere. I would prefer an alternative, but such an alternative may not exist.

It depends-time of day, day of week, how rushed I am and so on. -- When you commute, there is often no choice in "the time of day." You have to get to work just like everyone else.

All the roads around here are like that. -- While that isn't true, there are enough of such roads to make it a "situation" just about anywhere I want to go outside of a few select places.

We don't have "those" roads around here. -- Uh, yes we do... in fact many areas of the west are like this... only a few roads to get to some destinations... a full on grid pattern often doesn't exist, and heavily used arterial roads are all too often the normal situation. 50 MPH speed limits and multiple lanes tend to dominate such roads... you are lucky if the lanes are wide enough to share. In San Diego, often there is a bike lane on newer wide arterial roads... but you still have to deal with near freeway speed traffic when making left turns or watching for left hooks from harried drivers.

B. Carfree

To sum up: SoCal sucks. (Of course we NorCal natives love to say that. It makes up for our inferior weather.)

B. Carfree

I think much of this is the result of the simple fact that riding a bike, like driving a motor vehicle, is so amazingly simple that it is a wonder so many people can't manage to do either with reasonable proficiency. This leads to a lot of mental gymnastics and contortions to explain all the difficulties that are probably summed up by the simple fact that half the population has a below-average intellect.

kickstart

I wholeheartedly agree, the amount of angst and emotional distress directed at other road users, motorists in particular, amazes me.
When even those of us who have "below-average intellect" can avoid most of the issues regurgitated here ad nauseam with an absolute minimum of effort, it makes one question why some even bother to ride.

Mr. Hairy Legs

What were you doing there? That was confusing.

Nick94804

Any road can become one of "those" roads. If I'm freaked, I don't hesitate to take control and take the lane, but I'm not a prick...I won't do it uphill. That said, I won't ride Stevens Canyon under any circumstances. Not even armed.

mr_bill

What's confusing? I was making a left turn. (And in less than a block, another left turn.)

-mr. bill

Astrozombie

Only when I want an adrenaline rush and feel like "droppin da hamma"