Road Cycling - road rage, and not all mine!

I've been away from road cycling for several years. I've been mountain biking mostly although I have taken the old road bike out for a few short rides on county roads here and there. Anyway, in my area a new road was recently paved and it is such nice scenery I decided to go out this morning and ride this new road plus some two lane highways I rode many times years ago. I've been told by some friends that the traffic was getting more hostile but I just thought they were being sissies. Today's ride was about 50 miles with maybe 10 miles of highway. It was brutal! The semi trucks were honking at me, the rednecks were screaming at me, and twice I was almost run off the road by on-coming passers. One of them caused me to flip an inadvertent bird and it's been ages since I have done that. Are any of you experiencing more hostility now than before? I am really bummed, these highways used to be biker friendly, but unless I just caught a bad day they aren't anymore.

I'm finished ranting now...

Mike? Where are you riding at? You are in tulsa arn't you?

Terry

Semi drivers honking? That's an odd one... usually they are the nicest and most thoughtful drivers on the road. Heck, on my night-time trips from Spokane to Pullman, they would dim their headlights for me and my little 2.4W Union generator headlight. Sometimes they'd even dim for me when approaching from BEHIND, which I appreciated more than they knew, since I had a helmet-mounted rearview mirror. :)

Is the shoulder really narrow or something? Or are Oklahoma motorists just that bad?

Terry- actually I live next to Lake Hudson, about an hour east of Tulsa. If you have ever ridden the Dam Jam you were close to where I live. In fact, the century ride they put on goes near this new road I mentioned. The road through the Spavinaw WMA is now paved! It's great, like riding a roller coaster. I rode through Kenwood, then through the Game Reserve, then down HWY 10 and back. HWY 10 was where the traffic was so brutal. Chicken trucks are using that highway now, and lots of them. And if you're lucky there is a 6" shoulder. Maybe I just caught a bad day but I started before daylight thinking the traffic would be down. It was until I got to HWY10, I actually saw only one other car in the first 18 miles. If you get a chance you should ride this road, it's great. Lots of climbing, very, very little flat. Just avoid HWY 10 if you aren't in a big group since biker groups always seem to get more respect than a lone rider. I found out just how bad of shape I'm in today too.

I've tried to do the DAM JAM several times, but soemthing always stops me. I'm going to try again this year. Maybe I'll see you there if I don't see you sooner.

Hwy 10 is the "chicken truck" road......they might as well call it Tyson Avenue. Your lucky to survive that road.

If the Semi trucks are coming from behind they are probably giving you the horn as a warning that they are coming by. I drive a concrete truck myself and the road that our plant is on is used by a few cyclists, and I use my horn for that reason when coming up on them from behind. but then you are talking about Chicken haulers. LOL.

I do my best to avoid busy highways, unless they have a nice wide shoulder (such as NY14 has along Seneca Lake). As for the trucks, mostly they are the best drivers. In order to drive a large truck, you need to pass a much more difficult set of tests, and no professional wants to risk his livelyhood on an accident. The problem, though, is that trucks are 8' wide (or wider), so they do take up more lane than a car does.

It's all better today, it's just that I've ridden all over the eastern half of OK in the past and I thought I knew all the places to avoid. And this used to be one of my favorite roads to ride because it is scenic and used to be very little traffic. Another thing that has made a big negative difference is that almost all the narrow highways in OK are 65 MPH speed limit after the change. That made some formerly friendly rides much more treacherous.

1oldroadie- have you ever ridden the tour de Claremore? Thats one of the most brutal heavy traffic narrow road rides I've ever done. The terrain is nearly all flat, but the challenge is to get through it without getting squished by a big truck on one of those heavily driven skinny roads.

You all need the full picture.

The roads that Mike are talking about are not that flat, compared to the rest of the world. This is NO SHOULDER, just two narrow lanes. The roads are not straight, the only time they are not turning right, they are turning left.

Chicken trucks haul chickens. Dead chicken parts, live chickens going to the processing plants to become Mcnuggets, late hatch eggs/chicks going to make fertilizer (if I'm lieing, I'm dieing). The trucks are not in good shape.(you wanna work on a truck that has chicken part crust all over/under it?) And the drivers for some strange reason are not very happy people.

And all the above is on a road that is 24feet wide.

Mike: I have rode the Tour de Claremore, and you forgot to mention to the folks that in addition to all the above, you get to add all the lake traffic of drunks, people towing wide boats and SUV's full of kids & parents that don't like their kids.