Commuting - the point of wearing a helmet here in texas.

i commute to work as well. i ride all the way across my city of Waco (keep in mind there is only 1.. thats right.. 1 bike lane in the entire city, and it only lasts about 3 blocks) to my job making pizza at Papa John's.

what i have come to realize is that people are such *******s on the road around here that wearing a helmet really is not protecting me from anything considering the recklessness and sheer abandonment of considerable thoughts i get from drivers racing past me, constantly honking when i'm in the lane, and usually calling me a "mother ****er" for being on the road.

now i'm a strong rider and i average around 25 mph no matter where i am because i like riding hard, but if i'm hit by a car around here, its not really going to matter if i'm wearing a helmet or not. i'll probably just die on impact.

i've searched and searched for back ways to work. and while i know this city backwards and forwards i still find myself having to tackle major streets and fighting against traffic and pretty much constantly putting myself in danger.


IS THERE ANYONE ELSE THAT READS THIS BOARD WHO IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM THAT I AM WITH THEIR COMMUTE TO WORK, SCHOOL, OR WHATEVER ????? if you have ANY sort of helpful hints and tips at making my commute safer, i would really appreciate it.

thank you for reading.

-blake.

Check out the "Do you carry a gun" thread or "Do you carry a Bazooka" thread for ideas.

Is there any way you could take backroads/neighborhood routes with less traffic? Even if it adds a few miles it sounds like it would be worth it for you.

Man, all I can tell you is to move North, 70 miles - we got Papa John's here, too. I can't recall the last person that yelled anything nasty at me, and folks are generally pretty considerate when I'm riding.

I'm guessing that your problem has a lot to do with the times of the day that you have to be on the road. I doubt you have much interest in changing up your hours, eh? Any chance of transferring to another store, with a better route? Or maybe taking the bus to a point where you can avoid most of the crap traffic? If you were coming from the North into town, you could maybe use some of the river trail from Cameron Park?

How far out from the right-hand edge of the road do you ride??? Note... I'm in Texas, too. I ride all around Houston with relatively few problems... so I'm thinking it could be a technique thing you could work on.

Do you ride at night / dawn / dusk? If so, what kind of front/rear lights do you run?

What color of shirt or jersey do you wear?

Do you use a mirror?

FWIW, I would love to live in a town like Waco. It would be much quieter traffic than Houston, really.





i commute to work as well. i ride all the way across my city of Waco (keep in mind there is only 1.. thats right.. 1 bike lane in the entire city, and it only lasts about 3 blocks) to my job making pizza at Papa John's.

what i have come to realize is that people are such *******s on the road around here that wearing a helmet really is not protecting me from anything considering the recklessness and sheer abandonment of considerable thoughts i get from drivers racing past me, constantly honking when i'm in the lane, and usually calling me a "mother ****er" for being on the road.

now i'm a strong rider and i average around 25 mph no matter where i am because i like riding hard, but if i'm hit by a car around here, its not really going to matter if i'm wearing a helmet or not. i'll probably just die on impact.

i've searched and searched for back ways to work. and while i know this city backwards and forwards i still find myself having to tackle major streets and fighting against traffic and pretty much constantly putting myself in danger.


IS THERE ANYONE ELSE THAT READS THIS BOARD WHO IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM THAT I AM WITH THEIR COMMUTE TO WORK, SCHOOL, OR WHATEVER ????? if you have ANY sort of helpful hints and tips at making my commute safer, i would really appreciate it.

thank you for reading.

-blake.

How far out from the right-hand edge of the road do you ride??? Note... I'm in Texas, too. I ride all around Houston with relatively few problems... so I'm thinking it could be a technique thing you could work on.

Do you ride at night / dawn / dusk? If so, what kind of front/rear lights do you run?

What color of shirt or jersey do you wear?

Do you use a mirror?

FWIW, I would love to live in a town like Waco. It would be much quieter traffic than Houston, really.



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its pretty hard to hug the curb because this is a very dirty city and there is a lot of broken glass along my route because i ride through the hood... past floyd casey stadium and around w. waco dr. where some of the worst neighborhoods are.

my shift is everyday at 4 pm until 10 pm. i a light on the front, and a reflector on the back, and on my backpack there is lime green paint in block patterns so people can see it better.

i normally wear the clothes that i wear everyday when going to school, or wherever else... which are generally dark pants (black), but i do have a variety of colored shirts i wear.

and no. i don't have a mirror. i just check behind me a lot, which doesn't really bother me at all.



and to that other guy from Cowtown, i would use the river trail from cameron park but to even get there would be a hassle because i would have to ride on yet another busy busy street through a just as equally ****ty and rough neighborhood.


for example, i just got home about 10 minutes ago. tonight while riding i passed not one, but two shady lookin' dudes. both of them walking slowly down the middle of the street. when i passed them they both jumped like i scared them but i didn't say a word and rode harder to speed up. but when i passed them both i noticed that they both had two 356 magnums in their hands.

okay now maybe i'm just big wuss, but guns scare the **** out of me. i hate riding through these parts of town!!!!



maybe i should move to china. people ride bikes there.