Vehicular Cycling (VC) - A Case of CIC

Of course it's a beautiful thing that bikes give us so many choices.

If you choose to live in a good bike area, you have lots of choices. I have the grid street plan for miles in every direction. I bet there's 50 different ways I could ride the 4 miles to work, and I bet I've tried them all about 50 times each by now. (Short commute is another good criteria when choosing where to live!) :)

Well I choose only the busiest, heaviest traffic out there. I love the smell of exhaust, the endless stop-and-go, the traffic signals and the noise. I love it. (Imagine me sniffing and pulling up my belt, maybe spitting some chew.) Yep. I've got a superiority complex.
:)

In the morning, between 6 and 7, the traffic is light for me and the air is fresh. I take the most direct route, and love feeling like I'm one of the only people on earth (well, not really, but there aren't that many out there, yet. :) )

In the afternoon, I take parallel routes that bypass the busier routes. It just makes more sense. After all, I'm riding for enjoyment, not to prove anything (but sometimes I merge with the busy stuff just to prove something: cars are not the only way to get around, and I can pass s'loads of 'em at a swipe!)

My commute distance is 20 miles into work (one way). The slightly better route is 28 miles. Which one would you choose?

I actually just found a new route that cuts 2 miles from my commute. What used to be 24.5 miles, all on 45/35mph two-lane roads is now 22.5 miles through a mixture of 45/35mph roads and some 25mph residential streets. As an added benefit, my steepest climb is now 11% rather than 13%. :)

I actually just found a new route that cuts 2 miles from my commute. What used to be 24.5 miles, all on 45/35mph two-lane roads is now 22.5 miles through a mixture of 45/35mph roads and some 25mph residential streets. As an added benefit, my steepest climb is now 11% rather than 13%. :)
You should map it out on bikely.com. Share it with the other CIC commuters in your area. ;)

I posted a couple routes on bikely. One of my commuter routes goes across town on quiet residential streets before it follows a paved trail past through a forest and past a lake, then takes me past cornfields on a country road and finally across the beautiful MSU campus. It even includes a couple bike lanes and an optional sidepath for those CIC diehards. :eek:

My scenic route is just as fast (for a bike) as the 40 mph main arterials that I used to take to get to the same destination. (You can see it right here (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Lansing-south-to-MSU-via-Scott-Woods).)

You should map it out on bikely.com. Share it with the other CIC commuters in your area. ;)


Way ahead of you
http://toporoute.com/cgi-bin/getSavedRoute.cgi?routeKey=COTIXDUCUUMYDEP

Way ahead of you
http://toporoute.com/cgi-bin/getSavedRoute.cgi?routeKey=COTIXDUCUUMYDEP
cool route. but bikely is way better than toporoute.

cool route. but bikely is way better than toporoute.

all the same to me...toproute gives me elevation profiles.

all the same to me...toproute gives me elevation profiles.
so does bikely now. it's all good. :)

so does bikely now. it's all good. :)

Gotta have the cute lil graphs for sharing in the roadie forums. ;)

OK Roody,
I am curious why you take Pacific Ave. rather than Tisdale Ave.

OK Roody,
I am curious why you take Pacific Ave. rather than Tisdale Ave.
Tisdale doesn't cross the RR tracks.
Usually I take Greenlawn. It's more direct, but I have to cut across a mean lady's lawn,* carry my bike across the tracks, and there's a bigass puddle there if it rained recently. I wanted to show the CIC riders the easiest way.


*Edit> Maybe I should quit calling that lady on Greenlawn "mean". I can actually see my bike tracks on her lawn in bikely.com's satellite view! She's probably just PO'd about me tracking up her grass. :o

I wonder what route the CICs would suggest I take?
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=972165

Tisdale doesn't cross the RR tracks.
Usually I take Greenlawn. It's more direct, but I have to cut across a mean lady's lawn,* carry my bike across the tracks, and there's a bigass puddle there if it rained recently. I wanted to show the CIC riders the easiest way.


*Edit> Maybe I should quit calling that lady on Greenlawn "mean". I can actually see my bike tracks on her lawn in bikely.com's satellite view! She's probably just PO'd about me tracking up her grass. :o
Your lucky she does not have shotgun shells filled with salt rock.:eek:

I wonder what route the CICs would suggest I take?
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=972165
That's a hell of a long commute! A CIC rider would never even try it. I never could figure out why they build 10 lane freeways on an island. It makes my carfree bones shudder.

You could probably figure out lots of new fun routes, but with a 28 mile commute I guess you don't have much time to explore!

BTW, I suggest you keep an eye out for low flying Japanese planes on that route. I bet Admiral Yamamoto wished he had Google maps and photos back in 1942! Pearl Harbor is one of my favorite areas to "explore" on google maps. I'd love to ride my bike there some day.

The normal route is 20 miles and the slightly better route is 28.

It is sobering seeing the Arizona Memorial every work day.

My Washington DC commute took me through Arlington Cemetery when I was there.

Why you no cut over to King St, bra?

I do not believe that I or any other cyclist should be sharing the road with cars. It's unsafe and irresponsible.




I'm amazed that so many people are ranting about this Nguyen character. Most people I've talked to (outside these forums) seem to agree with him.
Yep. I don't think anyone would dispute that the majority of the population consider the roads dangerous for driving, let alone cycling. I don't agree, but I don't have any illusions that mine is a majority view.

So, in the mind of one of those in the majority that considers the roads dangerous even when caged, the idea of traveling cageless seems especially dangerous and irresponsible.

For most of those, clearly, while caged travel is "dangerous", it's not too dangerous nor irresponsible to engage in it. But, for them, cageless travel crosses some line: and becomes too dangerous. For many, which Dean Nguyen represents, cycling in traffic is so dangerous that it is inherently irresponsible. This is cyclist inferority thinking.

I also agree that while one component is the resentment that cyclists cause delay, the resentment is also fueled by the sense that the inherent irreponsibility of cycling in traffic imposes additional responsibilities on the motorists. That too, of course, is cyclist inferiority thinking.

Why you no cut over to King St, bra?
How did I know you were going to ask that?

King has much more (and slower) bus traffic and the red lights are longer for cross traffic. So Nimitz and Ala Moana is faster even though it is longer.

So, in the mind of one of those in the majority that considers the roads dangerous even when caged, the idea of traveling cageless seems especially dangerous and irresponsible.

For most of those, clearly, while caged travel is "dangerous", it's not too dangerous nor irresponsible to engage in it. But, for them, cageless travel crosses some line: and becomes too dangerous. For many, which Dean Nguyen represents, cycling in traffic is so dangerous that it is inherently irresponsible. This is cyclist inferority thinking.

I also agree that while one component is the resentment that cyclists cause delay, the resentment is also fueled by the sense that the inherent irreponsibility of cycling in traffic imposes additional responsibilities on the motorists. That too, of course, is cyclist inferiority thinking.
But according to John Forester, the last belief is true. That is, irresponsible and incompetent cyclists actually do impose additional responsibilities on motorists. Specifically he said that motorists are (rightly) scared that a cyclist will swerve into the car while the motorist is overtaking. How then is this an example of CIC?

But according to John Forester, the last belief is true. That is, irresponsible and incompetent cyclists actually do impose additional responsibilities on motorists. Specifically he said that motorists are (rightly) scared that a cyclist will swerve into the car while the motorist is overtaking. How then is this an example of CIC?

Of course it is. The motorists are thinking that cyclists are inferior drivers who will cause accidents.

Well I choose only the busiest, heaviest traffic out there. I love the smell of exhaust, the endless stop-and-go, the traffic signals and the noise. I love it. (Imagine me sniffing and pulling up my belt, maybe spitting some chew.) Yep. I've got a superiority complex.
It’s a miracle cure! And just think of the additional health benefits as your body gets used to all those pollutants and asbestos fibers. Wow we are now up to 4 true VCers and climbing.

How did I know you were going to ask that?

King has much more (and slower) bus traffic and the red lights are longer for cross traffic. So Nimitz and Ala Moana is faster even though it is longer.

The 'scenery' in Ala Moana park is better too. :)

Of course it is. The motorists are thinking that cyclists are inferior drivers who will cause accidents.
I think of "inferiority complex" as a pathological set of beliefs that describe one's self to be inferior. Not a belief that another person is inferior. That would be a superiority complex (of the cager) rather than an inferiority complex (of the cyclist).

I think of "inferiority complex" as a pathological set of beliefs that describe one's self to be inferior. Not a belief that another person is inferior. That would be a superiority complex (of the cager) rather than an inferiority complex (of the cyclist). But they are flipsides of the same coin. When the person gets in a car, he exhibits a superiority complex (I remember a Disney cartoon with Goofy or Pluto demonstrating how people change personalities when they get behind the wheel of a car). When the same person gets on a bike, he exhibits an inferiority complex. The root cause is the same: thinking that cyclists are relatively inferior to motorists with respect to rights to the road and/or thinking that motorists are relatively superior to cyclists in that respect.

How that cyclist inferiority thinking manifests itself depends on whether the subject is in a car or on a bike.

Count me in as a hard-core VCer in Dallas. (3,400 mi this year so far.)