Fifty Plus (50+) - Getting Through Traffic-Lighted Construction Zone

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TromboneAl
10-12-08, 09:39 AM
Had a great ride yesterday. Road to Prairie Creek Redwood state park, met with wife (who drove there with her bike on the car), and rode twenty miles back and forth a few times in a section that they close off to cars. Nice smooth pavement, great views, and fun without cars. 65 total miles for me.

No photos yesterday, but here's one of the same area, but with cars:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a39/TromboneAl/PrairieCreekEnteringForest.jpg

Coming back, there's a section of road under construction. On weekends they have traffic lights instead of flagmen. On the uphill section, I can never make it through before the opposing traffic gets started. I wait at the start, and as soon as I can go, I mash up the hill with maximum effort, but I'm always in the narrow section when the trucks and cars bear down on me. Not really a problem, since there's room. But yesterday, some guy in one of the cars yells out "Hey! The traffic light's for you too, you know!"

The best part of the ride was the tailwind coming back. I did 27 MPH on a flat section -- what a pleasure.

RoMad
10-12-08, 10:10 AM
Looks like a great ride. Isn't it nice to hear from your friends in cars as they pass by. I go through an intersection in the mornings and my bike will not activate the left turn arrow. I have to either sit and wait for a car to come up behind me or go when I know the light from the crossing street is red. One morning as I pulled up to it a sheriff pulled up beside me with his window down and he told me good morning. Afte greeting him I told him I was going to run the left turn light because my bike wouldn't activate it. He waved at me and said "go ahead, run it". I'm sure if your local Lawman saw you in the zone on red you would be fine too.
Mojo Slim
10-12-08, 11:03 AM
TrombonAl, great picture. I love roads where the trees make a canopy over you. It feels like a tunnel.

RoMad, I don't kow what kind of bike you ride, but I saw this work. We were on a ride with about 8 of us. Seven of us were in the left turn lane, with nothing happening. Number eight rode up on his steel bike, laid it down over the magnetic strip and the light changed. All the rest of us were on carbon fiber. We didn't know what he was doing, I thought he had a flat or some other emergency. Since then, I have seen it work one other time.