VC commuting in Amherst/Hadley, MA
01-30-05, 11:26 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Hi y'all. I finally got my commuter all put together, just in time to find some use for it - I had to head out to the local used bicycle shop, the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange on University Drive in Amherst, then to the Salvation Army in Hadley. The Salvation Army is located on Route 9, a few miles down from where University Drive intersects it. I would need to spend a few miles on Route 9, which in this area is a multi-lane road with lots of stop lights and fairly high-speed traffic (unless there's a lot, which tends to slow things down). I decided to give riding in traffic a try - up to now, I haven't had to do much riding on busy roads, so it hasn't been much of an issue.
I headed out on University Drive, which gets a fair amount of traffic - lots of students jetting back and forth to and from the University of Massachusetts campus. This is a TERRIBLE road to ride a bike on. The right sides of the lanes are filled with potholes and lumpy patches. It's a pretty bouncy ride. This wouldn't typically be a problem, because bicycles are expected to use the "University Bikeway Connector," which is a multi-use path that takes the place of a normal sidewalk, on the left side of the road if you are headed toward Route 9. Note that I said that this is a MUP in PLACE of a normal sidewalk. There are plenty of pedestrians, etc. Despite this, it's safe enough to ride there, but it poses a problem when you need to get across the street to the LBS, which I did. Crossing University Drive is not very well-advised when you are away from intersections. Riding on the right caused no problems.
Route 9 provided an opportunity to practice riding somewhat more vehicularly, since it is multi-laned and has stoplights. So I took the center of the lane when stopped - I did NOT run redlights, I waited with traffic. I held the lane through the intersection, and moved over to the right once I was through. It's worth noting a peculiar feature of some of these intersections: some of the stoplights have a sign that says "Bicycles stop on line for green." That's right, they suggest that the bicycles stop on GREEN. I'm not what the cyclist is supposed to do when the light turns red - wander out into the intersection and get killed? This is very curious and perhaps even dangerously misleading - does anyone have experience with this? Do you know what the intent of these instructions are?
Anyway, the ride out to Hadley was uneventful, since my turn was on the right. The ride back was much more interesting, but not in a bad way. There were a couple of things that happened. First, a truck came up behind me, uncomfortably close. I was on the right, but there wasn't much room for me to be passed. I thrust my left arm out and back and made kind of a 'pushing' gesture, to warn him back. It worked! He slowed down, and I was able to pull into the lane for the stoplight. He passed me once we were through the intersection. No harm, no foul.
The second interesting event was the necessity of making a left turn onto University Drive. In order to do so, I had to cross two lanes of travel into the left turn lane. I signaled my intent by pointing left - in fact, I signalled ALL turns by pointing out my intended path, rather than using the "out the window" turn signals taught in most cycling education programs. Pointing out one's intended path seems far more clear and obvious, and good communication is enormously important for successful riding in traffic. That was my experience, anyway. With a great deal of caution, I was indeed able to move over to the left lane. While I was in the left lane, a car full of young women from the University passed me. One had her hand out the window and shouted something. They were laughing - I don't know what was said, or whether it was negative or positive. I gave them a thumbs-up. I made it home (the dorms up in the Orchard Hill area on the far side of campus) with no further incident.
Lessons learned: drivers in this area tend to respect a cyclist who obeys the same rules that they do. There was zero aggressive behavior when I waited in line for a green light. I'm sure that drivers didn't appreciate having to stick behind me through the intersection, but by taking that space I felt MUCH safer - there was no danger of being crowded out by accelerating cars passing closely. I moved over to the right again once through intersections. There was one occasion when someone honked at me, briefly. There a separate occasion when someone might have shouted "get on the sidewalk!" at me - I'm not sure, I didn't hear clearly. In general, though, motorists were respectful and gave me distance.
Also, lane changing for a turn is intimidating, but not hard. I found myself seriously regretting my lack of a rear-view mirror when it was necessary to change lanes. Seems like a good idea to get one.
As I already mentioned, signalling by indicating my desired path was also very effective.
All in all, I had one of my most enjoyable rides, ever, and almost all of it was in fairly heavy traffic in the middle of the day (Saturday). At least in this situation, following some basic rules seems to work pretty well. Does anyone else ride in this area? I am reminded that I saw an older gentleman rolling into the plaza with Aubuchon Hardware and Radioshack, etc. Inspiration indeed!
I headed out on University Drive, which gets a fair amount of traffic - lots of students jetting back and forth to and from the University of Massachusetts campus. This is a TERRIBLE road to ride a bike on. The right sides of the lanes are filled with potholes and lumpy patches. It's a pretty bouncy ride. This wouldn't typically be a problem, because bicycles are expected to use the "University Bikeway Connector," which is a multi-use path that takes the place of a normal sidewalk, on the left side of the road if you are headed toward Route 9. Note that I said that this is a MUP in PLACE of a normal sidewalk. There are plenty of pedestrians, etc. Despite this, it's safe enough to ride there, but it poses a problem when you need to get across the street to the LBS, which I did. Crossing University Drive is not very well-advised when you are away from intersections. Riding on the right caused no problems.
Route 9 provided an opportunity to practice riding somewhat more vehicularly, since it is multi-laned and has stoplights. So I took the center of the lane when stopped - I did NOT run redlights, I waited with traffic. I held the lane through the intersection, and moved over to the right once I was through. It's worth noting a peculiar feature of some of these intersections: some of the stoplights have a sign that says "Bicycles stop on line for green." That's right, they suggest that the bicycles stop on GREEN. I'm not what the cyclist is supposed to do when the light turns red - wander out into the intersection and get killed? This is very curious and perhaps even dangerously misleading - does anyone have experience with this? Do you know what the intent of these instructions are?
Anyway, the ride out to Hadley was uneventful, since my turn was on the right. The ride back was much more interesting, but not in a bad way. There were a couple of things that happened. First, a truck came up behind me, uncomfortably close. I was on the right, but there wasn't much room for me to be passed. I thrust my left arm out and back and made kind of a 'pushing' gesture, to warn him back. It worked! He slowed down, and I was able to pull into the lane for the stoplight. He passed me once we were through the intersection. No harm, no foul.
The second interesting event was the necessity of making a left turn onto University Drive. In order to do so, I had to cross two lanes of travel into the left turn lane. I signaled my intent by pointing left - in fact, I signalled ALL turns by pointing out my intended path, rather than using the "out the window" turn signals taught in most cycling education programs. Pointing out one's intended path seems far more clear and obvious, and good communication is enormously important for successful riding in traffic. That was my experience, anyway. With a great deal of caution, I was indeed able to move over to the left lane. While I was in the left lane, a car full of young women from the University passed me. One had her hand out the window and shouted something. They were laughing - I don't know what was said, or whether it was negative or positive. I gave them a thumbs-up. I made it home (the dorms up in the Orchard Hill area on the far side of campus) with no further incident.
Lessons learned: drivers in this area tend to respect a cyclist who obeys the same rules that they do. There was zero aggressive behavior when I waited in line for a green light. I'm sure that drivers didn't appreciate having to stick behind me through the intersection, but by taking that space I felt MUCH safer - there was no danger of being crowded out by accelerating cars passing closely. I moved over to the right again once through intersections. There was one occasion when someone honked at me, briefly. There a separate occasion when someone might have shouted "get on the sidewalk!" at me - I'm not sure, I didn't hear clearly. In general, though, motorists were respectful and gave me distance.
Also, lane changing for a turn is intimidating, but not hard. I found myself seriously regretting my lack of a rear-view mirror when it was necessary to change lanes. Seems like a good idea to get one.
As I already mentioned, signalling by indicating my desired path was also very effective.
All in all, I had one of my most enjoyable rides, ever, and almost all of it was in fairly heavy traffic in the middle of the day (Saturday). At least in this situation, following some basic rules seems to work pretty well. Does anyone else ride in this area? I am reminded that I saw an older gentleman rolling into the plaza with Aubuchon Hardware and Radioshack, etc. Inspiration indeed!
01-31-05, 12:24 AM
#2
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Congrats on your newfound freedom. You may want to get a mirror or simply master looking behind you before merging. One or the other is recommended.
The "stop on line for green" is actually directing you to a bike-friendly loop detector. It's saying that cyclists should stop on the line to maximize their potential for tripping the loop detector into giving them a green phase.
The "stop on line for green" is actually directing you to a bike-friendly loop detector. It's saying that cyclists should stop on the line to maximize their potential for tripping the loop detector into giving them a green phase.
01-31-05, 09:39 AM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Oh, so THAT'S what that means! That's not a bad thing at all, that's brilliant! I do have the good fortune to be living in a remarkably bike-friendly area, as I learned the other day. I am not surprised then, that these signs are a force for Good, instead of for Evil. Perhaps a bit too easy to misunderstand, but good all the same.
