I wanna move to Colorado
 

Laws like that don't stop accidents any more than laws about yielding to oncoming traffic before turning left prevented me from getting hit by a car two weeks ago. The law meant the driver was ticketed after the fact, but it didn't change the driver's attitude, or prevent the accident.

What makes Colorado a great state to ride in is the overall attitude of drivers. Granted, I spent only a week and 750 miles there last summer, but experience was remarkable.

In Denver, the bike paths DF raves about actually go to useful destinations. What's up with that?

Twice (once in Denver and once in Ft. Collins) I came to a grade crossing and stopped. Both times, for no apparent reason, traffic in both directions stopped to let me cross. The first time I thought it was a clever ruse to trick me into position to get run down, but no, it's normal, polite behavior out there.

Road riding never made me uncomfortable. I rode everything from city streets of downtown Denver, to suburban arterials, to narrow twisty mountain two-lanes. Never was I treated with anything but complete respect and equality on the road.

That sort of respect isn't the result of legislation.

+1

On my first long ride in Colorado I was crowded off the road by a tanker semi on state highway 36 coming out of Lyons. There wasn't much of a shoulder and the motorcyclist coming the other way (on a gold Honda, I remember) was hugging the center line, giving the semi no wiggle room.

That was 23 years ago. I had to get used to the lack of shoulders on a lot of front range highways. The very popular run between Boulder and Lyons now has a 3-6 foot shoulder for the full distance.

Move to Quebec, instead. I don't think we have legislation such as that, but we do have a province where cycling has become part of the road consciousness of a large part of the population. Yes, there are still jerks, idiots, and the clueless, but they are, thankfully, rare. The Route Verte was named the best bike route in the world by the National Geographic Society and you will find cyclists from all strata of society out on the roads on weekends. In the country, the lads in pickup trucks and other vehicles seem indifferent to the presence of cylcists on the road. I think, perhaps, they just roll their eyes and are amused at our lycra-clad ridiculousness. In the city, the lads in the parents' Mercedes or their new Honda Civics realize that the goof on the bike might just be their father.
Pay no attention to the snow and cold five months of the year.

three feet is the law in Florida but there are so many under-medicated, over-medicated, dementia-ridden, drug-addicted, drunk, texting or clueless drivers that it's a good chance that in one year you'd be one of the dead hundred or so cyclists killed in our county alone

(last week i watched a van go speeding past me down the street, slewing every 100 feet or so into curb, each time causing a small black puff of sidewall to blow into the air - good thing i was in-between curb contacts)

I know this feeling well. There are so many instances where I think I'm being tricked on purpose.
How often has the close lane stopped in an attempt to sucker me into the crossing into the second lane where their friends will run me down.

I really hope your OK. At least your still typing, just hope your still riding...

Laws like that, and the publicity surrounding this bill, do create an increased public awareness about bicycle safety.

Colorado has a LOT of bicyclists - perhaps the person stoppping for you was a bicyclist?

As I cross a couple of the very few road crossings on our local trail system, I am always amazed at the cars who stop for me. And, the police DO enforce that.

But, like everywhere else, we do have folks killed every year in needless accidents.

"In Denver, the bike paths DF raves about actually go to useful destinations. What's up with that?"

Yeah.

from my house I can go to church (5 miles and 1 block off the bike path), rec center, super market, hardware store, many restaurants, McDonald's, BKing, etc., etc., etc., all without getting on a road or interacting with cars.

There are indeed a ton of cyclists here (not to mention runners, climbers, hikers, skiers, and so on). If you don't ride, chances are you know not one, but several people who do. To me, that's the most straightforward way to earn a little consideration on the road.

Oregon has had most of the provisions of the Colorado law for a couple years now. You can pull over 10 cars and ask the drivers if they know of the laws and 12 of them will say they don't. One group who has been trained pretty well on these laws are the log truck drivers, and they seem to be driving a lot safer these days.
It will take a bit of time for the laws to be commonly known, but you need to start some where.

As far as Colorado, reading below the article to reader comments is pretty scary, so much hate and anger over this law, it's sad. As progressive as Colorado can be in some ways, there is this other side that is kind of weird and radical.

I've been doing a lot of letter writing, following up on articles, etc., in relation to another project I have been involved with.

There is a subset of readers who follow controversial items and just love to put their two-cents in - generally from a rather sick point of view.

I have learned to ignore them. They do not represent a cross-section of the general public.

Yes to all the above. Details here: http://www.brucew.com/blog/2009/05/11/604

That's it in a nutshell.

I sure don't see this "considerate attitude" towards cyclist, here in Colorado Springs, hard to beleive it's better in Denver. Although I'd surely appreciate it if DF could come down here (55 miles south) and explain to our "Trails/Path" people that it's a "GOOD" idea to "finish" a path so it goes all the way thru and not just "dead end", "BEFORE" you start another one:rolleyes:

I mean I got harrashed by a motorist today and I was ON A BIKE PATH, Yelling at me to growup and get a CAR from the street:wtf: I see bicyclist run off the road or almost crunched in intersections a LOT down here.:( The only really GREAT trail we have is the Pikes Peak Greenway and even that has a lot of "sections closed" due to Fountain Creek taking out the trail in places:o We will have to come up and ride in Denver to see this Euphoria of bicycling!;)

Is Colorado Springs in Colorado?

I thought it was an outpost and support organization for "Focus on the Family."

Come to Parker and we will RIDE the trails - to open spaces, to businesses, wherever.

SIGH, sadly I can't disagree with ya DF, we are home to what seems like EVERY Church National Organization on the the Planet, it wasn't that way when I grew up here, so they "snuck in" somehow:eek: Ya we will have to come up and ride that C470 trail and some other's I've heard about, it's sad really IF they'd just finish connecting the trails they've started we'd be able to get anywhere in El Paso County but we keep hearing, "MONEY", even when they were rolling in it, there wasn't any MONEY, now they don't even decently maintain what they have:mad: That's WHY we ride "FAT tire" bicycles!

I don't want to live there, but I would like to ride my bike there sometime. My goal is to ride your epic "Triple By-Pass" ride someday . . . hopefully before I need to have the other kind.

Rick / OCRR riding mountains in CA as practice for riding the passes in CO!

Ha!!

And everyone knows how considerate those church folks are :) .

The C-470 trail is one of the lesser desirable trails, except for a portion on the extreme south side. This is simply due to putting up with the noise from C-470., and it is not as scenic as other trails. I mean, who wants to ride 38 miles on a less than totally scenic and slightly noisy trail? However, I am less than 1 mile from the C/E-470 trail, and it does give me access to many places outside of Parker.

Once again I will post my oft-posted map (sorry folks) of the major trails in our trail system around here. The map is getting a bit old, and there are now more and longer trails. You can see where I live in the lower right hand corner, and a very typical picture of my daily rides, while crossing no more than two streets over scores of miles.

http://www.ourwebs.info/denverbikemap1.jpg

Typical trail scenery
http://www.ourwebs.info/SVI_0020.JPG

You would greatly enjoy the TBP, and, actually, roads in CO are NOT steep, just long. 7% is considered a steep climb. Of course, the passes do get up there a bit on the TBP

Loveland Pass is the highest at 11,990 FT.

The biggest problem is getting a spot as registration is limited. Our state patrol is continuously in a hissy about too many riders on group rides such as this. They reached their 3,500 max registrations in 2 days this year.

http://www.teamevergreen.org/node/16

Some interesting stuff from the web page:

Top Five Mechanical FAQ's for the Triple Bypass

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Courtesy of Tony Song, Owner, Bicycle Outfitters, Evergreen

Q: What kind of gearing should I be using?
A: The majority of riders are using a triple chainring (30/42/52 tooth) with either a 12-25 or 12-27 tooth cassette. The ultra low 30 tooth chainring in combination with a 27 tooth cog will allow most anyone to climb extremely steep grades with relative ease.
Racers and masochists who are running a double chainring (typically 39/53 tooth) often use either a 12-23 or 12-25 tooth cassette, but not necessarily recommended for the Triple Bypass.

Q: What gear should I bring?
A: As many who attempted the Triple in 2006 will attest, the weather can get pretty nasty and unpredictable; as such, the minimum gear recommended is:

1) PUMP - many riders carry co2 inflators (& extra co2) for their light weight and compact dimensions

2) TUBE - for obvious reasons

3) PATCH KIT - for those cases where the spare tube is used, a patch kit is a great last line of defense!

4) TIRE LEVERS - these little things will allow much easier tire removal for those pesky flats

5) ARM/LEG WARMERS - who knows....it could snow!

6) LONG SLEEVE JACKET - ideally something light that can be stuffed in a jersey pocket.

7) WATER BOTTLES - at least 2 large (20 oz) water bottles.....this ain't no short ride

8) ENERGY GEL - take one of these every 45 minutes or so and you'll never bonk!

9) FOLDING TOOLKIT - a slipping seatpost, crooked stem, loose saddle, or host of other potentially hazardous problems can easily be fixed with a small folding tookit.

10) MONEY - never know when you'll need to call a cab ;)

Q: How should I train?
A: Simply ride your bike.......a lot!

Q: What do I need to do to prepare my bike?
A: Make sure it's tuned properly.......there's nothing worse than riding a squeaky, poor-shifting, ill-braking bike all day!

Q: What tire pressure should I run?
A: The recommended tire pressure for tires is printed on the sidewall of any tire. The recommended range is typically 100 - 120 psi, however there are tires that will handle up to 175psi. Definitely check the pressure before you ride as tires with low pressure will tend to flat easily and will be less efficient.

Yeah, it angers me to think that such cretins have taken over one of the most beautiful spots in the country -- and ravaged much of it to build trophy homes and trophy churches. They'd reduce the Venus de Milo to rubble if they thought it would make a nice gravel driveway.

Thanks for all the Triple By-Pass info DevrFox!

I am getting excited about doing this ride in 2010. I will have to stay on top of the registration date/time opening and try to get a place. It's pretty much the same situation here in CA with the tough climbing rides filling up super-fast. Breathless Agony filled up in just under 9 hours this year.

Rick / OCRR