gerv 

Ok, so recently I have been getting bored with the same old bike paths, so this weekend, I decided to head beyond the path and a few miles down some county highways to some new territory. The experience was both exhilarating (more to see...) but a little unnerving as I heard cars sharply brake behind me a couple of times. There was no shoulder to speak of and a lot of hills to slow me down.

Later, I did some research and found an Iowa bike map with all the paved roads highlighted, as well as traffic volumes indicated.

https://www.iowadotmaps.com/msp/pdf/bikemap.pdf

I discovered that the roads I was on had volumes over 1500 vehicles per day, but there were many, many roads with less and quite a few in the 0-700 range.

So, needless to say, I have been busy figuring out a year's worth of weekend rides. Actually, it would probably take several years.

Just wondering how tourers deal with the traffic? It seems quite different from regular city commuting. How did you make the plunge into touring out of the city? What recommendations do you have for newbies?

tomg

get a mirror that mounts to your helmet, wear bright color clothing, ride on the right (with traffic direction). this way, you'll be driving your bicycle, while being seen, and seeing who's coming up from behind!

Machka 

1) Ummmmm .... I've never ridden bike paths. I try to stay off those things because they are so dangerous and frustrating.

2) I can hardly remember a time when I didn't ride both in the city and in the country. I've been doing that since I was a child.

I'm struggling to imagine NOT riding on county highways.


Tips ... hmmmm ... let's see ....

a) ride predictably - straight line, signal your intentions
b) ride with the traffic, not against it
c) be visible

Chris L

The most important thing is don't over-analyse. Don't waste your time with thoughts about "what if someone hits me" and the like because they will only distract you from the task of making sure you don't get hit -- and that's when it becomes dangerous. It's just traffic, and traffic generally follows the herd mentality. While there is absolutely nothing that is certain or risk-free in any infinite universe, if you follow the road rules and act like traffic, you'll be giving yourself your best chance.

Alekhine

True.

There are a few roads around here that I would consider "somewhat dangerous" and avoid, but on the whole I follow the same ideology.

BigNoseWhipper

im on tour right now.
my front wheel axle recently was stripped out and i was 90 mi outside of st. louis. on my 90 mi ride to the nearest bike shop only one nut was holding my fornt wheel on and mind you, i only have a front brake. on these highways theres no shoulder and the semi's would scream past my face at 60+ mph. everytime i would hit my brake my front wheel would wobble like crazy. theres nothing like it.

n4zou

The local rail to trails bike path is more dangerous than riding in traffic! There are rules for trail use but none of them are backed by law so it's an anything goes situation. 4-wheelers use the trail as do equine. Both are extremely dangerous to bicyclists, more so than automotive traffic. A horse or mule thinks you’re a fast moving predator and will attack you in self-defense while ignoring the rider on it's back. 4-wheelers operate at the fastest speed the machine will go. The trail is asphalt and the tires on the 4-wheeler are for dirt so there are handling issues even at slow speeds. The operator who is usually too young to know better stands a pretty good chance of running over you even if they don’t intend to do that (and some do). Incidents like these occur regularly on that rail to trails bike path. Once I had a policeman stop me on the road running beside the path and asked why I was not using it. I asked him to look up the reported Incidents on the path on his computer and 5 minuets later he told me to continue riding on the road and to have a nice day.
Since gasoline prices have increased so much automotive traffic has become more aware of bicyclists and share the road and respect you more now than in years past. Inevitability, you will have a vicious vehicle operator try to "scare" you off the road but they are vicious to everyone including other vehicle operators.

halfspeed

Here in the upper midwest, all but the most urban bike paths are far more usable than what is so often described here. I recently did a four day tour through parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota and spent two of those days on the Wisconsin crushed limestone trail system. Some parts of the trails had no traffic, and some had significantly more traffic, but none of it was careless or dangerous.

Bike paths in Minnesota outside of cities also tend to be used more sensibly (and paved). Sakatah and Munger are especially nice. I suspect the same is true of the OP's routes in Iowa.

There =are= beautiful, safe, car-free places to ride if you know where to look. Of course, we also have thousands of miles of low traffic rural roads and mostly polite drivers. If only the winters were shorter...

gerv 

I agree that most bike trails in this area aren't particularly dangerous. Generally, you see only bikes on them and the vast majority of riders are respectful and safety-minded. So, I'm a little confused about the dangers in bike trails in other locales.

My point is that there are probably about 500 miles of bike trails in this area and about 5000 miles of rural, paved highways that have daily traffic volumes less than 700 vehicles. That equates to almost no traffic. I've ridden on a few of these and loved the scenery, the tranquility... but always wondered... where are the other cyclists? Many, many cyclists I've spoken with are kind of afraid of getting off the trails. Usually they cite stories about maniac drivers, but I'm not really seeing this on rural county roads in Iowa (and probably the same anywhere..)

I was just wondering how a seasoned touring biker would respond to that fear?

Machka 

The bike trails where I live are frequented by roller bladers, old ladies walking, children running here and there, dogs running here and there, newbie cyclists who can't hold their line and can't manage speeds over about 5 km/h. So, for a more experienced cyclist who wants to keep up a decent speed, riding into that chaos is frightening. You never know if you're going to run over an old lady or get a 2 year old caught in your spokes or something.



Many, many cyclists hear a story or two about a bad driver and assume that the world is full of bad drivers. And many, many cyclists also do not ride enough to feel confident with their cycling.

If you (or they) ride lots, learn how to handle a bicycle, learn how to ride in a straight line, learn how to dodge potholes, learn to pay attention to and listen to the vehicles ... to anticipate and respond to them, it'll build your confidence and make cycling a very enjoyable experience.

JT52

I agree with the poster who advised getting a mirror. They're indispensible I think. Remember, the vast majority of drivers are just getting from point a to point b and have no desire to hit a defenseless cyclist. Here in Nebraska, people tend to give a lot of room to cyclists and I like that, but there is the occasional person who will try to pass without giving any room. The mirror will keep you informed of the type of person coming up behind you.

By the way, I've ridden a couple of organized events in Iowa and noticed drivers there also tend to give you quite a bit of room when passing.

After a while, you get accustomed to passing traffic, but you should never become complacent about it...

hjeand

Machka, how do you know what's on the bike paths if you've never ridden on one?

JT52

Busted!

Caspar_s

Yeah, that's why I got fenders...

There are two main bike paths in this city - one I hardly ever see anyone on - the other goes along the lakeshore across lake Ontario to Hamilton. There were tons of people on the lakeshore one. Rollerbladers going 26km/hr. I was surprised at how orderly it was though - everyone keeping to their side of the path, moving over when passing etc.