Originally Posted by
Bud Bent
The old part of south Fort Worth where I work and ride isn't a very good neighborhood. Plus, I ride a recumbent that gets a lot of attention and draws a lot of comments, but tsl's techniques still work.
I did get a question from a car once about how much a new bike like mine would cost. I thought twice about my answer after it occurred to me that his car wasn't worth that much. I'm thinking I'll change to tsl's standard $100 answer.
I ride through a lot of the same areas as Bud when I'm riding (in fact, he's let me in on some great shortcuts) and I'll say this: Neighborhoods I thought were "bad" before I started riding a bike a few years ago, really aren't that bad. It's just, you know, where people live.
TSL's and others' advice is spot on. I rarely, rarely get hassled when cutting through the marginal neighborhoods. In fact, I've started to explore them more and more since riding (Bud... there are some good routes just east of the train tracks that run between McCart and Crowley to get from the area
where you work to Westcreek Park. You may already know it, but it's a pretty good ride- very light traffic).
That said, I know there are much worse areas in town. Even so, when I've ridden through, I still haven't been hassled. My son goes to college on the east side of town and I've ridden there once or twice. I am definitely on high alert, but no probs. The one thing I look out for in particular is loose dogs. If I get to a block where I see a loose dog, I'll usually double back to the last street and jog over a block or two if possible. Alternately, dogs seem to hate getting sprayed by a water bottle.
