Originally Posted by
tdsherman325
I live in Abilene, TX, which might be best described as actively cycling-hostile. We have no bike lanes, no bike racks, and a grand total of two bike shops, one of which is absolutely terrible, and both of which are on the far outskirts of town. One is legally required to ride as far to the right as possible and allow cars to pass, and police are likely to pull one over and issue a citation if one is caught 'taking the lane'.
The city government did make a cynical attempt at a "bike trail" a few years back. It consists of a sidewalk with "Bike trail" signs that goes down a single street on the edge of town, connecting ACU (which has (a) a healthy population of cyclists and (b) some pull with the city government) with the zoo/park complex 3 miles away. That's it. Oh, and it has huge bollards in the middle of it every twenty feet or so, ostensibly to prevent cars from using it.
There was some talk last year of creating cycling infrastucture after a couple of high-profile accidents where cyclists were hit on major streets but it was quietly dropped as soon as the local media lost interest. They've rebuilt several streets since then and the promised lanes never materialized.
1) In my description of Arlington, I forgot to mention the lack of good shops. There is one, Bicycles Inc, but it's so far on the southwest edge, it's practically Fort Worth. I've actually never been there, and currently work at a shop in Dallas. There is a small shop near downtown/UTA called Front and Center Cyclery, conveniently located on Front and Center streets. I'm actually good friends with the owner, and worked for her when UTA tried to run a student bike shop. It's definitely geared towards getting all sorts of folks on 2 wheels, and definitely not a full on shop with trek/specialized or anything like that. It's great, and relatively low cost if you don't have a car and just need basic work done, but don't expect a hydraulic brake bleed. And then you have Sun and Ski Sports, but I wouldn't rely on that one in terms of quality.
2) Regarding "taking the lane," Texas state law has a very different opinion of what I guess the police there told you. If I were in the unfortunate situation of living there, I would just take the lane and have a printed copy of the state law on hand for when I did get pulled over. To my admittedly limited knowledge, state law should trump any local ordinance. At least, that is what I would think...