Originally Posted by
drlogik
I used to ride to work way back when and just started back a couple of months ago. I have a six mile city street ride to work. Half of the commute is on a large road with a lot of room and a sidewalk if I need it. The other half I am forced to use the sidewalk because the street is for all intents a purposes a highway morning and afternoon.
One thing I have observed in my VERY bike friendly city is that car drivers' behaviors haven't changed a lot in 30 years. I say that but gone are the days that cars would intentionally drive us off the road; however, the carelessness hasn't changed at all. Because of that I get into my commuter mindset for the ride.
I am cautiously aggressive. Meaning, I don't bully, I don't cut in front of, don't disobey traffic lights and don't act like an arshole. However, I DO own my space, obey the traffic signs, ride in a predictable manner and hold a straight line, yield to cars when they have the right of way, am highly visible with lights and bright colors, and expect cars to yield to me when I have the right of way.
I constantly scan 360 degrees "looking" for that car to do something stupid, do something careless, not see me even if they are looking right at me. Because of that I rarely have a panic situation but I still have to be careful. I'm at the point in my life that I don't get mad because, well, I'm a motorist to and I also make mistakes and if they do something stupid, I'm ready for it.
I'd like to think that motorists feel safe when they near me and find that I am a courteous rider.
One thing really pi55ed me off this past weekend. I was riding maybe 50 yards behind another rider. He was in his late 50's like me. He approached a 4-way stop sign with cars at every point. He drifted into the intersection without making any attempt to stop, yield or even observe common courtesy for who was next to go. I see this a lot now. An older driver honked at him and this guy gave the motorist the finger, yelled an F word-laced diatribe and just went off. I just shook my head.
I remember the days when cars thought we were prey and preyed upon all of us road riders. This is decades before mountain bikes, bike lanes, etc. An older rider taught me how to ride and the right mindset back then. I feel riders like that guy send us backwards.
What's your commuter mindset? How do ride? What do you look for? How do you react?
My mindset is rather simple--avoid traffic whenever possible.
In the morning, I take a country road for 20 minutes before getting on a paved bike trail, which I ride for about 40 minutes before hopping back on a road for the final 15 minutes, to end the ride. Traffic is light, maybe five cars pass me on the country road. The biggest danger there is cross traffic, especially cars coming out of driveways. They seem to never see me. I anticipate them not seeing me nowadays. The final stretch is city riding. So, I have to be alert. My mindset there is to emulate a nervous squirrel by looking all around every few seconds.
The afternoon commute is almost all bike trail. It's a different trail from the one I hook up to in the morning. I start out by riding about 10 minutes on a sidewalk and some road. But, before I know it, I am on the trail, which I then ride for 1-1/2 hours until I get home. My mindset there is that I'd rather ride a half hour longer than take the shorter route and deal with afternoon traffic on those roads.