Racer Ex 

Fat Boy

What? No Primal 'Leisure Suit' jersery?

I think I'm looking at mid/late April (everything isn't set, yet), so I might actually be able to pull this off.

Racer Ex 

So I pull up to an intersection and start to make a right turn. Next thing I know here's some women running backwards in the bike lane (designated lane on the road, not an MUP; wide new concrete sidewalk for miles) with her dog around the corner. She has room for both her dog and her but decides I'm too close to the curb and bangs the side of my mini van with her fist.

After turning around to meet her "upstream" to check both for damage and edification I saw a bike have to swerve out into traffic to avoid her.

The subsequent conversation was an interesting perspective on life. I really had no idea that bike lanes were designed for joggers and their pets to run backwards in. She failed to follow through with her 2 threats to call the police though I encouraged her to do so with gusto and offered to save her the minutes and do so myself if she wished.

I'm going to go ride my bike on the sidewalk now.

hammy56

huh, why are you in Florida?

sadly I go back there tomorrow, but only for 6 weeks.

I didnt bring a bike but Ive been driving around in the mornings scoping 'popular local routes'; for example I drove up 'Lookout Mtn' today. Im going to be very happy here. (and the job thing has gone swimmingly as well, which is nice).

waterrockets 

I buzz pretty much every runner I see in bike lanes. The exception would be the double-wide strollers, as there isn't a whole lot of room for those on the sidewalks in our neighborhood, and for goodness sake she's hauling 2 kids trying to get some training in. But the folks who just don't want to be bothered with the minor curves in a sidewalk, get the poo scared out of them when I come by.

Racer Ex 

We have giant, perfect sidewalks that the local high school to runs on. The local wild horses can run two abreast on them.

Speaking of, I rode out to Carson City the other day. I was stopped by one of the locals along the way:

caloso

Former and occasional runner here (I can quit running anytime; I've done it a hundred times!). The reason runners prefer the street is that asphalt is a lot easier on the joints than concrete and it's a lot more even -- no cutouts or tree root heaves.

Smart runners run against traffic and hop back on the sidewalk when cars and bikes approach. It's not difficult, but for some reason some people get all worked up about it. Car slapping is stupid.

miwoodar

One of the guys on my team went to Florida on vacation and brought his bike to turn it into a psuedo camp. He made it 3 miles before a car pulled out in front of him. Camp over. He ended up in the hospital instead.

I'm still looking for a reasonable bike for my Xmas trip BTW. I might just get a temporary membership to the YMCA and spin a bunch.

Lookout is a great ride/route. Deer Creek is almost identical in terms of elevation and length but doesn't include the views. Deer Creek/High Grade is about double that and grants access to a wide range of longer routes through the near mountains.

I wish I could tell you that the weather was always so nice this time of year. The bad stuff is coming, it's merely a question of when. Of course, we could get a 2' dump then have another string of 50*/60* days immediately afterward that would have us back outside in less than a week (or a string of cold days that would keep us on the trainer for a bit).

wanders

It's the second place jerseys that attracts them.

ericm979

I used to run too, before my joints became too broken down at age 25.

Running in the road is much safer wrt twisting an ankle on sidewalk curbs. But running against traffic has the same dangers that riding on the sidwalk against traffic does- drivers aren't expecting something fast coming at them from the wrong direction. I learned that when I was (on the sidewalk) running by a walled-in 'burb. I started across a side street. A car that was driving the other way. He didn't stop at the sign and didn't look my direction. He did look up just in time to see me hurdle over his hood. It was quite a surprise for him judging from his facial expression.

Buzzing runners because you don't like them being on the road is just as low class a move as buzzing cyclists. Normally you're a sensible guy WR. I hope I misunderstood what you wrote.

Racer Ex 

Suffice to say if you're a runner it's my opinion that you need to get out of the bike lane well before the bike is on top of you, for a number of reasons including you aren't supposed to use it if there's a sidewalk (which I can't use even though it might be easier/better/whatever), but mostly there's no reason I should have to risk swerving into the traffic lane because you want to run in the bike lane. Period. There are plenty of low traffic streets you can run on, or MUPS while most of the time this is the only designated bike lane for miles.

It's a BIKE lane.

Not a runner lane.

B-I-K-E.

In this case not only was there a wide sidewalk in near new condition, but my entire area is criss crossed with really nice wide paved MUPS that are completely away from traffic. I can do an easy hour on these paths and cross 1 or 2 streets. And that's on my bike.

gsteinb

How do you really feel?

big john

Some of those jerseys look a little dog-legged.

ericm979

RX, not liking runners in the bike lane is fine, although I can think of a lot of other things that bother me more. It's buzzing them with a vehicle that is wrong. Given how many times we have all been buzzed I can't imagine doing it to someone else. So I'm hoping I mis-understood.

botto 

weighed myself for the the first time in months.

discovered that i'm exactly where i normally am at this time of year, weight wise.

thing is, i have hardly touched the bike. my jeans are fitting a tad loose in the thighs, bit snug in the waist.

looking forward to the post 3 month period, when kids are supposed to be more cooperative to one's daily routines.

wanders

Our post 3 month cooperative period took 18 months to arrive.

kindablue

Just finished The Amazing Race, omg a really good read.

botto 

i'm giving her 3 months.

after that, if she doesn't coöperate, i'm sending her back to the manufacturer.

Fat Boy

I spent a lot of time on rollers in those days. It gets better.

Fat Boy

F-me. Another dead race team, and looking for another job. It's not that it's really _that_ big of a deal, but c'mon. 2 years, 2 team championships, 1 driver championship, 1 Rookie championship, record for pole positions in a year and a 37% win record over 2 years. So, of course, the patron pulls the plug. Poor guy...at our money burn rate he could have only gone on for maybe 1,000 years or so (not stretching the truth). Phone calls starting tomorrow. For tonight I'll munch away on my carrots and feel sorry for myself.

Racer Ex 

I didn't/don't buzz folks. Nor do I/did I advocate it. That would be WR for the former. Point of fact I think I'm a pretty damn polite user when riding roads, trails, or paths where we're expected to share. But having ridden in his environs and seen the limited amount of bike lanes, I can understand his reaction regarding people who have no legal standing to be where they are, have numerous alternate routes where they can run, and are endangering him by using what is often the one small patch of pavement allocated to him for miles because they have an over riding sense that they are, in fact, the only people in the world.

You don't have that point of reference because you ride in an area that littered with routes. There are places where that tiny bit of real estate that was lobbied for with ghost bikes is the only nominally safe route for miles.

topflightpro

Ex is right, runners are not supposed to use the bike lane. Bike lanes are technically additional lanes on the road designed for vehicular traffic - bicycles by law are vehicles on the road.

In many areas, pedestrians - and runners count as pedestrians - are required by law to use sidewalks when sidewalks are available. When sidewalks are not available, then pedestrians are to walk/run as far to the side of the road as possible and they are to go against traffic.

So, in this case, the runner was correct to run against traffic, however, she was incorrect to not use the sidewalk.

And yes, I recognize that running on the road can be a more enjoyable experience for runners, but that does not mean she was in the right.

saratoga

The neighborhood I live in has 25 (twenty-five) miles of paved and unpaved trails including sidewalks that run alongside the length of every street in the community. No bike lanes however.

It never fails...someone running in the street against traffic will tell me to use the sidewalk when I'm riding by and they have to hop into the grass to get out of the way. Fortunately the only riding I do in there is to make my way out to the back roads in the sticks.

shovelhd

Most of the time the runners around here are pretty good. They see me coming and try and get out of the way. In return, I try and take the lane to give them room. It's fairly cooperative. The one place I routinely have issues is in the little city my club is based in and I ride in often. There will be packs of runners in the bike lane coming right at me. They will not move. They will not run on the sidewalk or in the median. They don't even try and get out of the way. There is a lot of traffic on the streets with the bike lanes (duh...that's why they have them). It's not easy to take the lane to avoid them. So I do what Ex does, I try and avoid them. I signal them with a heads-up. If they keep chatting and ignoring me I ride right through them. It sucks.

waterrockets 

This is on my bike, still safe room for reaction, but close enough to startle. It's immature, I know. Not polite. If the runner is coming at me, we work together to not have issues, and that's not a problem. Running down the middle of the lane going my direction needs to be corrected. I doubt anyone thought they almost got hit, but I'll bet that they would rather know I'm coming next time, and hopefully choose the other side of the road.