ItsJustMe

Here's the sort of stuff that isn't terribly uncommon here (this is on a road about 4 miles from the one we're talking about). I admit this one was pretty egregious, normally I don't bother posting video it's so common.

canklecat

HOLY A$$ WIPING SHYTE!!!

Bad enough in daytime, but at night?

If that was my only route I'd have to swap tires for knobbies, or get a fat bike, and ride the grass and dirt sides of the roads. Which is probably what the vehicles are trying to force us into.

vol

Can tell the driver was not texting.

Roughstuff

Ya know I feel terrible about all that. I rode across a lot of Michigan summer 2015 in a six month cross country tour, and enjoyed it immensely. I found UPers and Michiganders in general to be really courteous and helpful as a rider and as a wild camper. Never rode at night though...the night is for sleeping!

SHBR

Wow, they are too cheap to pave the shoulder on a road like that? I would be riding a fat tire bike and stay the hell away from those 18 wheelers, if I was forced to ride that route.

SHBR

On that road I would have been further out in the lane, say around the right tire track, while watching the rear view mirror closely for overtaking traffic, and ready to cut right if they refuse to slow down. Hugging the right side of the road sometimes invites close passes.

JoeyBike

Yeah, this always tickled me when touring cross-country in the USA. Never happens in the city. I never had to ditch but I was always ready to take a dive.

Won't hurt much. I read a story about a sky diver who survived a chute not opening. Said hitting the ground felt like hitting a giant marshmallow. Pain didn't have time to travel to the brain and back. Woke up in the hospital like it was all a dream....except for a lot of broken bones.

Just leave earlier. This is my technique when traveling in a motor vehicle. Driving in a rush is just as maddening as trying to check out at a busy grocery in a rush. I don't shop on a time frame either. Makes no sense.
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JoeyBike

Tri-geeks don't use mirrors. They barely manage to not slam into things right ahead of them riding with their heads down. It is actually quite common in my area for geeks to self-crash into parked cars, storm drains, debris, other cyclists, etc.
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SHBR

I was refering to another post of a video, not the fatality of the triathelete. Which was entirely not her fault, not much you can do if someone directly hits you head on at highway speeds. Probably didn't have any time to react.

canklecat

I've studied my video of that ride, which runs about 20 minutes unedited, with at least half a dozen near-collision passes. I'd say it was equally risky either way. If I'd taken the lane, the vehicles behind me would have passed anyway, veering farther into the oncoming traffic and almost certainly into a head-on collision, which might have taken me with them.

I don't hesitate to take the lane in city traffic, and most other scenarios. But I don't believe there's any certain strategy for that type of rural narrow highway where drivers have developed incredibly bad habits.

Rather than risk that stretch of road again I'm going to forward a copy of the video to the local authorities and encourage them to promote better safety practices. We have a reasonably pro-cycling culture and mayor (although this particular stretch might be Benbrook rather than Fort Worth), and local law enforcement appear to be sympathetic toward cyclists.

My strategy is to promote it as a safety concern for the school children. There's a school along that route. Nobody can refuse the "Do it for the children" plea. If it happens to make the route safer for cyclists, so much the better.

SHBR

Just parking a squad car on that road would be a significant deterrent I would think. In China they use traffic cameras, and that road would be a fantastic traffic violation income generator.

canklecat

Having watched your hilarious videos, I'd bet you're correct. I've seen tri-folk only on the local MUP, which seems like a preposterous way to train. But they're always in Superman position on the aero bars, nowhere near their brakes, barreling head on at 20-25 mph into oncoming city bike wobblers. But they usually do have their heads up and eyes forward, so they'll see whatever and whomever they collide with.

They're a different breed, alright. A couple of them walked out on a recent MUP safety discussion meeting when it was suggested that faster riders might modify their techniques slightly to accommodate joggers, pedestrians with dogs and kids, wobbly city bikers, etc.

But I don't know whether any of these tri-folk I see on the MUP are really serious. I think not. If they were they'd be on the plentiful open roads elsewhere around town. In particular the frontage road adjacent to the main highway running west of Fort Worth toward Weatherford (I usually turn around between Willow Park and Hudson Oaks) seems perfect for road and tri training. A little hilly, but a great workout. (Yeah, yeah, I know from watching your videos -- tri-folk don't do hills. )

canklecat

Ah-HA! Very good point. I'll include that as a bonus for increasing safety around that stretch of road. What self respecting municipality can resist the double whammy of "Do it for the children!" and "Revenue enhancement!"?

SHBR

Having been on both sides of the motor vehicle vs. bicycle road use debate. Motorists are at a major disadvantage financially, when it comes to fines, fees, fuel prices ect. Cyclists are not much of a threat to most motorists, yet get treated worse than 2nd class citizens in many places.

CliffordK

Fortunately, here in the "little town", most of the grocery stores are open 24 hours a day. There is never much of a rush hitting the stores after midnight.

Oddly, up north in the "big city", everything shuts down at about 10 PM

Equinox

I'm always impressed by the prevailing attitude of drivers that nothing or no one has the right to impede their God-given, inalienable right to proceed down the road unimpeded. They will go around any obstacle, bicycle, pedestrian, mom with a stroller, construction vehicle, mail truck, police car, fire truck, ambulance, anything at all, regardless of on-coming traffic or available space. It really doesn't matter. They are NOT slowing down NO MATTER WHAT. That car coming in the opposite direction might as well not be there. They are going to cross the line and if that on-coming car has to ditch it, oh well. Using the brake pedal to permit a safe pass is simply not a consideration, no matter how many lives they put at risk. I see this multiple times on every ride. In fact, that's how I know a car is coming up behind me. who needs mirrors? If the on-coming car is headed for the ditch, I know a car is behind me and is either going to hit me or have a head -on. (Guess what he's going to do.)

JoeyBike

Years ago I was working for a mid-dity bike shop who catered somewhat to the Tri community, cyclists would come in and admit they had their heads down. Like on a long, boring, levee-top MUP where a cyclist was sitting on the path with his bike on it's side next to him ON THE PATH and a Tri-Guy with his head down plowed into the whole mess of steel and flesh. That one really sticks in my mind.

None of them. How do you think I did so well in those videos? 99.9% poseurs. A swimmer on a bike looks as ridiculous as I would dog paddling and kick-floating my way around an Ironman swim course. A nice Speedo would not make me a good swimmer automatically. (I actually wouldn't know first hand. Just speculation )

Glad you liked the videos. They have a small following, enough to be worth the effort I put in making them. Not that it wasn't a lot of fun!
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genec

That is, until they come to rush hour in a typical larger town... where ALL drivers sit and wait because of other drivers, sitting and waiting.

JoeyBike

Uhh...

Put yourself in the cyclist's shoes for a few seconds. You are looking up the road and an oncoming line of traffic has a car/truck shoot out to pass directly in your lane coming straight at you. Do you take the ditch, or hold your line and "take it like a man"? I know what I would do.

Now put yourself back in those shoes, looking down at your computer, the fog line, or the backside of the cyclist ahead of you. What happens then under the same conditions? Who knows, right?

Now pretend you are steering your bike with your elbows and something goes wrong with only seconds to react. What then?

Or let's say you decide to play golf instead of playing in auto traffic on a highway. Maybe strain a rotator cuff? Lose a bet with your buds? Get some red ant bites?

We make decisions in our life to do things. WE are responsible for the consequences to some extent. Even with tragic consequences, we are not lily-white innocent of all that can happen to us when we take risks. "Sharing The Road" is not inherently safe. No one is forcing us to ride our bikes around auto traffic. Make your choices and takes your chances. Sometimes it might come up snake-eyes though.
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detroitjim

It was just announced that the individual that killed her won't be fighting the misdemeanor charges of a moving violation causing death. Maximum jail time 1 year. I'll be surprised if he gets more than probation. This nonsense continues to happen.

bobwysiwyg

Just heard this, seems light but I must admit I have not seen any details as to how this occurred. I can imagine how it occurred but that's all.

kickstart

Am I having a technical issue?
I can't enlarge the video, it looks like the same 2 vehicles being repeated over and over again rather than multiple passes by different vehicles?

kickstart

I'm not comfortable with the idea of suggesting the victim has any culpability biased on the information available at this time, but I have seen the behavior you allude to on a few rare occasions, and I'm surprised at the number of incidents that involve highly experienced cyclists on training rides.
Another thing that comes to mind, I had a co worker tell me He always recognizes me, and sees me much sooner than most other cyclists on their "race bikes" because I'm "sitting up high and looking around", rather than "in a low tuck looking at the ground", so I'm not going to dismiss it as victim blaming either.

canklecat

Yeah, that version is a lo-rez video -- my camera makes two copies, one low resolution, the other 720p or 1080p. And it shows the same two vehicle passes at successively slower speeds.

There's another longer version on my channel, higher resolution, around 12 minutes. Pretty much the entire route with all passes, most of them pretty risky.

Judging from Strava heatmaps I know some other local cyclists ride that route but they're much faster than I am. And I'm betting they don't ride it at Friday evening rush hour.

Most local cyclists I asked said it was my fault for riding that route too slowly.

rydabent

Sad. Prayers for her family.