Do YOU clean up your commute bike path and WHy?
 

Curious as to how series folks are about cleaning up the route they commute on - and more importantly why

I've been commuting for a month and I've dedicated some time to clean off dangerous debris (branches, too much loose sand, broken beer bottles etc.) from my path - MOSTLY and selfishly for my own safety -

Looks like some trees are dropping lower and lower and I may have bring a saw to trim

I'll do it on the MTB trail is a large branch or somethings in the way, my mups are usualy clean.

Discussed for a bit over HERE.

Seems like a lot of people have done things to improve and clean up their route.

The mountain bikers might not appreciate that.

Just last night I found a stick and knocked all the detritus and debris off one section of the bike path. This week the creek next to the path had overflowed its banks and left a thick mat of sticks and vegetable matter on the path. I'd love to have a free weekend afternoon to just take a good broom along and ride my route and clean up things. Some places are dangerous with fallen seed pods and broken glass etc.

I'll remove broken glass from the MUP. :thumb:

yes. fortunately, we have a great organization- The Charles River Conservancy, which has taken on the lion's share of trail maintenance on the MUP I use to ride into Boston. They have volunteer days, which have a waiting list! to work on brush clearing etc.

In addition to contributing to CRC with $ and volunteering. I trim overhanging branches on my own with some frequency (I'm a tall rider) :lol: just realized that may read that I do it with my head!- but no, I carry a small multi-tool with a pretty good saw. I've also worked on sections to make them drain better by leaving early for work and carrying a small folding shovel.

I used to be shy about doing such things but after working with CRC for a while I got the sense that responsible tending by individuals, while it could not be "officially approved", was perfectly welcome.

I have been known to clean broken glass off trails. I hate flat tires.

I stopped and cleaned a huge pile of dog crap off the trail last week.

My tires unintentionally pick up some broken glass, but other than that, no. I do fill up about a bin full of recyclables a week when I walk to places, though.

When I commute I spent most of my time on the road and the sidewalk so I don't do any cleaning or maintenance along my commuting route. I change my routes regularly too. I am not on the same route everyday. I don't have time to maintain roads and sidewalks. Let the city staff clean the roads and sidewalks and mup's. The only cleaning and maintenance I do is along some of the off road trails that I ride.

The worst things usually on my MUP are piles of dog poop left by inconsiderate owners. I usually just avoid those. But this thread gives me an idea! If there was a broom that you could hook to your bike like a trailer, angled so that it swept the path behind you, I would pull that along without complaint!

If an impedence is unavoidable (ie a large branch across the entire path), I will stop to remove it so I don't have to deal with it again the next day. If it's small enough that I can ride around it, I don't bother. I ride because I have to get somewhere, not because I like performing public services. My taxes are supposed to pay for those.

I'll probably be slammed as a hypocritical "do-gooder" for mentioning this, but I try to pick up and recycle a few plastic bags and bottles and aluminum cans every day. I only get a fraction of them, of course. If I stopped every time I saw one, I wouldn't get in much riding. :(

Yes, routinely. I use the same roads often, and I ride at night, so i try to pick up any bottles I see before they get broken. Flat prevention! I wish we had public services, like the Toronto chap relies on, but Trinidad is not quite 1st world yet.

None: that's the city's job.

The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District (The area of the suburb I live in around the Barnett Rez) "maintains" our mup with a small street sweeper during the week. If I come across broken glass they havn't got to yet, then I'll stop and slide it out to the edge with my foot. About 2/3 of it are perfect with some awesome little bridges and what have you but the last third really needs to be repaved. :mad: Litter is handled by the convicts every week also so it stays pretty nice.

Some idiot spilled a box of small nails across the street last fall. Every morning I'd ride through and think, I should come out here and sweep it this weekend. Traffic was heavy when I'd ride thru each day. Of course I would promptly forget about it as soon as I passed it. Eventually the nails dispersed.

I've cleaned up broken bottles on a MUP several times, but generally don't do much else. I might slow down and kick sticks out of my way as well after a wind storm. Anything to keep me or another cyclists out of the ditch.

My bike riding is all on city streets, and/or sidewalks, so no, I don't clean them up.

Every chance I get! www.riverbottleblues.com
What started as just cleaning up the creeks and rivers has spread to my commuting route.

The only MUPS that I ride are not during my commute, and usually the worst thing on them is the piles o'dog crap. If I were to stop to clean up each pile, I would never get anywhere. The ones that REALLY piss me off are the ones directly in front of the "Please clean up after your pets" signs. The signs have bags and handy attached cans, so the only explanation is simple laziness.

There is usually a small bit of vegetal matter on the trail, but that will blow away, and crossing under a couple of bridges after heavey rains there will be mud on the trail, but the city usually uses a skid-steer loader to clean it off relatively quickly....within a few days of the rain.

I'll stop and get pointy objects off the road, and since a lot of my ride is out in the middle of nowhere with lots of trees over the road, it's quite common for me to come across branches in the road. I'll stop and pull them off into the ditch if I can. Sometimes they're too heavy. It was bad enough one day that I thought about going back home for a chainsaw.

This thread inspired me to get off my bike on my ride last night and kick glass of the MUP. Developers built two bars a few blocks from where the path starts then follows it for a mile. Drunk idiots throw their beer bottles on it so there is glass everywhere. 'Tis a real drag. I got to walk my bike home the other day because of it.

I don't ride the MUP much, but I do ride some nice, quiet roads. Unfortunately, these quiet roads are also the same roads the drunks drive down at night, tossing their bottles/cans/McD bags as they go. People also like to throw entire trashbags along this road, which I really don't understand. I once brought a trash bag to clean some of it up, but my bag was full after only 40 feet of road. I plan on making a trailer this year that I can fill. Might need to use the trailer behind my Jeep, as it might be too much for my bike to pull. I hate seeing so much trash.