Originally Posted by mds0725 (Post 8940759)

What is is you really want, OP? My guess is you don't want any help looking for an alternate route. You suggest in your first post that the other possible route you would ride isn't acceptible because it has both a dangerous intersection and a hill. Presumably this other route is the one where you would go left on CP and right on 126. Then you say that the alternative that was suggested to you by CliftonGK1 isn't good because it "would take as long as left on Connecticut Path and then a right on 126." But doesn't this alternative at least eliminate the dangerous intersection? Like I said, I don't know what you really want but my guess is you're hoping someone will validate your belief that it's okay to do what you're doing because of the time you're supposedly saving and because you get to avoid a dangerous intersection. (By the way, when you ride the wrong way on a one-way street, every intersection is a dangerous intersection.) Or maybe you just want others to tell you what you already know -- that your shortcut is stupid and dangerous -- without having any intention of doing anything differently?

Trying to figure out what you wanted to accomplish by posting this thread (and the map of your route) reminded me of that joke where a hunter keeps going into the woods, shooting at a bear and missing, getting the crap beat out of him by the bear and having the bear warn him that if he ever comes back and tries that again he'll get beat up even worse. After the third time, the bear finally says to the hunter, "You really don't come here to shoot at bear, do you?"

Originally Posted by Jonahhobbes (Post 8941478)

Good bear story :)

Originally Posted by mikeshoup (Post 8942571)

IMO...

We spend all this time complaining that drivers don't treat us nicely. Wishing our cities would give us a better infrastructure. Yet, we can't even follow the rules of the road ourselves.

How can you expect drivers and the cities to treat us with respect when we can't respect the rules of the road...

Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 8941620)

I guess I was sharing my experience so that others would not do as I do. Today I made sure to stay on the left side, away from the incoming side streets.

it's gonna be hard to let go of this road

Originally Posted by lil brown bat (Post 8942427)

Yes, except in the version I heard, the bear wasn't beating the hunter up...which makes the punch line make a lot more sense.

Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 8938822)

OK, I learned a new reason not to ride the wrong way on a one way street. The cagers entering from sides street are only looking in one direction for traffic. I almost got killed the other day because I kept expecting the cager to stop their car at the intersection (crazy what was I thinking) and look my way but they didn't until they decided the coast was clear. If they had gunned it, I would have been a gonner. Good thing I wasn't a stroller!

Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 8938895)

I do it because I save so many miles. The short cut is only 2/10 miles long; the alternate route involves an additional 3/4 mile.

Originally Posted by mikeshoup (Post 8942571)

How can you expect drivers and the cities to treat us with respect

Originally Posted by noteon (Post 8948692)

I have no expectation of that.

At any moment, you'll find me where I think I'm safest. I have slightly different criteria for success than a city government's acceptable cyclist mortality rate.

Originally Posted by lil brown bat (Post 8949074)

Errr, yeah, but that's kind of beyond the realm of the current discussion, which is whether it's prudent (never mind lawful) to ride against traffic. What are your thoughts on that?

Originally Posted by noteon (Post 8949156)

Errr, yeah, pretty sure I just answered that. When it's safe, I'll do it. When it's not, I won't.

I realize that "sometimes" isn't black-and-white enough to get a really good righteous brawl going, but when the question is this vague, it's the only reasonable answer. Sometimes it's safe, sometimes it's not. If you can't tell the difference, don't do it.

Originally Posted by lil brown bat (Post 8951687)

Glad to see your shoulder is still in great shape, noteon. So how can you enter a one-way street the wrong way and know that it's safe?

Originally Posted by noteon (Post 8951835)

Entering a one-way street the wrong way and knowing it's safe is just like entering a two-way street and knowing it's safe. There's this thing now called looking.

Originally Posted by rumrunn6 (Post 8938947)

BTW: I use the sidewalk to enter the road.

Originally Posted by Torrilin (Post 8944224)

Oh, so you're the idiot who almost ran me over last summer?

(hint: traffic laws apply to bikes. the chick on a bike, riding with traffic and crossing a one way street is not going to be looking for two way bike traffic. Nor will the car drivers on the same cross street. NOR WILL THE DRIVERS ON THE ONE WAY STREET. Fun times ensue when you're in the process of a collision and there's 3 cars bearing down at 40 mph.)