ghettocruiser

Here.

electrik

Isn't that where the the city garbage truck killed somebody a few years ago? Just by that under-pass.

BTW, I don't envy you having to get across that! I've been there before driving, narrow, fast and busy.

fourteen

heh, this.

My current commute is pretty sweet. Mostly MUP, although there is about a 1-mile stretch of 2-lane road. Fortunately it's fairly straight and flat, so visibility is good, and it's pretty lightly traveled.

DX-MAN

Worst: getting to work and having to get off the bike.
2nd worst: having to tote things home at the end of the day -- "luggage" means no play!

fredgarvin7

Probably crossing the bridge that the Ogre lives under.

ghettocruiser

Traffic is usually backed up when I pass through, so speeds are low most of the time.

Passing Allan's ghostbike site is far worse, of course.

NeuroDawg

The last 1/2 mile on my return commute home. It's an 6-10% grade the whole way. Luckily, at about halfway there's a cul-de-sac I pull into and do circles to catch my breath and spin my legs.

The great thing is that in the mornings I don't have to pedal for the first 1/2 mile. Just push off, clip-in, and coast.

av8soulfly

Alhambra, California on Monday mornings...the trash trucks pick up early and leak bacteria laden juice all through the city and it smells like vomit for 3-4 miles.

Vicelord

It's all the Vietnamese food. I love my food, but it smells like SHIAT!

tarwheel 

My commute is 10-12 miles each way on neighborhood and suburban streets with no bike paths or lanes. The worst part is about the halfway point where I have to ride about 1.5 miles on a busy 4-lane road. It's worst in the afternoons because the traffic is heavy, I'm riding into the sun, mostly uphill and usually into a head wind. Once I get past that stretch of the road, the rest of my commute is a piece of cake.

rumrunn6

I have a regular 29 mile joy ride that's usually pretty decent. it's tricky at night of course and i avoid rush hours. but somehow the other night I got to this rotary at a high traffic hour in the dark and my chain hopped off the front chain ring! I would eventually get through it but it was pretty harrowing that night!

I come up from the South, enter the rotary as fast as I can and merge to the center and cut back across to the right again and merge right to take the road at the north side of the rotary. mid day during low traffic hours it's pretty darn fun!
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...,0.006866&z=18

phillyskyline

Traffic wise, the worst part of my commute is going around the Philadelphia Art Museum circle. Eastbound, the bike lane just ends suddenly, and you have to shoot out into 6 lanes of traffic. Half the cars are on their way to the highway on-ramp, meaning they're going about a million miles an hour. You pretty much have to wait until the light turns red, then run it to get out ahead of traffic and fly left across all the lanes to make it to the next portion of the bike lane.



Neighborhood-wise, I go through the "badlands" of North Philly, which looks pretty much like a war zone in parts. I make it a point not to stop at all on the last 2 miles of my commute. This particular block has precisely one occupied home...the rest are either boarded up or demolished.

Chris L

The worst part of my commute is whichever bit the council are digging up for construction work, which is virtually always somewhere. It often takes them upwards of two years to finish the work, so I just have to deal with it.

chephy

My least favourite is probably the part near the end of my commute where there are 10 traffic lights in less than a mile, including one that takes a really long time to change. If I'm lucky, only half of them will be red...

On the other hand, that same part has some nice views of downtown Toronto, so it's not as bad as it could have been.

Zef

I used to live in Oak Harbor, I know the hills on Whidbey Island very well. They seem to get steeper the further south on the Island you get. I think I lost a lung or two a few years back during the tour de whidbey.

Ride safe.

Cheers,
-j

Chalupa102

I've done a lot of planning and tried about 6 different routes before I came up with the best one that I'm sticking with and I really enjoy. Unfortunately there's still a minor trouble area even in this route. Coming home, there is a road (Maple St) that bears to the right while I continue straight/bear to the left. It's a very easy spot to get hooked because at least a 1/3 of the traffic bears right onto that road. I take the lane when I can. Some days I have no issue because the traffic is light, but other days the traffic is extremely heavy. It makes it hard to take the lane when almost everyone is moving at 35+mph and tailgating each other in that section and most the time people don't signal either.

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...=11,78.45,,0,5

The only real way to avoid it is by taking a different route by going thru Ludlow, which I'm not crazy about. Of course, right now they are doing construction on East and Chapin St and it's also a huge pain turning left at the stop sign from Cottage Ave to Boston Rd. The traffic can be crazy at times and there's limited sight lines. I've waiting at that stop sign behind cars trying to turn left onto Boston Rd for over 8 mins. I really feel that one of these days they are going to (and should) install a traffic light there instead of a stop sign.

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...11,147.03,,0,5

Doohickie

This morning? EVERY stretch where I was going north into the headwind.

kache_98

3mi commute each way... a stretch of 1.2 mi with 22% grade

oban_kobi

On the way home, the bike lane turns into a turn lane and two horribly busy intersections. It's pretty horrible, last week a guy almost re-ended me when I took the lane, I think he thought he could scare me out of the way. Scared me, but there were cars on the right so I couldn't really move, I just pedaled faster and braced my self.

pharasz

Lois Ave in South Tampa. It's only 2.25 miles, and I call it "the gauntlet". The first mile is in the business district, four lanes, 35 MPH speed limit, but cars pulling out of office buildings and side streets every few seconds. Then you go under the inter-state and it narrows to 2 lanes (with curbs, and VERY narrow lanes) for 1.25 miles. At this point it is residential and the speed limit drops to 30, but it is a major connector from the business district to the South Tampa area. There are three traffic lights in that 1.25 mile stretch, the cars are bumper to bumper and desperate to get to/from work, and I am in their way. So I sprint for all I'm worth and red line my heart rate for that 1.25 miles each morning and evening. Some days, I can keep the car in front of me in sight for the entire 1.25 miles. Then I turn onto a four lane road and relax for the other 12 miles of my ride, which is very nice.

Maxxxie

Whhhhaaaaaaaaa********** Did you just say TWENTY-TWO PERCENT?

I tried an 18% grade once. Made it about 100m up the hill when my heart and lungs went on strike.

Max

Catgrrl70

Worst part...consistently...is the two block, steep uphill (no more than 5-7 mph) for a block and a half, unmarked roadway, parking on both sides, a main route to the huge gym in the area, with a stop sign at the top and bottom. I have altered my morning route in so I avoid the downhill (I go down an even steeper hill now with no stop sign) but uphill it's my best bet (and ability to avoid two even worse intersections). At the top I have to take a left onto a busy arterial - frequently passing cars lined up at the stop sign with no turn signals on so I have to guesstimate which direction they will be turning. I can then proceed straight across and then a sharp left while watching out for the traffic on the off-set adjoining streets (it's a 5-way intersection on the diagonal). Or, I can wait at the top if I'm lucky with my left arm signaling my left turn intention. Usually drivers are pretty ok with this as they don't want to see me get hit in front of them, but they are generally not patient. I've had drivers do crazy moves to get around me as I'm waiting for traffic to clear - always watching them in turn cut off other drivers with the illegal move. I aways have to judge the situation each day because it's always different.

Then there's the other places: construction at both ends of the commute route which has altered both the bike route and the auto-lanes drastically, the other massive hill I sometimes take on the way home to avoid another arterial with aggressive drivers trying to make the ferry in time in utter disregard of anyone but themselves - I pretty much don't ride that route in the dark any longer.

RE: 22% grade - Yes, this is common on my route as well. I go down one of those (mentioned above) but not up. I will bet that several of the hills I encounter are 18% - 20%.

Ray R

I have to ride UNDER the bridge where the ogre lives! Fortunately at 6 am he's usually asleep, although in the dark before the time change I think I ran over his buddy's foot. On the return trip I have to slow way down to avoid him as he's usually pacing blindly around on the MUP under the bridge.

NeuroDawg

Where is this? I'd love to see it on google maps.

Raiden

There are a few high-speed left turns at 'Y's that I either need to take the lane on aggressively and pray that all of the drivers around me are doing the right thing at that moment, or pull off to the shoulder/gutter and cross when clear.

Having said that, though, those really aren't the worst locations- all of those 'Y's have very deliberate traffic patterns through them- no surprises. The most dangerous section of my ride is a straight section of road with lots of small residential cross-streets and businesses on it. Cars randomly pull in and out off the sides, are randomly parked on the shoulder, etc.

And wind. Something about the patterns often gives me a hefty headwind in the morning, and a light headwind in the evening.