Easy Peasy

I have a cushy commute that is mostly on a quiet MUP. Recently I've taken the busy road instead and enjoyed the exhilaration of riding in a more dangerous environment. Am I nuts?

matimeo

Yes, you're nuts. I tailor my route to bypass as much traffic as possible without tacking on a lot of distance to my commute. I enjoy he part of my commute where I don't have to ride as defensively and deal with traffic lights.

powermatt99

I like the city traffic but I avoid the really dangerous section by hopping on the trail for the last 1.5mi.

GriddleCakes

Can't say if you're nuts or not, a lot of sane people enjoy stuff that I don't enjoy. I love skiing, and I know that some people think I'm nuts for strapping a pair of sticks to my feet and rapidly sliding down avalanche terrain, over cliffs and through trees. Or for biking at high speeds down narrow twisty trails in bear country. Or for even being in avalanche or bear country; a shocking number of [strike]Alaskans[/strike] Anchoragites are scared of the outdoors.

Adrenaline addiction aside, I don't enjoy riding in traffic. When skiing and mountain biking, whether or not I get hurt depends almost entirely upon my skill and my attention, which I'm cool with. In traffic my well-being is placed in the hands of every yahoo who's passed a driving test, along with a few who haven't.

I find dropping cliffs and bombing trails exciting. I find almost getting run down by some moron on a cellphone infuriating, doubly so when said moron has the stones to honk at me because he suddenly realized that I'm there and it must be my fault that he isn't paying attention. The only challenge traffic provides is the challenge of not putting my U-lock through someone's windshield.

caloso

Not really.

Scheherezade 

MUP riding is much more pleasant than in traffic, IMO.

houseofreggae

Yer not nuts. It's good to mix things up once in a while. If ya got the time, go for it. My work commute is only a few miles one way, but once in a while I'll take a 15mi detour loop just to break up the monotony. If you want a predictable, mundane route, might as while go back to driving a car. : )

unterhausen

I don't mind riding in stop and go traffic, but if they cars can continue at speed, I'm somewhere else. I do enjoy riding down the main drag here in town when the traffic isn't too heavy. They have the lights set at around a brisk cycling pace. I'm sure that's just to slow down the cars, but it makes a pretty fun ride.

azesty

I have a couple of intersections that I love to fly through, crosses under an elevated expressway, there are 4 lanes going each way under the expressway, 2/3 lanes approaching with me from the south, with a bike road on either side of that, and two lanes approaching from the north, but it is one way except for bike traffic. I come from the south and go through exiting up the one way.

The other is turning left onto the second ring road. I am going north still, with 5 lanes, but only one going south, for buses only. There are bike lanes on either side. After it crosses 2nd ring road, it is still a one way street. 1 to 3 lanes heading north into the intersection are turning left, but they have to negotiate with the buses coming south, and the peds and bikes going north and south on the west side.

If the timing is right, I merge into the traffic, trying to work out who is going straight and who is turning left, indicators are not a reliable indicator here.... I am generally going faster than the traffic, so I am splitting lanes, and weaving in and out of the traffic. Lots of fun when it works out.

Unlike where so many of you post from, after I am in the bike lane on 2nd ring road, I will get a beep from a car or taxi trying to get my attention, mostly this happens with taxi drivers. When I look at them, they dont shout abuse, or give me the finger, they give me a big smile and a thumbs up. Happens once or twice a fortnight.

z

imi

yepp you're nuts... but at least you're in good company around here
nah but seriously, I get where you're coming from. Riding in traffic keeps you on your toes and can be fun

Kojak

Oddly enough, I miss the downtown Seattle mix-it-up that I used to enjoy every now and then, before I moved a bit north, and a bit west. I get a little in Victoria, but it's mostly over before it begins. That said, I love a nice ride on a very quiet road too. Box of chocolates kind of thing.

SlimRider

For the most part, I ride defensively. I always try to take the road less traveled, while in the city and avoid high concentrations of traffic. On the other hand, sometimes traffic is really heavy, but not flowing. I thoroughly take advantage of that situation. That's almost like having a traffic-cop stop all the traffic, just to let you go through.

Whenever, I can't avoid the fast flow of high density traffic, my adrenaline gets going and I acheive some type of mental state where I'm totally absorbed by the moment. I'm in my zone. I'm thoroughly focused. I'm in my Zen state, and totally loving it!

- Slim

PS.

Who in this world is not?

mustang1

I dont mind riding in city traffic in terms of danger, but i prefer to stay away so I dont have to breathe in the fumes.

chalex

Depending on what you might encounter on a MUP, I might prefer the road.

Regular two lanes of commuter car traffic can be safer and simpler than various joggers and less experienced commuters on the MUP. I just take the right lane and speed up.

commo_soulja

Not quite bicycling but still on two-wheels...

When I lived in the SF Bay Area I use to split lanes on Hwy 101 at or just above speed limit on my BMW moto. This was between SF and Mountain View for those who know the area. It was pretty exhilirating to ride just inches away from another vehicle at speed. It was a little predictable to gauge what cagers would do.

I wouldn't do the same on a MUP on my bike. Just too many variables with joggers/walkers/kids on bikes to predict what they'd do.

Singlespeed92

Not nutz,different stroke fer different folks it's what makes the ball go round

That said,doesn't usually bother me much,unless I've got one of my kids with me on their bikes,then I'll always look for quieter routes. (that wouldn't be "commuting" though,that'd be joy riding,or utility biking at most though wouldn't it? But hey,I don't work outside home anymore,and I wanna play ...)

mikeybikes

I do not enjoy heavy car traffic. The most enjoyable riding experience for me is a road void of traffic. That is, unfortunately, rare.

PaulH

Around here, "heavy car traffic" means gridlock. It is a wonderful feeling to glide past miles of immobile cars. Riding when cars are moving faster than me is not nearly as good.

Paul

BridgeNotTunnel

Once you get in your first accident you'll realize that safety should be your chief concern.

I wish I had an elevated track that went from my apartment to my office so all I had to do was pedal.

I've been doored and pushed over into traffic by a deaf girl (I spooked her as I was passing and she wheeled around and pushed me over, obviously she didn't hear me say, "on your left").

Knee injuries really, REALLY, hurt. :|

K'Tesh

+1

As for stop and go traffic, I've painfully learned that you have to be especially cautious if there's driveways for fast food restaurants ahead of you on a downhill. After getting right hooked by a driver turning into Taco Bell in May, I've shied away from that road since.

The shoulder of the freeway is legal and fun here in Oregon. I've got one route (the ZooBomb's Hellway) that I regularly take (hit 42 mph just coasting down it yesterday). It's fun passing all the people stuck in traffic, while I'm doing (near) freeway speeds.

wphamilton

makes you grin doesn't it? I get that to, Atlanta Georgia suburbs of all places (they take their cars seriously here, driving everywhere, literally).

alan s 

I wouldn't use the word "enjoy" to describe riding in heavy traffic. You definitely need 100% awareness of your surroundings to navigate through car traffic, peds and other bikes, so it is stimulating and different than normal riding, but not really fun or enjoyable.

I do get some satisfaction out of passing gridlocked traffic, which is pretty much standard during rush hour in downtown DC.

Dan The Man

There's nothing better than flying past heavy traffic. I used to love bombing through downtown Vancouver. Gotta watch out for the sudden lane changes, turns, and taxi doors, but that's kind of like the avalanches in skiing - objective hazard.

I also enjoy buzzing pedestrians who cross on red. Now I am in a university town and all of the students j-walk with their earbuds in so I try to see how close I can cut in front of them. If you try cutting behind, they will sometimes stop walking or take a step back which is no good for anyone.

SlimRider

Hey Dan!

You sound like a really cool guy. However, buzzing past J-walkers and redlight challenging pedestrians is not a very healthy endeavor. If you do that enough times, it could get ugly. Some guy in a car could see you do that to someone he knows, or he might remember that you're that same guy that buzzed him a few weeks ago...He just might decide to bump your bike or set you up for a collision somewhere down the road..You never know!

So you see, the bad scenarios just keep accumulating, the longer you continue doing this type of thing. Most mature adults, I think, would frown on this type of behavior. You're a college student! That places you at right about the same age when I began to really enter into the serious frame of mind, that most adults have.

C'mon Dan...Really!

- Slim

PS.

It's time to really be the MAN, ...DAN!

tsl

<--- See my custom user title.

I live in the city and work in the city, so it's hard to avoid traffic. Since I started cycling while living and working here, it's just normal stuff for me. I don't like riding commercial streets in the suburbs though.

I can't say I really enjoyed city traffic until after I got my late-90s Schwinn Peloton. It's a crit racer, bred for high speed, city streets, maneuvering in the peloton, and bumping bars kind of racing. It's fast, jumps off the line, and is twitchy as a cat in a room full of rockers. Traffic is its natural environment. And boy howdy! Is it ever a hoot to ride in the daily slice-and-dice.