rugerben

No, I don't mean changing which street you go down or something. I mean actually altering something about the route itself.

It's bugged me for the past year that there are some bushes that have branches far overgrown over this area of sidewalk. (before you jump on me, I have to get on the sidewalk for about 30 feet so as not to go the wrong way up a one way road.) One of the bushes has tons of thorns, the other is one of those with tons of little berries on it and when you hit them they burst and stain my favorite pair of cargo shorts!!!

So anyway, the other day I threw my camping machete in my panniers. On my way back home, i trimmed back the bushes. Now, i can fly down there rather than dodging branches and bushes. Problem solved. If the city isn't going to groom their area, I will do it for them.

Anyone do anything similar?

HardyWeinberg

I have definitely done guerilla-pruning.

d2create

I groom my own area but I don't touch other people's areas.

GV27

Well, it depends on what she looks like.......

I've tried to fight the goathead vines, to no avail. I've moved rocks out of the trail, etc.

Chris

Kabir424

Bwahahahahah. Sometimes I touch other people's areas. But only if they invite me.

Seriously, I have done some guerrilla trimming before. I believe it IS illegal but nobody could really complain about everything being a bit neater. It's not like I cut down someone's cherry tree.

ClintP

This is too funny. I can just see a cyclist hoping off his bike, pull out a machete, and start hacking away at some business' shrubbery.

bigbenaugust 

I am about to... the oleanders near my mobile home park's back pedestrian gate (that I ride through twice a day) are getting a little big and starting to block the door. I do have a machete, but I would prefer to use the hedge clippers for this.

truman

Be sure top wash your hands carefully. Oleanders are deadly poisonous, as my dog Ruffy found out.

SouthFLpix

Great idea. There are these bushes on my route that almost completely cover the sidewalk. They are so overgrown that it would probably take me 20-30 minutes with a sharp machete to trim them. I really hate them because I have to ride the very edge of the sidewalk to avoid them, and with oncoming traffic screaming by, one little slip-up and I would be history. I was thinking of complaining to the city, but perhaps I should take matters into my own hands.

slugman

I've done a bunch of this, including that time last year when somebody stopped to thank me for the work but also to point out some poison ivy type stuff mixed in nearby... Swung by CVS for the special soap for that and came out without too much blistering. The city here barely mows the overgrown grass and must figure dead branches hanging across the path makes things scenic.

Gotta find where my wife hid my Woodsman's Pal (fun and menacing looking machete-like tool) to really get at stuff, otherwise mostly using bare hands and breaking the dead stuff. I figure the police would be happier with bare hands too.

habernac

I've thought of borrowing my brother in law's ATV with a plow to clear snow from the MUP in the winter

Pinyon

I got smacked in the face by a leafless branch last fall near dusk. It slapped me right across the face, scraped across my eyeglasses, and left a nice and red welt on one side of my face.

I was so p'd, that I got off the bike right there, and just tore the branch off with no tools. I did not intend to, but I ended up tearing a huge chunk of the bark off the section of the tree trunk below the offending branch. It was ugly. The 10 foot long branch laying on the well-manicured roadside lawn also drew attention. Sure enough, the shopping center had all of those road-side trees trimmed the next week.

chephy

Well, I kicked trash off the street into the sidewalk...

ZombieButcher

At least your glasses were there to protect you. Would have been awful if you hadn't had them on.

There is a busy 50mph road in Escondido that has bushes overgrown taking up the bike path I have contacted city hall about it but the last time I rode through it hadn't been fixed yet. This is the only part of town that I have noticed anything but its not on my reg route so I don't sweat it much.

Big_e

I think I made a small difference. I called 2 potholes in to the city, had caused streetlamps to be repaired ('cause it's dark when I leave out in the mornings), and to this date called in and had 4 stray dogs picked up along my route. This also benefits the walkers who use the bus stop to go to work. I should put small hash marks on my bike for all my accomplishments. I will also call in stuff like niusances and graffiti along my route (since I'm a code enforcement inspector) but haven't seen any graffiti or mischeif yet.
Ernest

JoeyBike

I have swept up broken glass from a bridge "walkway" that I used twice a day for years. Motorist would sling bottles up against the concrete wall as they crossed the bridge, breaking them on a concrete wall - the pieces would fall onto the walkway. I made a collapsible push broom for the job!

RogerB

I changed all the stop signs so I'd have the right-of-way all the way to work.


Oh, wait. I mean I dreamed that I did that.

Map tester

I have trimmed tree branches from the MUP, patched 2 pavement joints that could cause pinch-flats with asphalt patch, and painted a white line on a new RR crossing (to keep the motorists from crowding the parallel MUP). I see it like doing trail maintenance on a hiking trail.

chipcom 

I always booby-trap my route with well-placed snot rockets.

harleyfrog

I like that idea.

AndrewP

I used the saw blade on my Swiss Army knife to trim a couple of low branches over a bike path.

DieselAmy

We can report potholes and stuff online to the city. What I want to try next is request street sweeping along my route--tons of sand and debris there. I ride this road because it's wide and has little traffic, but gotta watch out for the gravel and such.

I also report gas prices online!

buzzman

I'm a pretty tall rider and find myself doing this one often (I use a Leatherman with small saw on it).

But I've swept, dug, trimmed etc. on roads and bike paths for years.

It's great when I'm wearing my reflective vest people just assume it's my job.

recumelectric

I was contemplating some tree trimming not too long ago. I got paranoid about being caught. This was mainly because some guys started doing some kind of work there a day after I decided I wanted to do it. Too many witnesses. But d---, those trees need to be cut back. I ended up going another way instead.

recumelectric

Wow! Are you serious? If you are, that's way cool.