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To the cyclists among us, how do you overcome the fear of riding in the middle of heavy trafficked roads during rush hour? This is very common in the Seattle a

by ronnier 14y ago

To the cyclists among us, how do you overcome the fear of riding in the middle of heavy trafficked roads during rush hour? This is very common in the Seattle area and almost as common in Dallas.

awolf 14y ago
For me, the realization that it is actually SAFER to claim the lane rather than be meek and risk getting doored or risk being in a position where cars assume they should pass you. Better to piss people off than risk your life. Plus, in most of those heavily trafficked roads the cars that are getting pissed off are delusional and don't realize that you're basically moving at the same speed as traffic anyway.
Moto7451 14y ago
At least in LA around the parts that I commute, when rush hour hits cars are traveling at walking speeds or completely stopped except for short bursts so I'm traveling between three and five times faster than they are if I'm lane sharing (Lane sharing is legal for cycles in CA). If I take the lane I'm in the clear during rush hour as well. The thing to remember is that a cyclist on a road bike is generally able to accelerate faster 0-5 or 0-10 than most vehicles from a stop so clearing an intersection with the cars isn't hard. Cars obviously leave cyclists behind past 5-10MPH because they've overcome their inertia. Usually the only guys clearing an intersection before me on a start are guys on sport bikes and I can lane share with them (though we'd look silly for not just bypassing the traffic). When you're the faster vehicle its rather reassuring since you can more or less get the same respect as everyone in a car after a couple blocks. If the traffic is moving at a good speed for a bike, you can usually you can just blend into a lane and no one will honk or look at you funny... after all, the cars holding the cyclist up and I think everyone is happier when we're not lane sharing.
WiseWeasel 14y ago
Find bike routes or low-traffic streets and stick to those.
zobzu 14y ago
Personally, I don't. I always think about it. I watch my back at every single crossing. Every one of them, zero exception. I slow down when it goes down hill. I slow down when cars are next to me. I don't care if some bikes pass me full speed like "hey look how fast i go". I don't go slow either, but I'm not "full speed". Bikes brake very poorly, specially road bikes. (Mountain bikes brake a lot better, btw. Much larger tire.) Also important, if there are cars parked in busy areas I go on the far left of the bike lane (there's no way you can anticipate being door'd). Saves me about twice a week. I go back on the far right whenever there's no cars parked. And when there's no bike lane and cars go by relatively fast, I just claim the lane (of course you need to go nearly as fast as cars for that, else you're going to piss off a lot of people and create traffic issues).

by ronnier 14y ago

To the cyclists among us, how do you overcome the fear of riding in the middle of heavy trafficked roads during rush hour? This is very common in the Seattle area and almost as common in Dallas.

awolf 14y ago

For me, the realization that it is actually SAFER to claim the lane rather than be meek and risk getting doored or risk being in a position where cars assume they should pass you. Better to piss people off than risk your life. Plus, in most of those heavily trafficked roads the cars that are getting pissed off are delusional and don't realize that you're basically moving at the same speed as traffic anyway.

Moto7451 14y ago

At least in LA around the parts that I commute, when rush hour hits cars are traveling at walking speeds or completely stopped except for short bursts so I'm traveling between three and five times faster than they are if I'm lane sharing (Lane sharing is legal for cycles in CA). If I take the lane I'm in the clear during rush hour as well. The thing to remember is that a cyclist on a road bike is generally able to accelerate faster 0-5 or 0-10 than most vehicles from a stop so clearing an intersection with the cars isn't hard. Cars obviously leave cyclists behind past 5-10MPH because they've overcome their inertia. Usually the only guys clearing an intersection before me on a start are guys on sport bikes and I can lane share with them (though we'd look silly for not just bypassing the traffic). When you're the faster vehicle its rather reassuring since you can more or less get the same respect as everyone in a car after a couple blocks. If the traffic is moving at a good speed for a bike, you can usually you can just blend into a lane and no one will honk or look at you funny... after all, the cars holding the cyclist up and I think everyone is happier when we're not lane sharing.

WiseWeasel 14y ago

Find bike routes or low-traffic streets and stick to those.

zobzu 14y ago

Personally, I don't. I always think about it. I watch my back at every single crossing. Every one of them, zero exception. I slow down when it goes down hill. I slow down when cars are next to me. I don't care if some bikes pass me full speed like "hey look how fast i go". I don't go slow either, but I'm not "full speed". Bikes brake very poorly, specially road bikes. (Mountain bikes brake a lot better, btw. Much larger tire.) Also important, if there are cars parked in busy areas I go on the far left of the bike lane (there's no way you can anticipate being door'd). Saves me about twice a week. I go back on the far right whenever there's no cars parked. And when there's no bike lane and cars go by relatively fast, I just claim the lane (of course you need to go nearly as fast as cars for that, else you're going to piss off a lot of people and create traffic issues).