Was the oncoming rider on his phone? Kinda looks like it.
Takes two to tango. If either one of them had been paying attention, that wouldn't have happened.
Fucking bike paths.
Avoid.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
There's a nice bike path along the Truckee River, mostly filled with kids with training wheels, pedestrians walking 4 abreast with their backs to bike traffic, and unpassable packs of HS XCers on roller skis. The serious bikers take their chances on 89 with its 55MPH speed suggestion (where a cyclist was killed by an inattentive 50 something sober woman driver a few years ago).
Obviously these guys got told not to come into work, or just had the perfect excuse not to go in to work, which is a great reason to ride bikes, choice of route notwithstanding! I waited till Thursday to go out and poke around on my bike after the big wind. Power just came back on Friday evening.
We owned our cabin in the old Alpine Valley when that was put in. Even then, (a thousand years ago?), it was a shitshow if you weren’t out before 7:00 am.
The real solution to bike/car issues on a 2 lane road, is to just somehow mandate (whatever), shoulders to be a little bit wider so that it’s not just the road ending at the fog line. I’m perfectly fine with that with my ability.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
Even with full 4-6' bike lanes around here, i am always amazed at how many cyclists choose to hug the fog/lane line instead of just riding in the middle of the bike lane. I think many folks who bike on roads would really benefit from some trail riding where you learn to hold a line on trail that never gets wider than 24".
One of the bigger dangers we are dealing with in my neighborhood is kids on ebikes... the ones with throttles. They have the poor judgement we all did when we were 10-16 (riding the wrong way on sidewalks, cutting across roads through traffic, weaving between pedestrians, etc) but they are now doing it at 25+mph on 80lb bikes with shit brakes. Almost nailed one while i was nosing out into an intersection to see if traffic was coming because there were hedges blocking the view and a kid on an ebike riding full speed the wrong way on a sidewalk blasted out infront missing my bumper by inches.
quite often those bike lanes are filled with debris, potholes, drains, etc. If you are travelling at a decent speed, staying near the road can be a lot more predictable for the rider (and better for the drivers than being in the middle of the bike lane and constantly swerving towards the road to avoid hazards)
I guess I was thinking of my ability. I tend to ride just to the right of the fog line and when I hear cars coming, move over if I can, etc. Every situation is different, but I basically just try to make it easy on drivers.
Now that I think about it, the best (for)bike paths around here in Eastern suburban Seattle are the ones that have no view, have a hill typically and nobody would ever walk them.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
There are many bike lanes near me that I ride often that aren't filled with "debris, potholes, drains" and bikers still hug the lane line. I think roadies just want to go as fast as possible all the time which means not sizing up tires to deal with debris like bike commuters can and do, and they would rather be near traffic and take that safety risk and annoy drivers to get those fast speeds.
I think the solution is to move all the white lines much closer to the edge of the road, ha.
It would not be acceptable for a car to swerve into oncoming traffic or into a cyclist in a bike lane to avoid minor debris or potholes, so i do not find that excuse acceptable. Get some fatter tires, some beefier rims, ride at a speed to be able to stay safe, in your lane. Have a road safe vehicle. Same standard as the rest of the vehicle traffic. There was a poster on here complaining about having to brake while riding through urban neighborhoods that got pissed and indignant when it was suggested he should ride with his fingers near the brakes around busy vehicle traffic and intersections instead of on the flat part of road bike drop bars- to me, not doing so is the equivalent of putting cruise control on and sitting crosslegged.
And like i said, i think many folks biking on road would benefit from trail riding so they have better situational awareness about picking and taking lines through obstacles, being comfortable placing their tires through 12" gaps, and riding through some bumps.
I am safe and patient around these folks because i understand the risk-reward relationship at play if i were not, but it sure can be annoying to have the most vulnerable user group play by a different, more dangerous rule standard than 99% of vehicle traffic.
Heading against the flow of street traffic.
Much more dangerous because you would be coming up behind a driver turning left from the main road who is looking for oncoming traffic. And its also more dangerous because the cyclist has way less sight distance to see and stop for a car creeping forward looking to enter the main road.
I've spent a few months in Bend over the past year and the teens and tweens with e-bikes are a menace to themselves. I'm pretty shocked that parents are putting their kids on these electric motorcycles without making sure they have the ability to safely use them (they don't)
and yet that happens regularly
and not necessarily unreasonably
tho there are always assholes out there doing selfish things
not sure this would play out like you intend...
or, maybe the folks you wished would 'stay in their lane" are in fact the ones having enough "situational awareness picking and taking lines through obstacles" (ie choosing to take the lane to avoid road grates or slippery leaves or gravel or someone walking or whatever)
i'd guess that many of the folks with the confidence to ride in the road likely ride elsewhere too
just something to consider
Every single road cyclist I know rides mountain bikes as well.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda
Yeah, same. Most roadies I know are wicked good bike handlers. Guessing hugging the line is mostly due to being debris adverse with fancy fast thin performance road rubber. Pro-tip... 40c Schwalbe g-ones cut through our epic eastside Seattle windstorm debris like Ginzu knives! Full transparency Californiagrown, I was not part of that dawn patrol group ride
As far as the roadies needing equipment that's better suited to conditions, there's probably someone on a brodozer forum complaining about the Volvo driver that veered into his lane to avoid a 6-in pothole and wondering why they don't get equipment better suited to the conditions.
This probably doesn't make you feel any better, but for what it's worth, any driver that clips a roadie (regardless of where they're riding relative to the white line) won't face any consequences as long as they're sober. The magic words are "I didn't see him" or "he fell in front of me".
Personally I can drive to ride a mountain bike, or I can road ride on this road that goes past my house. Riding gravel from the house when we lived in Spokane was truly the best of both worlds.
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