Re: [BicycleCommuterGroup] Re: [SVBC general] Re: The Marginalization of Bicyclists

[Ebeling, Herman F.]

Michael,

I couldn't agree with you more. The various state versions of FRAP do nothing but add confession to what should be a very simple act.

IF we did as Patrick is suggesting we'd never make much headway as we are driving our bicycles down the road.

Also, I do as you do. If I notice in my rearview mirror that I have more than a couple of cars behind me and IF I can do so safely, I'll pull over/turn off and allow them to pass.

Sent from my Nexus 7.

Michael Graff <michae...@pobox.com> wrote:

On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 7:33 AM, <sunnyval...@yahoo.com> wrote:

If you chose to ride streets with traffic much faster than your abilility to keep up you MUST out if necessity (and this warped car centric culture and law enforcement) use your mirrors every 5 seconds tops and watch traffic behind you with same diligence as traffic ahead. Be prepared to quickly move right.

Um, no.  My cruising bike speed is in the low-to-mid teens, which means EVERY street I ride on has traffic much faster than my ability to keep up. I cannot recall ever having to "quickly move right" because of approaching traffic.

It's just the opposite.  If I'm controlling a narrow travel lane, it's precisely because there's nowhere to the right that I could quickly move.  And because I'm in a highly visible position in that narrow lane, approaching traffic has plenty of time to see me and change lanes.  Which is exactly what they do, by the dozens or hundreds, every day.

Riding this way drastically reduces my conflicts with all other traffic.  Cycling is truly fun and joyous when we stop letting ourselves be marginalized and start driving our bikes like the legitimate traffic that we are.

(That doesn't mean I stubbornly block as much traffic as possible.  If there's a bunch of traffic stacked up behind me, I'll find a place to momentarily pull off to let them pass.  I don't want to be the leader of an impromptu parade.)

Of course, I had to learn to ride this way.  I'll admit it takes a leap of faith (almost literally) to try controlling a travel lane.  And I distinctly remember the "AHA!" moment when I realized NOT controlling a travel lane was putting myself in danger.  But it's scary at first.  Then it's amazing.

I try not to sound like a religious zealot when I talk about how wonderful it is to take control of our cycling environment, but it's difficult to be unenthusiastic.  I feel like I've discovered a miracle cure.  I want everybody to know this wonderful thing, yet so many people reject it.

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