[TriLUG] [OT] TriLUGger on the news

[David McDowell]

just throwing this out there... I'm a mountain biker, single track
trails, and I refuse to ride on the roads.  I appreciate all the
cajones you all have to wanting to do that, but I won't.  I mean,
there are websites out there dedicated to people who got creamed while
biking on the road.  Drivers simply don't respect you.  I'd rather die
breaking my neck running into a tree than being hit by a car.  At
least that way I know it was my fault, or I could blame the tree...

btw, Sharper Image has an electric scooter (plug-in for recharge)... I
have NO clue the specs on it, saw it in the store the other day.

:p
David


On 5/22/07, Scott Chilcote <scottchilcote at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> I bike commuted between Cary and RTP much of the time between '95 and
> '02, when I started working at home most of the time.  In all those
> years I was never touched by a car.  People would get mad and shout once
> and a while, but they honk and yell at each other too.  Once I had a
> sandwich tossed at me.  I also chose to leave the roadway at times
> rather than get squeezed between two passing trucks, but at most it
> delayed me by half a minute.
>
> The two most critical things for me were carefully selecting the route
> (I changed employment sites five times) and learning how to ride
> effectively in traffic.
>
> Choosing a good cycling route to work is a lot different than what you'd
> want to use in a car.  Primary roads (highways) are of course out.
> Secondary roads are usually too busy as well, and often have no
> shoulders like 54 in Cary and Durham.  You have to take a close look at
> a map, and sometimes go exploring to find connectors that have extra
> lanes or wide shoulders.
>
> For heading through Morrisville, I'd use roads like Evans, Sheldon, Town
> Hall, McKrimmon, and Davis (which has good shoulders most of the way).
> If there's a back way to get from one major road to another, like Slater
> Road from Airport Blvd to Emperor/Miami or Hopson from Davis to 55,
> those are the ones I'd try to string together.
>
> Irritated drivers are the worst thing I had to deal with, but choosing
> less traveled roads that had room to pass most of the time helped a lot.
>  The second part is attitude.  You can ride your bike like a
> pedestrian, or you can ride it like just one more vehicle in traffic.
> Fit into the flow of traffic and ride predictably as much as possible.
> A friend who is an LAB certified cycling instructor uses the phrase
> "driving your bike".
>
> It isn't a cure-all.  People in cars get mad at other people in cars, so
> cyclists are hardly immune.  But there is a lot we can due to minimize
> the interactions.
>
> I'll throw in a third item too - having a good rear view mirror and
> learning how to use it while bicycling.  Mine is on my helmet.  It
> provides a lot of confidence to be able to see how the traffic situation
> is developing in advance.  If there's an eighteen wheeler coming from
> behind and another large truck up ahead coming this way, I have the
> option of looking for a place to pull off and subtracting myself from
> the equation.
>
> http://commutebybike.com/cats/commuting-101/
> http://www.trilug.org/~chilcote/Bike/rtp-bicycle-commute-FAQ.html
>
> Enjoy the ride.
>
> --
> Scott C.
> --
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