When you are behind a bicycle at a stop light, we really don’t need 20+ feet of gap behind us and when you do this you are actually creating a problem. The sensors in the road that detect a vehicle are supposed to be sensitive enough to detect a bicycle there. Most are not, so if you are sitting 20 feet back, the sensors can’t detect you, and if the sensor doesn’t pick up the bike, we will both be sitting there for a while. ( This is the most common reason you’ll see us move through Red lights, we don’t trigger them alone ).
Category Archives: Advocacy
“We’ve got … a cultural paradigm of ‘drive or die’ in this state.”
by Jim Ferner, founder and director of Complete Streets Coalition of Kalamazoo in reference to the crash involving 9 cyclists in Kalamazoo. It really sums up how most drivers feel about anyone that isn’t in a car using the roads.
Two’s Company, Three’s A Crowd
We are so lucky to have some really smart people in the Atlanta area who have the knowledge and background to help us navigate the sometime murky questions of how Georgia bike law applies. One of those, is Bruce Hagen of Bike Law. Today, he published a really great follow up to a question asked by another local advocate. Some really great information in here that really needs to be read and understood, not only by cyclists, but also by enforcement and road planners to understand just how quirky this subject is.
The Ten Minute Threshold
Ten minutes of transit time. That is the length of time most of the people that I talk to are willing to travel via alternative means before they will ‘just drive’. When asking around to find out what that threshold is amongst the suburbanites I live around 10 minutes has been the most consistent answer. However, that answer is almost always accompanied by a qualifier; If there was a safe route.
Therein lies the issue. Safe routes remain scarce in the suburban build out, and so, the car has become the default mode of transportation.
Interestingly, the communities that have traditionally been the least likely to invest in non-car infrastructure, are the very same ones that are now seeing the light and becoming the first communities to invest deeply into establishing new infrastructure. Sadly, in many of these communities, the drivers are all wrong, but he results may well be the right ones.
Today, the drivers that are urging this infrastructure build out are purely commercial in origin. These new ‘walkable’ suburbs are being driven by small commercial centers and new suburban residential centers, with high dollar price tags. Small walkable hubs have started springing up in the affluent suburbs around the country. While these hubs are all about these expensive homes and high end retail which really isn’t the point of good, non-car infrastructure at the end of the day, these builds outs accomplish the long term goal encouraging walkable communities.
Curiously, the side effect of these little suburban enclaves is starting to show a side effect. The neighborhoods that are just a little further out from the community hubs are pressing for viable infrastructure as well, at least in our little suburban enclaves.
These are the very pressures that have to exist in order to garner the money and incentive for our communities to undermine the 50 years of car primacy, which is particularly egregious in the suburbs and the rural edge communities.
But let us step back and think about what 10 minutes means:
- The average walking pace is about 18 minutes per mile, or just a tiny bit over 3 miles an hour.
- The average pace of a casual bike ride is about 6 minutes per mile, or about 10 miles an hour.
So, if you extrapolate that from these little community hubs and draw a circle of just one half mile in radius from these hubs in order to see just how much of the residential areas are encompassed. When you expand that circle out to a 3 mile radius, and you start connecting these micro community hubs with real, viable non-car infrastructure.
Just look at this image. The green circles are the city hubs and walkable areas within that 10 minute threshold, while the yellow circles are the 10 minute ridable from those same community hubs. In this image, they are focused on the community retail hubs, but they could just as easily be dropped on high schools or existing recreational hubs. What is clear however, is that by focusing on infrastructure from any of these as focal points, the overlap quickly covers a vast area of the suburban sprawl. When you look at the area covered, what also becomes clear, that by following this approach of focus, the near term goal of providing safe, viable alternative transportation options of bicycle safe routes in between each hub ceases to be about corridors, because there are very few locations that require a transfer point, which is the problem with todays approaches.
So the question becomes, can we leverage the idea of the 10 minute transit time into a near to mid term solution to obtaining the funding, and construction of viable transit alternatives?
Important, but on the list of things making us safer on the roads, it really isn’t the top of the list…
http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/why-bike-helmets-are-last-thing-we-should-be-worrying-about.html
Sharing the Trail
Haw Creek Park MTB Trails
Trail running is some of the best run training you can do. Even if you do your racing on the roads and never want to trail race, running the uneven surfaces of trails is still something that should factor into the training plan. There are so many reasons, some physical, some emotional. Physically, the uneven surfaces improve balance and strength. The obstacles in the trail help form better stride habits. The short ups and downs of a trail will force stride adaptations that will help deal with road imperfections on race day. The softer surface reduces impact and repetitive stress injuries. The shade of the trees reduces the impacts of the sun on your body. Running through the woods evokes something natural and almost primal in your mind. Enjoying nature, and the sights of a trail run are fabulous ways to rediscover the fun that is running.
Running can be great fun, if we allow it to be. Sadly, too many people associate running with sidewalks and greenways, or tracks and laps. When running is confined to artificial spaces, much of the joy of the experience goes away. Running is not an easy sport. When there is nothing to focus on but the discomfort of the run, it becomes exceptionally hard to enjoy. Fortunately, trails provide a great solution.
There are some good trails to run, but these days, many of the best trails are not being built and provided by runners and hikers, but are instead being built and maintained by the mountain bike groups. Some of those trails are closed to runners, but the ones that aren’t, they are fantastic places to run.
One of my favorites in the area is a little 3 mile loop at a park called Haw Creek. It is a perfect little loop to run. Like so many in the area, it is built and maintained on county park land by the local mountain bike organization. Fortunately, they are willing to share their work with us the walkers and runners.
In this situation, we the runners and walkers are the ones that need to respect those that made this happen. It is the rare case, where the pedestrian does not have the right of way. Sharing the path, we need to remind each other to be courteous to the cyclists. Follow the signage, to run and walk counter to the daily flow of the bikes, as most trails reverse directions on a daily basis. In addition, keep a headphone out so you can hear the bikes and give them due space as they pass.
Like on the roads, we can all coexist if we simply extend a bit of courtesy. If we do not make the effort, we will lose these facilities on both sides. The bike organizations will stop building and maintaining, and the park administrations will stop allowing them if these areas become conflict points.
So please, runners and walkers, let’s make a concentrated effort to support organizations like SORBA and RAMBO in their efforts to build the trails, but also to respect the users and donors that have made them possible when they are sharing those facilities with us.
Quiet…
So things have been a little quiet here at OGRE HQ. Sadly, this has more to do with some directional questions. Namely, where to we want to go with it. Initially, the idea was to use this for our racing, but as I have really gotten back on the bike and remembered how much I love the bike, my own personal focus has moved more towards the advocacy and cycling instruction than it has the racing aspect. In fact, it has gotten to the point where it is May, and I have yet to race a single triathlon of any distance in 2016. I’ve run a couple of 5k’s, a Ragnar Trail and biked a couple of area century rides, but that has been the limit.
Meanwhile, impacting training time has been a massive time investment into learning, researching, and working to establish some relationships in the local advocacy groups for pedestrian and cycling issues. Who knew how much of a time sink these activities could become. It is no wonder so few active cyclists are also advocates. The time it takes to be an effective advocate is time not spent on the bike, because we still have to make a living, and the people we need to communicate with usually aren’t out on group rides. The lesson learned is that in many ways, we, as active cyclists are not really doing much to make a strong case for making cycling better for ourselves, or others.
For much of this year, I admit that I have been pondering how active I wanted to get into the advocacy mess, and believe me, the more I learn, the more of a mess I think it is. It is something that I have really struggled with. Ultimately, I’ve concluded that there really cannot be a debate. If we don’t get busy on the advocacy side, we are going to find ourselves in a bad spot, with the perception that we don’t belong on the roads becoming more of a reality than any of us want.
So, with this, I am officially jumping into the advocacy waters. In many ways, I have come to think of cycling and pedestrian advocacy as the 5th discipline of being a triathlete. Sure swimming, running, and cycling are the obvious 3, with transition being the 4th, but protecting our rights and obtaining facilities for us to use is the 5th.
Advocacy though, is a two way street. It is not just getting a message to the municipal leaders and planners, but also engaging and motivating the runners and cyclists in the communities to get out there and support these efforts at the polls, in the council meetings and the community meetings. Teaching them to be visible, and to support the efforts of the municipalities to make the areas better places for everyone.
So, while things have been quiet around here, they are not going to stay that way. Let’s make some noise, and instead of waiting for change, let us become the instruments of that change.
Good read about how roads are paid for and how riding bikes is actually a great way to ease the funding gap.
Riding on the Roads
I know this weekend was just glorious, and we had a huge turnout for the ride. It was a great ride, despite a couple of little situations that cropped up, and the post ride vitriol we discovered on Facebook. What I want to take a few minutes to talk about is something that plagues the sport of cycling.
The culture of fear.
We as cyclists perpetuate a problem, and because of it, we have a tendency to dwell on some dark subjects. I am going to talk about it for a bit. If you don’t care, tune this out and move on. Some of this is not going to be particularly nice.
So, about the culture of fear. What is the first thing that happens when a cyclist gets threatened, put at risk, injured or killed? The incident goes viral through the communities and cyclists lash out. That angry response emotion is incredibly destructive to the lasting impression we leave on the communities that we live and ride in. We really need to control that part of it, but I fully recognize how tough that is.
But, that is not even the reason I am posting this.
The bigger issue is how these viral stories harm the collective psyche of the cycling community. We are all hyper aware of the risks of cycling, and many of us ride in fear of the traffic around us because of it. That is a huge problem. Being a afraid of the cars around us often leads to decisions in the name of courtesy and being safe, that create additional risks. But it is also creating an us versus them mentality that is, quite frankly dangerous. What we need to get to is not fear, but respect. We need to respect the damage a car can inflict, but not ride in fear of it.
As most of you know, I’ve been riding for a long time. I am not sure I’ve actually quantified it in public. I’ve been riding ( out on the roads ) in and around Atlanta for a little over 28 years. In that time, I have had hundreds of a thousands more positive interactions with cars than negative. It is human nature to hold onto the negative, but the important thing to remember is that these are less than 1%. Just like we get upset that drivers call out the bad behavior of a small percentage of cyclists, we have to remember that the same holds true for the drivers.
In that 28 years I have logged over 100k miles on the road. In that time, I have had two accidents caused by a car ( glass bottle thrown at me from a moving car, t-boned a frito-lay truck that pulled out in front of me ). I have had 2 love taps where I got brushed by a mirror. A fair numbers of ‘honks’, ‘yells’ and ‘jeers’. Those last ones, used to get me wound up, but today I treat them for what they are, fear of a spandex clad butt that looks better than theirs, and some killer legs, and an indication that they saw me, for which I am grateful. The driver that doesn’t honk, yell or jeer poses a greater risk, because they may not have seen me.
Needless to say, I have a healthy respect for the cars around me, but I really don’t fear them. I understand the basic truth: Drivers are every bit as uncomfortable around us as we are of them. The don’t know the laws, they don’t want to hurt us, but they don’t want to risk themselves, or slow down and be inconvenienced.
That said, as a cyclist, I know there are things that we all need to focus on in our road riding.
Move Predictably
In large part this means moving in straight lines. Weaving is bad, and most crashes involving passing cyclists involve the combination of a car passing too close, and the cyclist weaving into the path of the car. There are many causes for this, like moving out of the travel line as a courtesy and running out of shoulder/bike lane/turn lane and abruptly returning to the lane, door zones, potholes, road trash, or even just a brain fart in bike handing.
Be Visible
Interestingly, high visibility clothing hasn’t proven to be all that effective when you are not actively moving to be visible. Unfortunately, the onus of being visible does fall on us. Much like motorcycles, we need drivers to look twice. Like motorcycles, we know they don’t. That means that we have to be aware of sight lines, and when we know that visibility is compromised, we have to take steps to ameliorate that. Moving into the lane, waving, using lights, etc.
Be Friendly
I cannot stress this enough. Perception, as they say, is a bitch. As is karma. Wave, smile, thank drivers for doing the right thing with a thumbs up, a tip of the cap, whatever works for you, but for god’s sake, be friendly. Hostility only breeds more hostility. Deflate situations with a smile and wave. Somebody startles you out of your skin by laying on the horn right behind you? wave, give em a thumbs up and thanks for seeing you. Do not flip them off, do not stoop to their level. Karma will win in the end.
Own Our Actions
Look, at the end of the day, we are a minority on the roads. We have to own that, and when one of us screws up and places others at risk, it is on us to own it. IT is also on us to be inclusive. This is not some exclusive club. When we have these encounters and rants, the best response we can take is not to be belligerent, but instead to offer to own the actions and include the upset party. In the case that prompted this, I have reached out privately and offered to bring the original poster out for a ride with the group some time. I will provide a bike for her to ride, and the instruction to get her out there so that she can understand. The ONLY real tool to make people understand is for them to experience it, and we cannot make that happen through angry responses.
In closing I want to remind everyone of some simple things to remember. The most dangerous thing the average American does in a day is get into a car, nothing else is even close. It is 100x more dangerous than riding a bike on the roads, and yet when asked, the perception is reversed. Bike lanes are not the answer either by the way. Ask yourself, does a bike lane differ from a sidewalk? where are the risks for sidewalks? intersections where cars are crossing them. Deadly is what they are.
Ultimately, cycling is not inherently more dangerous than walking, and despite having the best road conditions in the world, America is the most dangerous country in the world for bicycles. Why? high percentage of sport/recreational usage, a lack of infrastructure, and our car culture. We aren’t going to solve these problems by attacking people for not liking us being out there and putting them into a defensive lock down.
Bicycle Advocacy
Engaging an audience that is predisposed against cyclists is hard. Very hard. Unfortunately, it is also something that we have to do on a regular basis as advocates. I am not a great person to win an argument, because I get too passionate about the subjects, but if there is one thing I have learned, it is that engaging the anti-bike crowd into an honest conversation follows a predictable process.
- Humanize yourself by finding a connection to the audience, be it one or a crowd.
- Own a negative about cycling.
- Establish a common ground, preferably a fear.
- Articulate the merits of your position from and education standpoint, keeping it personal to your shared experience.
- Rinse and repeat.
You will never change a mind in a single encounter. It takes time, and repetitive erosion of the resistance to the subject in order to truly bring change in an opinion, but it you stick with it, you can eventually change minds.