So, for my wife’s birthday, I took both of our long-disused bikes down to the local shop and had them tuned up and brought back to spec. We’ve been loving it. We’ve been taking the bikes downtown on the weekends and basically exploring the city. We’ve had loads of fun.
Doing so has brought back to the front of my mind a scheme I had long ago shelved as too much work/too dangerous: to save gas money and get lots of great exercise by commuting by bicycle. I think I’m to the point where I want to give it a try for a couple of weeks to see how it goes. The parameters of the ride:
9.9 miles one way, door-to-door.
Mostly flat, as it’s down the bottom of a valley. The occasional rises are trivial. The only major rises on the route are at the very beginning, since I live in a very hilly neighborhood. Once I meet with the main route, it’s gravy as far as topography goes.
Traffic is going to be quite incredibly heavy. This is a main route into town.
3a) Bike infrastructure does not exist for at least 8.5 miles of the route. After that, in the downtown area, there are the occasional bike lanes.
3b) The route goes through some quite appalling neighborhoods. Fairly serious sketchiness. Burned-out houses, burglar-barred businesses, etc. for 2-3 miles. The route I’ll take is very busy, though, with a constant stream of traffic, so I’m hoping that the traffic danger can ameliorate the crime danger.
3c) The road is four-laned throughout the route, with well-marked turn lanes, lights, etc. I’m hoping this will help me with the traffic.
I can’t find a mapped route online, at any bike enthusiasts’ hangout, that even partially overlaps my planned commute.
My bike is not exactly cutting edge, either. It’s a 90’s model steel-frame hardtail mountain bike. No fenders. No pannier. No lights (yet. I’m aware that this will be an absolute necessity). It’s solid as a rock, and while I won’t be blazing through at 30 mph, it will get me from point to point, no problem, and it shouldn’t exactly be a prime target for theft.
OK, so, advice? Warnings? DIRE warnings? What goes in my road kit? So far, I’m planning on:
frame pump, bike tool kit, reflective outer jacket, bike light (front and back), 2 tubes, and possibly pepper spray.
I bike-commuted some years ago. I faced essentially all the same factors you mention here. I would judge traffic to be the real danger, many times more so than crime. The only crime I ever suffered in connection with biking was when someone stole my taillight while the bike was chained up outside a store–and that wasn’t in a bad neighborhood. I was run off the road once, though (bumps and scrapes) and had some other close calls with cars.
Get Kevlar tires to avoid the possible problem of a flat in the sketchy parts of your ride. A good lighting system (red flashing back, white flashing forward) will help you with traffic noticing you. I’d add a bright yellow jacket or reflective vest.
I’d definitely be more worried about traffic than anything else. The SO commutes a couple of miles in our fairly bike-friendly town. He comes home at least once a week with a dumbass-driver story. He’s paranoid as hell about cars, and has still had a couple of close calls.
Follow the Zodiac rule of biking: Assume that you’re wearing a day-glow outfit and that there’s a ten-million-dollar bounty on your head for any car that takes you out. Ride accordingly.
I did know one guy that had some fair amount of success in decreasing harassment from passing cars. He bought a bright neon yellow vest, and had the back printed up as below. He stopped getting nearly as many people yelling at him, throwing things, etc.
friend of
**OURTOWN POLICE DEPT**.
Yeah, get some pepper spray and learn how to use it, if you’re worried about muggings, etc. Between that and the fact that you can outrun 'em on a bike, you should be good.
The Kevlar tires aren’t a bad idea, either. There’s liable to be nasty stuff in the road in bad neighborhoods.
You want some gloves. Road rash is not a pretty thing, especially on your palms.
'Twere me, I’d ditch the front fork and go totally rigid. Suspension sucks for road riding.
Have you already looked for bike route maps for the area? It’s a start, though I don’t agree with some of the routes. I think the map emphasizes narrow back roads too much; I find many 4-lane and 5-lane roads are safer and more pleasant than some of the 2-lane roads on the map.
Also, you may need to consider shifting your commute time so you face less traffic.
Health insurance is much more important, especially since Alabama is a “contributory negligence” state. Which means if someone hits you, and you’re found to be even slightly negligent and contributed partly to the incident, you won’t get any compensation from them.
The traffic is the danger. If there’s any way you can take an alternate route with less traffic, your odds of trouble will decrease. I just found out you can use Google Maps to map a bike route. Now I live in a fairly bike-friendly city, but I will note that the route mapped, while drawn correctly on the online map, was not written down correctly, as the route recommended for bicycles doesn’t have a street name.
Kevlar: will consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah, I have some I’ll be using. I have pretty much the entire standard bike kit, including helmet, gloves, etc. for mountain biking. I used to do that quite a bit.
Forgot to say: I have no shocks of any kind. It’s just an old school steel-frame bike.
Yeah, I’ve done a bunch of Googling, and I can’t find any logged rides for the route I want to take in Birmingham.
Yeah, maybe that’s an unpopular viewpoint, but I have my reasons.
I got stuck behind an idiot biker this morning who was ostentatiously insisting on his right to “share the roads” by taking up the exact middle of a narrow street. There’s a reason cars don’t go on bike paths, and for the same reasons, it’s just never going to be a good mix for bikes to be on motorized highways.
It’s nervewracking. Again, not to blame motorists, or bikers, or anyone – it’s just you’re very exposed to a lot of kinetic energy, coupled with the fact that you’re a much smaller object than the 99% of other vehicles that people are accustomed to keeping an eye out for, you can and will slip into blindspots all the time, etc. Hell, my friends who have motorcycles used to tell me they’d be knotted up with tension after a 25 minute ride to work due to the numerous close calls (admittedly in a place with particularly horrible motorist skills).
There aren’t a lot of non-painful ways to make contact with pavement at speed. A neighbor has fused cervical vertabrae from a bike accident (crazy guy still bikes despite the constant pain, but still). Guy at work was killed by a semi. Etc. in the vein of you could put an eye out, but still.
Perhaps trivial, and I don’t know your workplace culture, but what will you do about changing clothes or showing up at work drenched in sweat (I know I would be if I tried to bike ten miles in Alabama in the Summer)?
I always found that riding to work made me alert and invigorated to start the day, especially during winter. I commuted on Boston streets and you have to keep your wits about you at all times; always scan ahead for people in cars that might open their doors, don’t trust turn signals, don’t expect people to see you, ride conservatively but take the lane if you need it, be aware of cars behind you.
But 10 miles is a nice distance for a commute, and once you do it a few times I think your concerns will lessen. It’s stressful right now because you don’t know what it will be like. Once you experience them a lot of your concerns will be gone and you’ll know what you need to do about the others.
always assume the driver doesn’t see you - act accordingly
defer to traffic. If Lance Armstrong does (and he does when he is road biking on non-closed roads) then I should.
Also, you may want to invest in a nice hybrid. I rode my old steel fram mountain bike for a while, then switched to a 2nd hand carbon Trek hybrid and the difference is astounding.
Hmmm…I won’t be spending much money for a while. One of the reasons to do this is that I’m poor. Would putting kevlar road tires on my bike get me some of the benefits of a hybrid, without laying out tons of money?
I bike-commute. It’s about 7 miles from South to East London, through the financial district which is very busy. A few dodgy neighbourhoods too, but only when I’m nearly home
The dangers are:
Pedestrians who don’t look before crossing the road.
Cars turning without indicating.
Potholes - London roads are shocking.
In order to navigate these, you must *always *be alert. My commute changed recently so I’ve been getting used to new route, now I know it very well, so I can use some of the 45 minutes it takes to relax and be with my thoughts, but never too much - never get lost in your thoughts. You need to always be thinking, always one step ahead, watching, using your peripherals, seeing everything. The good news is that becomes instinctive. You learn the pattern of the lights on your route so you know how long you’ll be waiting at a red and which crossing will start after the light changes. I’ve never had an accident (I fell off my bike about a year ago, but no one else was involved, I just lost my footing and took a tumble).
A lot of cyclists are killed by being arrogant pricks. They shoot through red lights, they get between a lorry and railings, they listen to iPods, they text ferchrissakes, they undertake a bus - and splat. Don’t ever take stupid risks, and you’ll be golden. Your confidence in doing it will grow and grow, and you’ll be happier, sleep better, save money, and help save the planet.
If possible, do get a new bicycle specifically for your commute. There’s nothing better than riding a bike designed for purpose!
This is subject to different interpretations and debate. Sometimes it’s safest to take the lane, even if it annoys the driver behind you.
Usually, on a 3-lane or wider road, I just take the lane and never yield to cars behind me unless there is a wide outside lane (i.e. wider than other lanes), or there is a paved shoulder that is clear of debris. On a 2-lane road, if a car is stuck behind me for a while (i.e. no breaks in oncoming traffic to allow it to pass), I’d try to find a spot to pull over and let them pass.
The 'ham! Ogre, why did I think you were in the Talladega area?
I work in Hoover. If you’re truly biking into the downtown area, I’d say don’t do it. Sure, you’ll get great exercise and be ecologically and environmentally friendly. None of that will help you when you’re killed or seriously injured due to the idiot drivers around here.
If you’re biking into one of the outlying areas, I’d be more inclined to think it’s a halfway good idea … nah, the more I think about it, I’d still say don’t do it. As you know, we’re just not set up for bikers in the metro area.
Plus, how are you going to pick up barbecue for supper on your way home?
Tires will make a noticeable difference but start checking the used bike ads in your area. The used bike market is soft, and deals can be had - especially for those that bought nice bikes at the beginning of the summer and gave up after a few rides.
When I said defer to traffic, I was speaking mostly of traffic lights - don’t run lights just because you are on a bike.
Keep your wits about you and yes, sometimes you need to take a good portion of the lane to keep from being squeezed out. Especially when passing parked cars. So many cyclists I know were injured getting hit by doors being opened and I just dodged one today (and I was in a marked bike lane! The driver cut me off to park, then the passenger threw their door open).
What goes in my road kit? So far, I’m planning on:
