3 bike accidents in 15 years is nothing compared to my friend and their 4 car accidents in the last 2 years.
Shit happens, but you pay better attention. I ride my bike like its a slow car, stay in my lane, signal my intent, pay attention to the cars around me, and enjoy the ride.
My Fiance lost a very close friend two years ago... The woman's partner survived though he was severely injured. And people wonder why I ride on the sidewalks in town.
I still dont ride on the sidewalks for a few reasons. One is safety, I can deal with cars moving around me, but pedestrians are wildly erratic, there's less space and my conscience is better off with me getting knocked around then hurting someone else.
And don't you gt snow in nh? At least the roads are plowed 'round here! Sidewalks, not so much.
+1.. plus it is illegal in most places. i'll stay on the road and ride aggressively if i have to to make cars go around wider. or take the whole lane in some spots if need be.
Me and a buddy covered the whole road once when some moran was about to try to overtake on a blind summit. He went into the outside lane and put a hand out to let the dude know that wasn't cricket. Dude backed o0ff and passed on the other side of the hill. Nothing was coming, but whatever.
My Fiance lost a very close friend two years ago... The woman's partner survived though he was severely injured. And people wonder why I ride on the sidewalks in town.
What's irritating is that I have to ride on the sidewalks because so many irresponsible riders will ride on the streets but blatantly ignore the traffic rules, so to make sure that I don't disrupt the flow of traffic because every driver expects me to act like an idiot, I end up walking my bike across crosswalks.
Its a catch-22: motorists don't look for cyclists, so cyclists have to be more sneaky to avoid getting hit, which means cyclists aren't where drivers might look for them.
Austin's pretty bike friendly, so I feel safer riding on the street - too many close calls blazing down sidewalk at intersections where drivers will pull into the crosswalk before stopping to look for cross traffic. My girlfriend actually hit a cyclist riding on the sidewalk. He was going against traffic, so as she pulled out of a blind driveway and looked left to assess the oncoming traffic, he slammed into her front quarter panel on the passenger side. Fortunately, he was unharmed, and she already had a sizable dent in that panel, so they apologized to each other and parted amicably.
I am just starting to get back into cycling, and this is a major concern for me in Vegas. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
There isn't a ton of bike lanes here, so you have to try and find the widest streets possible and try to keep your head on a swivel. Even that isn't enough at times, I know this is one of the more dangerous places to ride a motorcycle and I can't imagine it's a whole lot safer on a bike. Having to share a narrow lane with trucks scares the hell outta me.
Glad to know that renters insurance sometimes covers bikes, I'm going to have to look and see if it's in my policy. I just ordered a CAAD 10 and I don't think I could replace it if it gets damaged.
I am just starting to get back into cycling, and this is a major concern for me in Vegas. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
There isn't a ton of bike lanes here, so you have to try and find the widest streets possible and try to keep your head on a swivel. Even that isn't enough at times, I know this is one of the more dangerous places to ride a motorcycle and I can't imagine it's a whole lot safer on a bike. Having to share a narrow lane with trucks scares the hell outta me.
Glad to know that renters insurance sometimes covers bikes, I'm going to have to look and see if it's in my policy. I just ordered a CAAD 10 and I don't think I could replace it if it gets damaged.
Doesn't everyone just ride 159 out past Blue Diamond? That seems pretty safe.
It is, but I'm not up to running out that far yet. I'm talking about getting around in town. The route to my work is fairly safe, but the first mile or so on Durango is pretty hairy.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
Also wear a helmet and get some flashing lights to clip onto the front and back of your bike.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
Also wear a helmet and get some flashing lights to clip onto the front and back of your bike.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
Also wear a helmet and get some flashing lights to clip onto the front and back of your bike.
I already mentioned lights
Ok then, wear a helmet and use your lights all the time.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
As long as you can keep up. People need to get places, if yore a dick and slow them down a great deal, well... some of them might be at that edge already, 'specially in vegas, and personally I wouldn't wanna be the person to push them over it.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
As long as you can keep up. People need to get places, if yore a dick and slow them down a great deal, well... some of them might be at that edge already, 'specially in vegas, and personally I wouldn't wanna be the person to push them over it.
If yer a douche and you take up three lanes, then you deserve it.
Making yourself visible doesn't have to mean riding in the middle of the road. I stick to the right of the right lane, but I'm definitely not hugging the curb.
The best advice I can give ya is to make yourself a part of the traffic. Don't try to stay out of the way, you have just as much right to the road as every other vehicle. Be visible, signal your intent, get some lights for when its dark/dreary/dim and don't be afraid to shout/whistle/honk/etc to make your presence known.
As long as you can keep up. People need to get places, if yore a dick and slow them down a great deal, well... some of them might be at that edge already, 'specially in vegas, and personally I wouldn't wanna be the person to push them over it.
If yer a douche and you take up three lanes, then you deserve it.
Making yourself visible doesn't have to mean riding in the middle of the road. I stick to the right of the right lane, but I'm definitely not hugging the curb.
If I had a nickel for every time I've been hit by mirrors by people who want to pass but won't believe that I deserve as much room as any car they might pass, I'd have about a dime. Which still wouldn't help the bruises.
Basically you take up the center of the lane and wait for some jackass to be a jackass, or stay in the shoulder and wait for some jackass to expect you to be a jackass.
Incidentally, the idiots I was talking about are the ones that go the wrong way in the bike lane, wear all black on a reflectorless (and brakeless) fixe while weaving through traffic at midnight, and the ones who blatantly ignore traffic signals based on the assumption that they have the right of way. Trivia: no law actually assigns right of way, it only says who has to yield it.
which is why critical masses are the most backassward hipster fixie douchebag ideas. It does nothing but piss drivers off and make them even more likely to treat good cyclists like they are assholes.
sorry to say but if you start assaulting a car then you get what you get.
which is why critical masses are the most backassward hipster fixie douchebag ideas. It does nothing but piss drivers off and make them even more likely to treat good cyclists like they are assholes.
sorry to say but if you start assaulting a car then you get what you get.
Dude, did you watch the video? That's like saying "she was dressed all sexy, she deserved to get raped."
Critical Masses are really stupid, but the driver clearly snapped, and was disturbed to begin with.
which is why critical masses are the most backassward hipster fixie douchebag ideas. It does nothing but piss drivers off and make them even more likely to treat good cyclists like they are assholes.
sorry to say but if you start assaulting a car then you get what you get.
Dude, did you watch the video? That's like saying "she was dressed all sexy, she deserved to get raped."
Critical Masses are really stupid, but the driver clearly snapped, and was disturbed to begin with.
I didn't, i don't really need to watch folks get run over. But if you are going to ride with the intent to piss a bunch of people off and one of them get pissed off, especially one who is inclined to go off the deep end.. what do you expect?
your analogy isn't quite right.. you know exactly how people ride in critical massses with the intent to cause as much disruption as possible, and if in this case they were throwing rocks at cars then it is beyond the normal stupid shit. more like if you keep poking sticks at a bees nest eventually you will get attacked.
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