La Vie Velominatus, Part III: Urban Riding
There is little in life that compares to a ride along a quiet country road. This surely is the altar of our sport, where all the greatest qualities of cycling are brought into relief by the simple act of propelling yourself along by your own power. Despite being social creatures, the experience is heightened by solitude; when no one else is witness this glorious act, we are allowed to slip further into the simplicity of the act. Our arms reaching out to the bars, the rhythm as our legs spin the pedals, the feel of the machine as it glides along effortlessly, the feeling of power as we stand to accelerate over a hill, the wind in our face, knowing it’s generated by our own speed. There is only the road, the machine, and ourselves.
Alas, for most of us, this experience is reserved for special rides when circumstance finds us within reach of such a place. Indeed, many of us spend the majority of our time riding the busy roads found in our urban lifestyles, not deserted country lanes. This reality has us facing a choice between not riding or riding amongst traffic that threatens a significant negative impact on our well-being should something go sideways – like, for example, your bicycle.
While it is inherently more dangerous than riding on quiet roads, the risk of urban riding can be managed somewhat through vigilance and discipline. We must constantly be aware of our surroundings and understand not only the risks traffic poses to us, but also the unpredictability we ourselves bring to a driver who doesn’t understand the way a cyclist thinks, and what we might do next. The bicycle and the traffic together form two parts of a dangerous equation where we control few of the variables and stand to lose a great deal should something go wrong. In light of this, we should focus on maximizing the elements we can control, and marginalize those we can’t.
- Ride predictably. When out training in town, consider yourself to be riding in the bunch, except the other riders are cars that can kill you. Just like riding in a group, when in traffic, hold your line, signal when there’s a hazard or when turning, and generally ride as predictably possible.
- Ride on the sunny side of the street. If there is a shoulder, ride in it, but if not, stay as far to the side as you safely are able to. Don’t ride so far to the side that it means you might hit something that might cause you to move erratically; there’s nothing safe about suddenly flying out into traffic because you hit something at the side of the road.
- Only ride through puddles you can see the bottom of. Water tends to accumulate along the side of the road, and has a nasty habit of being smooth on the surface regardless of what the bottom looks like. If you can’t see the bottom of the puddle, it’s safer to ride around it than it is to ride through it and risk getting launched by a hidden pothole.
- Ride aggressively defensive. If there’s a narrow section of road coming up where it will be dangerous for a car to pass, signal to the cars behind and swing out into the middle of the lane until it’s safe for them to pass.
- It’s helpful to be able to accelerate quickly to move with traffic if necessary. In the event that you’re riding in a lane in order to discourage cars from passing, it’s good to move at the same speed as the traffic in order to piss them off slightly less and reduce the chance that they go all gansta on your ass and hit or shoot you out of spite.
- Be gracious. If a car does the right thing, wave at them in thanks. If you know you are holding them up because you’re obstructing their path, move the side as soon as it’s safe and gesture your appreciation of their patience.
- Don’t escalate. You will invariably be placed into a dangerous situation by a driver who is either ignorant of the danger they caused you or is simply an ass. In both of these cases, screaming obscenities at them will only serve to put them on the defensive and make them hate cyclists even more than they already do. If you absolutely must say something, do your best to let them know why what they did was dangerous; if you’re polite and assertive, the message is much more likely to find it’s way home.
- Details matter; pay attention to the cars around you. Take note of the subtle signals the drivers are sending you. Are they overly fond of the brake pedal? Are they speeding? Are they swerving, texting, or otherwise distracted? Or do they drive predictably and use their turn signals properly? These things will tell you a lot about how safe you’ll be when they’re close to you.
- Avoid overly dangerous routes. Ride on the roads you need to in order to train properly, but also avoid unnecessarily dangerous areas or only ride them when traffic is at it’s lightest. Roads with good shoulders are preferable and, counter-intuitively, bike paths are not always safer places to ride; these are often filled with people of a variety of skill levels who may not be paying attention.
- Lastly, cycling is easier to enjoy if you’re alive and in one piece; always ride to proactively avoid placing yourself in risky situations when possible and have a plan if you find yourself needing to take a risk.
Some fantastic riding can be had on urban roads. Always be careful to understand your risks; be agressive when safety requires it, and defensive when it doesn’t.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
Great article. I’m consistently amazed at the differences in car-bicycle relational dynamics depending on which part of town I’m riding in. I commute 32km roundtrip, and the commute takes me from a suburb to a part of the city in which many young, hip families live, artistic community, hippies, local, organic farm sort of diners, etc.
From my suburb to the other neighborhood is like two different worlds. The suburb drivers act like they’re from an alternate universe in which this odd 2-wheeled self-powered contraption hasn’t even been conceived of, let alone driven around.
Halfway through the commute, I cross some magical fairy barrier, and the cars all-the-sudden leave space, are calm and patient, and seem to instinctively know how to drive around cyclists. It’s a complete one-eighty every time I cross that line–a pleasant one-eighty in one direction, and a rude awakening in the other.
@earnest
This is true of Melbourne, Australia, too. So well expressed.
@il ciclista medio
Which is one of my primary beefs I have with hybrid/electric cars like the Prius; they’ll drive up to you without making a noise. You your hearing, but again, don’t rely on it entirely.
My other beef with the Prius is that apparently they came with two brake pedals and no gas…Merckx people drive like pussies in those things.
I couldn’t disagree more thoroughly. As a long-time urban commuter, the safest place is dead center of the lane. If there’s only one lane, I’ll get over for cars to pass, but on any road with two or more, the lane is mine.
Riding over to the side only encourages cars to buzz you, so they can avoid having to merge in the lane next to them. Riding in the middle forces cars to get into the adjacent lane anyway, so they, on average, give you way more room. When cars are buzzing you, the greater risk is that the next hasn’t noticed you because of the only slight swerve the car in front did. Plus, riding in the middle of the lane gives you maximum maneuverability to avoid potholes and debris.
@Dan O
Scary story, Dan. Glad you’re safe. Impressive that she did the right thing and came back. It’s the ones that are genuinely sorry that stand a chance to get better. The unappologetic assholes shut the door and will stay the same. It’s true not just in commuting but life in general.
Absolutely. Between my urban routes, I’ve got about 120km of great riding, with good long climbs that total something like 2km vertical. It would be a shame to forgo that because of the traffic.
@Marcus
+1. So funny, I have a long commute (when I go to the office, which is not often) of 90km round trip; Along the way there is always some guy on a mountain bike just hammering up a hill to beat me to the next light. Funny as shit.
@Stephen Touset
I actually agree, which is what #4 is. But to take the lane when conditions don’t require it will only serve to make traffic hate us more. Use judgement stay safe.
@aleco
I love your attitude and enthusiasm. If you live somewhere where you can do that, good on ya. But reality for many of us dictates otherwise, and getting in a car to go ride often defeats the purpose.
@Xponti
A-Merckx to this! I do this all the time. I figure maybe they will hate all of us a little bit less next time if we give them some positive feedback.
A timely post Frank as I am about to leave rural KY/TN for the heart of San Antonio in about a month’s time. (Not exactly loving the idea, but you have to love the Army lifestyle! :)
Prius Pussies. Yes, most are. I get a real kick though out of aggressive green car drivers who also have a “Coexist” or “Change Can Happen” or “Namaste” bumper sticker. “I am highly conscious of my world and my place in it and how I can spread peace and love, but I still fucking hate Lycra Fags slowing me down. Fuckers. Don’t they know I have organic bulgar wheat to buy before the farmers market closes!”
Can’t help but shake my head and smile at those cagers.
To add to #6: thank pedestrians that wait for you and smile at small children who are in awe of you bicycling prowess because it will make their day and encourage future riders.
The beauty of southeast Idaho. I live about five blocks from our downtown criterium course and yet if I ride in the other direction for ten minutes I’m on a road that at times I can ride 60k without getting passed by a car.
@Cyclops
Ann Arbor has this same lovely feature. I’m five minutes from all the bars/restaurants/clubs, and only two stoplights from the farm roads. My current record for not having to unclip is 100km. Wonderful, if only it weren’t so damn flat. Utah kicks ass for the endless mountain roads.
Ride to be seen.
@frank
I don’t know how it is in the emerald city because I’ve never spent much time out of the downtown area, but here in Portland as soon as you get into the west hills it turns into low-density residential roads and you see very few cars in some neighborhoods. Last weekend I tried out some new roads that were on my “to do” list and I could count on one hand how many cars passed me (going both directions), despite still being in the city. It was quite nice.
@mcsqueak
True on my side of the river as well. The problem is the vehicles that I see up in north or east Clark County are these things:
Usually with 5 rednecks all hopped up on Four Loko. Actually had one of these assholes hit me with a Super-Ultra sized Slurpee awhile back. For the record, I didn’t smile and wave.
@scaler911
Ah yeah… nothing better than having someone in a diesel truck floor it to get by you, leaving a cloud of blue/black smoke in their wake.
PS – Cornell road is going to be closed to cars between the the tunnel and Skyline this weekend, as the city will be doing some work on the tunnel. I plan on riding it and then maybe doing skyline out to Germantown and back down to St. Johns early on Saturday, if you have any interest in joining me for a leisurely ride.
@frank
Last weekend I was guilty of this myself. I ran a red light and nearly plastered an old dude on a cruiser who was politely waiting his turn at the stoplight. Slammed on the brakes, and my bro who was drafting me wiped out and busted up his knee. It was on a highly trafficked street and could have been much worse. It was stupid and irresponsible on my part, and I learned my lesson.
@mcsqueak
I’d love to, but I’m going to be camping up by Mt. Adams. Bummed (about not riding w a fellow VM, not the camping).
@scaler911
No worries mate, have a good time camping! Plenty of good weather left for future rides.
@Ron
That’s one of my favorite moments in It Might Get Loud, Jack White is getting chauffeured somewhere and they almost hit a guy in a suit on a cell phone. White chuckles and goes, “I bet we caught him right in the middle of saying the words ‘totally organic’.”
One problem we have in Idaho is that we are the only state in the union that allows cyclists to not stop at stop signs if the intersection is clear and we can proceed through a red light after stopping if the intersection is clear. It’s kind of a double edged sword in that it is cool that we can do that but motorist are ignorant of the laws and assume that we have to obey stop signs and signals like them so you always get yelled at by peeved motorists and obviously trying to explain it to them in the forum of the open road doesn’t really work.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
So true. I don’t know it is in Houston, but up here in Dallas, we have nothing that even so much as gets in the ballpark of that kind of beauty.
@scaler911
You’re never getting through to those blokes. Your best hope is that as they swerve to deliberately hit you, that you’ll pass under through those struts unharmed.@jasoncallaway
I did something similar and almost his this nice guy. I stopped an apologized and we ended up chatting while waiting for a bridge to drop. A little bit of humility goes a long way. Hope your bro is OK.
@Cyclops
Some of our dear friends here in Seattle hail from Idaho (in fact, I’m thinking of Josh’s sister and family) and they talk about that same thing. It also goes to confuse Idahoians (?) when they ride elsewhere. If I were to dole out advice to people who didn’t ask for it, I’d say that, based on what you outline and what happens when you go to another state, it’s best to just hold off and wait like the rest of traffic. It’ll buy you some goodwill.
@frank
That’s pretty much the conclusion that I’ve come to. It’s just easier to not hassle with the “privilege”. One thing though, the first time I stopped at a light and then proceeded through with a cop sitting across the intersection was intimidating but he didn’t bat an eye.
Late to the party, but what the hell.
I’m lucky enough to live on the outskirts of a small, bike friendly city, so I don’t have to interface much with full urban (i.e., Seattle, London, Milan, SF, Portland, Melbourne, etc., etc.) conditions. In fact I can do a number of long (60 km+) rides, flat or climbing, on two lane roads, without encountering a single stop light, from my front door. Plus a few mtb trails. Yes, I am fortunate indeed.
Most of the negative interfaces I have with motorists are during group rides, and some are actually understandable, as we tend to take the shit over on group rides. It’s the nature of the beast. We do try to accommodate cars, but we occasionally get yelled at by the cops, and a few have even been ticketed.
That said, the points above are valid; and I spent several years as a bike commuter in the same small city. My rule then and now, is to be visible (hand signals, take the lane), be predictable, and ride like you are neither (i.e., like nobody sees you or is going to try to avoid you).
And don’t escalate. That’s a good one.
BTW, I’m still planning a Cogal in Solvang, CA to commemorate Worlds’ on Sept. 25, if anyone is interested hollaback.
Interesting posts by all above.
My additions from 5 years of (crash-free) commuting in London (oh shit I’ve definitely had it now I’ve said that):
– Avoid anything bigger than a bus like the plague. Pretty obvious, but its incredible how many people undertake these monsters. I get the shivers any time they come within a metre of me.
– Get to know your routes. So much of safe riding relies on a good knowledge of problem junctions; which turning cars always take late and without indicating, that kind of thing.
– Use your face! Eye contact is an incredibly powerful mechanism for getting attention – our brains are hotwired to notice when someone is looking at us. To this effect, I no longer wear a pollution mask as this depersonalises you, and means you can’t smile at good drivers / chat to them at lights. Equally, I’ve found giving a driver a Pharmstrong-eque ‘look’ as they try to squeeze me into the kerb suprisingly effective (caveat: this requires at least 2 seconds of obstacle-free road ahead and should not be undertaken on a road you don’t know!)
– Bus and taxi drivers are not all bad. They are probably the most experienced and skilled drivers on their roads, will know the dimensions of their vehicles well.
– Strike your own balance between rule bending and adherence. This point is the one that’s most difficult to justify, and often confuses other less expeienced riders who cycle with me. I strongly believe in doing whatever is safest, and on my daily routes this amounts to what must appear as inconsistency when it comes to following road rules. In areas where bikes have been integrated into road planning, as is increasingly the case in central London, I’m quite happy to trundle along in bike lanes and stop for lights. However, there are some junctions where I have found that it is simply not safe to wait for green lights. Ultimately, virtually every driver breaks speed laws every time they drive a car, and whilst jumping lights is detrimental to short-term bike-car relations, it keeps me safer until a time comes when more junctions/roads take bikes into consideration.
I guess the last point would be that there is no substitute for experience, and that whilst urban riding can be hairy at times, its very good for developing road awareness and really not as bad as it is perceived to be.
Don’t escalate is very true. In my younger days I escalated situations with drivers far too often. I was also living in a major city. I find now that if I head out with a positive attitude, “talk” to drivers with my hands (slow down, this is a blind curve and you can’t see the car coming but I can), and generally try to think the best of drivers, I have far fewer incidents. There are always, always going to be meathead drivers, but I’ve found that if I’m not looking for a fight, they seem to materialize much less often.
Dropping the Mighty Cyclist, Owner of the Road mentality can really help in riding safely. But of course still ride aggressively defensive.
I commute and road ride as well so am used to being in traffic and also being in the country. Both require different skills and different ways of riding defensively.
Oh, and I’m all for obeying traffic laws, but sometimes I do bend them when it is safer for my health. Not yielding when entering a circle (if clear) to get ahead of all the cars behind/beside me. Yep. Or yielding at a stop sign to get ahead of a line of cars in order to avoid being stuck between moving and parked cars, yep. I kind of see this as riding defensively. Maybe you disagree, but in some situations when I think I’ll be safer I do bend the traffic rules. I still have my helmet on though, so you still better smile & wave if you pass me going the other way.
Ha, we were writing at the same moment, Tom. Bend away…
Oh, and I hate black out car windows! I always want to make eye contact to prevent getting driven into as I pass the front of a car, but dark tint makes it impossible. Hate ’em. They are illegal in NY, but that doesn’t stop people from getting them.
As if driving a hummer isn’t bad enough, most of them have black outed windows.
Yeah, I don’t bother to start stuff with drivers, especially because here in the US you never know when someone is packing heat, or has had a bad day at the office in this economy and is ready to snap at a moments notice.
I keep my “big boy voice” ready if someone isn’t paying attention, like they start to roll into an intersection when I have the right-of-way and they don’t see me. A loud “HEY!” to get their attention usually works. I don’t stop to have words, flip them off, or any other shitty gestures.
I have had relatively few instances of anything bad happening in the last two years of cycling, the odd buzz by a driver and one or two people that have yelled at me, nothing more serious than that. I attribute it to doing many of the things everyone above has talked about, including some rule-breaking when I determined that it would be safer for me to do so, as Tom mentioned.
Having been badly car-doored in 84 (10 mile TT, no helmet, lucky to live in retrospect) I’d like to offer my two cents. Look through the rear windows of parked cars (if possible), if not, assume they’ll open and ride accordingly.
A honk is not always a “get the fuck off the road” honk. It might just be a “hey, I’m behind you” honk. Here in the kinder, gentler midwest (the Wisconsin part that is, Indiana was way worse), I overly practice the “wee wave” habit. Any time I hear that a car has even momentarily slowed in consideration I wave an acknowledgment. More often than not I get a wave back. If I can see over a hill or crest and the driver behind me cant, and it’s clear, I wave them through. I’ll admit I ride solo on a lot of back roads where there are few cyclists and cars often give me as much room as they can (often crossing completely into the other lane), I feel every bit of courtesy we can show, helps the cause.
@grumbledook
You’d have to send me the airfare and provide a couch. I’m afraid this Velominatus Budgetatus has no intercontinental travel in the near future. Still not fair.
@Cyclops
Fuck me runnin’. Wish I had a road within a 1000km where I wouldn’t see a car for a while.
@Collin
Okay. You and Cyclops can stop gloating now, thanks.
@benjamin
Where in Big D? My family is still there. At the end of May, I was doing laps around White Rock ’cause that’s the only route I remembered from the 80’s.
I too live in an urban location (not far from Frank, as it turns out.) From my front door, there are only really a few options, but those that are viable are generally pretty good. I *can* ride from home, but the urban environment is just…suboptimal. A Velominatus seeks to become one with his machine, to integrate form and function, and this is difficult when dodging the Weapons of Mass Destruction that populate our roads.
On the flip side, I really begrudge the time loss in preparing to feel the spirit of Merckx upon me when I am actually on my Machine. I’ve notice it takes overly long to simply don the Sacred Garments, pump the tyres, get all the pockets stuffed – even when I have thoughtfully placed all these things in their correct storage places. If I put the Machine on the car, I can be on some fabulous, traffic free and scenic roads within about 30 minutes.
But I really begrudge those 30 minutes. And of course, there the 30 minutes to get home from there too. And in Seattle, 60 minutes is often the total amount of daylight in a day. Or heck, in a month.
I freely confess to massive Rule #5 breakage: I don’t ride in rain or in the dark. I’m not Johnny Hoogerland, and both those conditions put me at serious risk. Being out there on the roads with the WMDs is dangerous enough, so I had to draw the line somewhere.
But I really like the comment someone made: “80% of the roads in France are paved with concrete. The other 20% are paved with Jens Voigt’s flesh.”
See, the joys of living in a provincial British town is that you can be on a country lane within about 5km. However, that’s when the fun begins. It can be awesome, with nary a car for half an hour flat out, pulling the PAB’s in the middle of pristine tarmac…until a madman with a horsebox hares around a blind corner (yay for ancient hedgerows!) at 60mph.
So yeah, the countryside is a mixed picture.
Gotta say nothing pisses me off more than cyclists running red lights, and not obeying the traffic laws in general.
Just this past Sunday, I went off on a guy who flew past me at a stop light. He had the unfortunate experience of walking into “my” local coffee joint just ahead of me. Bit of a scene, but I was pissed. He wasn’t expecting a fellow cyclist to do that. Almost went to blows, but I was ready, having had some juiced up steak the night before.
Sad thing was, he was damn near compliant with the Rules.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Can I get in on this gloating?
If you want to ride on the flat you need to take the round that follows the harbour. There’s a nice 30 ish K loop you can take without going near a big road: If you can handle 20 minutes of motorway riding in a bike lane, you can add another 40k stretch to it.
And as you can see, there’s plenty of hills.
Given our agricultural economy, most of the workers in those office buildings are sheep. The bus routes go past their farms.
Also, good looking out on the rules. I can remember this one as well, that according to our road code in Neu Zilnd if you want to pass stationary traffic you have to pass them on the outside: I remember this cos a courier I worked with bowled a woman getting off a bus that was stopped at a set of traffic lights, broke her arm and jaw.
Also it is a rule most drivers aren’t aware of, and to be honest it’s pretty handy. It’s also worth checking your local road code, for any handy little tidbits like that.
Also had an encounter with a genius in a ute, who had to brake heavily after he accelerated to try and pass me and a riding mate while we were passing through a bit of road with a traffic island.He started ranting at us that we shouldn’t be riding 2 abreast, and didn’t like it when I reminded him that according to the road code, he needed 3 feet to overtake us safely, which wouldn’t have happened if we were inside the lane with the median island. Actually my mate said that while I tried chatting up his missus. He also didn’t like that.
Anyway, point is check the road code: there are a few little nuggets tucked away that drivers don’t know about that might make life a bit easier.
@ralasdair
Where in this rural idyll are you based?
minion – I’ve also learned, through R&D, that grown men in expensive cars do not like it when you chat up their missus. Nor do they like being called a pussy by some fruit in Lycra.
I LOVE people who fight & burn non-renewable resources to pass you dangerously, only to have to hit their brakes immediately for that light or stop sign. MUST NOT REMAIN BEHIND FUCKFACE ON BIKE. I used to enjoy saying to these people as I inevitably caught up to them, “Nice hustle!” like a junior high school gym teacher might but, I’ve learned this doesn’t make drivers very happy either.
It’s fun to be young & bold (dumb?) but it’s also a better life to be a bit older & try to move through life, including encounters with aggressive drivers, as if you are in a school of fish – just hold your line and keep on going, not paying things you can’t control much attention.
@Tom
Tom; Strong, strong work. +1
Great write up frank!
@Ron: on your first comment: AMERCKX brother!!! beautifully put. I see this all the time and the hypocracy of ‘coexist’ and run over anyone in my way as I go to get my $6/coffee and run to work because I’m too busy to look as I text and talk and put my face on…is just not fixable.
But really, I am very lucky, as I live in a rural town of ~12k total and thats it, and my rides are seriously solo lone wolf rides and often I won’t be passed by more than a handful of cars in 50k or more. But when I get to town, she’s all done.
Here is a couple added thoughts to everyones
A:
Pure word! Poetic Frank, I can’t believe you nail this stuff every freaking time. thanks
B) Rule #4: Ride aggressively defensive. And I just ride with the assumption nobody see’s me. If under that assumption, it really lessens the likelihood of you pulling out, or thinking…its ok, because…its not
C) Rule #7: Don’t escalate. Absolutely, don’t do it unless your so stupid mad you don’t mind looking like the tazmanian devil in lycra. Its quite awkward if you do escalate, and they pull over and you pull over….take it from me, carbon soled road shoes are not the ass-kicking boots you wear to the bar on a friday night. They are more akin to fighting on ice-skates on a lonely sunday afternoon w/boybatono, and your drunk opponent has more leverage even if he has downed a 12 pack. Pick them graciously.
Rule #9: Absolutely spot on. Be smart, the only thing traffic owes a bike rider who thinks they own it, is an accident w/all in good intentions.
@minion
Ha, did you get anywhere with the missus?
@Chris
Southern Warwickshire. Good for a buzz down to the Cotswolds on a weekend. Just not much by way of climbs…
Good stuff Frank, thanks for this
There is no such thing as excessively communicating – I do hate wishy washy flicks of the wrists, half nods and other forms of what essentially amount to telepathy – keep the signals big, clear and bloody obvious, especially with motorists, who are by their nature disconnected from the outside world – so what if they think you’re a dick, you’ll never speak to them again anyway
And I guess we need to remember, we can be wrong sometimes too, so assume nothing and keep the concentration 100% at all times, like you are entering a war zone
@ralasdair
Try Cambridgeshire, flat as a pancake. Round here hill intervals are best done on the local multi storey car park! You have wales and Shropshire within reach for some hillier riding.
@minion
Gloat away. But I’m ignoring you.
I don’t need to hear how delightful NZ is. I’ve seen the pictures. Get me a job there. Tomorrow. Please.
Great post, frank.
We do a cyclist training program here every summer. It’s designed to get cyclists of all skill levels to be comfortable riding in a group and sharing the roads with cars. This is a good thing to share with the participants.
Around here we are lucky in that we can be out of the urban scene in 10-15 minutes, yet we still have the “king of the road” car drivers to deal with on our way out of town. We try to keep our “finger pointing” to a minimum.