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Cycling
May 31, 2016 19:14:49 GMT -5
Post by scrimshaw on May 31, 2016 19:14:49 GMT -5
Rather than hijack @mountainrunner 's running thread, I decided to create a cycling thread.  Unfortunately, I live in Orange County, CA, so miles and and miles of paved rural trails are just a dream. Riding here means busy streets and sometimes highways. I regularly ride on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) between the L.A. county line and Dana Point. It's all about how wide the shoulder is. If there's no shoulder, even a slower-speed road can be more dangerous than a high-speed road with a wide shoulder. PCH, which has very wide shoulders except in a few places, and where people are very used to seeing cyclists on the road is arguably a pretty safe road to ride on given the number of people who ride it regularly, despite having 55 or 60 mph speed limits in places. Irvine is even better, with almost all main roads having marked bike lanes, and many paved trails along concrete rivers, next to the freeway, and even a few in what could loosely be described as "undeveloped" areas. It's just a matter of being keenly aware of what's happening around you, even on paved trail. A good friend had someone inexplicably brake suddenly in front of him at about 20 mph in a paceline, my friend ran into him and pretty much destroyed his bike, but fortunately he just has some bruises. The woman behind him wasn't so lucky and spent a couple days in the hospital with a concussion. Oddly, her bike had nary a scratch, but I'm sure she'd trade a trashed bike to not have got a concussion. Oddly, although I use cycling to clear my head and maintain some sanity, my wife often rides with me. In fact, we just passed 6,000 miles on our tandem (in 3 years), and tandems are often known as "divorce bikes". But, as I've noted elsewhere, I am in a somewhat unique situation in ILIASM-land. BTW, samedeepwater, I want a penny-farthing. :-) But I've not the ~$1,000 to spend on one right now. :-( |
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Post by DryCreek on May 31, 2016 19:29:59 GMT -5
scrimshaw, I owned a tandem briefly. I can see why they're called divorce bikes. If there's not good communication (especially from the front) and cooperation (especially from the back) it's an exhausting and treacherous ride. Especially if the pilot is much lighter. But riding on urban streets seems like it's just asking for pain. Drivers are more distracted now than ever, cars weigh 20x what you do, and they're traveling so much faster even in town. The day after a big race here a couple years ago, a cyclist was killed on a clear straight stretch of road by a distracted driver who didn't even realize he'd hit someone. The cyclist was a neurosurgeon. I'd like to see more cities do long paved paths. There's at least one here along a major road with tunnels under the intersections so you don't have to stop for miles. And another that parallels a stretch of highway. I hear Minneapolis is known for having a lot of paved bike trails.
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Post by jim44444 on May 31, 2016 20:56:49 GMT -5
Tandem - one time, never again.
I detest riding on city streets. Cars parked on the side. People backing out of their driveways. Kids darting into my path. Dogs.
I would rather ride on the high speed highways with wide shoulder. The rural roads are usually in bad shape but are relaxing.
I can see the Western Reserve Greenway from my house, 50+ miles of paved former railroad.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2016 21:38:38 GMT -5
I'd like to get into cycling, but I haven't done it since I was a kid - so I'd probably be totally awkward and look like an idiot. But I don't want to do it all by myself, because I need other people to make me get out and do things. Damn! I need a private cycling coach.
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Post by tamara68 on Jun 1, 2016 3:57:01 GMT -5
In the Netherlands there is a very good bicycle path network. In Belgium where I live now, the infrastructure is not nearly as good. Youtube bycledutch channel |
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 10:57:50 GMT -5
Post by jim44444 on Jun 1, 2016 10:57:50 GMT -5
I'd like to get into cycling, but I haven't done it since I was a kid - so I'd probably be totally awkward and look like an idiot. But I don't want to do it all by myself, because I need other people to make me get out and do things. Damn! I need a private cycling coach. I did a google search on cycling club in your area. There are several plus rides organized by local bike shops. You could check them out to find which ones welcome beginers. Stay away from the Tour de France wannabes. Hmm, a private coach to help you get sweaty? I need to check my schedule. |
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 11:00:11 GMT -5
Post by scrimshaw on Jun 1, 2016 11:00:11 GMT -5
DryCreek, yeah, a significantly lighter captain would be bad, physics can be a harsh mistress. I'm probably a few pounds lighter than my wife (we're the same height), but not by much, and I'm much stronger, so it's not an issue with us. I'd say I disagree with you, communication and cooperation are 50/50 captain and stoker - it's critical that the captain be responsive to the stoker's needs. We've never had any big issues on the tandem, except one time a brake pad was dragging and we both thought the other was dogging it, funny in hindsight, not so much at the time. Keep in mind "in town" is everything within 50+ miles of me, and particularly on weekends, bicyclists are out in fairly large numbers, so drivers are pretty used to seeing us. In CA, driving while texting is illegal, and yeah, some disregard it, but most don't. And, there are some roads I won't ride on because of factors I think make it unsafe - I don't think I'd ride anywhere near downtown L.A. for example. The upside of living here is a wide choice of roads. And I guess I was concentrating on the "rural" part - there are two major concrete river trails near me, both are about 30 miles long and pass under the roads. The downside to those is they are of course multi-use, so there are joggers, people walking, kids skateboarding, and sometimes homeless encampments under the freeways or in the riverbed in places where only the sides are concrete. Riding the same 30 miles over and over would get too boring for me. Here in Orange County, about 2 cyclists a month are killed, including all ages and cycling levels. I'd say it's probably a bit more often the cyclist's fault (going by the account of what happened, not the police determination of fault - they always blame the cyclist here unless the driver was DUI), and I see people do a lot of dumb things on bikes. Midnight to 5am is a pretty dangerous time to ride, and I avoid riding after dusk, unless I know I'll be on a paved trail before nightfall and I'm parked just off the trail. I'm not saying my riding is risk-free, it certainly isn't, drunks have killed cyclists at all hours, but I'm aware of those risks, I do what I can to mitigate them, and ultimately, it's something I very much enjoy so I'm willing to accept those risks. Confounding all this of course, is the larger discussion of "risk". Is it casualties/mile? casualties/hour? casualties/100,000 participants? All of those give different views of the risk relative to other activities. Also, we as humans are very poor at assessing risk without actually studying the numbers.
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 11:05:12 GMT -5
Post by scrimshaw on Jun 1, 2016 11:05:12 GMT -5
jim44444 - Do you support Rails to Trails? They are spearheading efforts to turn former railways into bicycle/pedestrian trails, and are likely largely responsible for the existence of that trail.
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Post by scrimshaw on Jun 1, 2016 12:43:32 GMT -5
I'd like to get into cycling, but I haven't done it since I was a kid - so I'd probably be totally awkward and look like an idiot. But I don't want to do it all by myself, because I need other people to make me get out and do things. Damn! I need a private cycling coach. I did a google search on cycling club in your area. There are several plus rides organized by local bike shops. You could check them out to find which ones welcome beginers. Stay away from the Tour de France wannabes. Hmm, a private coach to help you get sweaty? I need to check my schedule. There may even be female-specific clubs. There are actually 3 that I know of in my area, my wife regularly rides with 2 of them. Don't be afraid to try out multiple clubs. Some are cliquey (e.g. the one women's group my wife won't ride with), some may just not be a good "fit". It also depends greatly on what you want to do on the bike. I belong to a club that is about 50/50 racers and recreational riders, and certainly not a club I'd recommend to newer riders. But I enjoy pushing myself harder on the bike, and I will often ride with the faster riders, even though I know I'll be dropped (we don't advertise even our slowest group as "no-drop", but we do try to re-group at designated spots and wait for people). That suits me fine, but I know it's not for everyone. There are clubs around here that are truly recreational, every ride is a ride to a coffee shop and back. Great for some people, not for me. I'm happy there is a large mix of clubs around here. |
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Post by jim44444 on Jun 1, 2016 13:00:13 GMT -5
jim44444 - Do you support Rails to Trails? They are spearheading efforts to turn former railways into bicycle/pedestrian trails, and are likely largely responsible for the existence of that trail. , yes I joined railstotrails 4 years ago. Imagine what they could accomplish if each trail user joined them! Their website resources alone is worth the annual membership. |
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 13:27:14 GMT -5
Post by jim44444 on Jun 1, 2016 13:27:14 GMT -5
.... There are clubs around here that are truly recreational, every ride is a ride to a coffee shop and back. Great for some people, not for me. I'm happy there is a large mix of clubs around here. There are a mix of clubs in my area also. I am considering this one for obvious reasons Cuyahoga Valley Cycling & Craft Beer Club |
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 13:59:29 GMT -5
Post by scrimshaw on Jun 1, 2016 13:59:29 GMT -5
.... There are clubs around here that are truly recreational, every ride is a ride to a coffee shop and back. Great for some people, not for me. I'm happy there is a large mix of clubs around here. There are a mix of clubs in my area also. I am considering this one for obvious reasons Cuyahoga Valley Cycling & Craft Beer Club The traditional drinking club with a cycling problem? Given the number of craft breweries around here, I'm surprised we don't have one like that. Our stronger riders will sometimes do a brewery tour around here. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2016 14:44:07 GMT -5
There are a mix of clubs in my area also. I am considering this one for obvious reasons Cuyahoga Valley Cycling & Craft Beer Club The traditional drinking club with a cycling problem? Given the number of craft breweries around here, I'm surprised we don't have one like that. Our stronger riders will sometimes do a brewery tour around here. That's what I need - a club where you ride to a bar, brewery, or at least coffeehouse! LOL |
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Cycling
Jun 1, 2016 15:04:22 GMT -5
Post by scrimshaw on Jun 1, 2016 15:04:22 GMT -5
The traditional drinking club with a cycling problem? Given the number of craft breweries around here, I'm surprised we don't have one like that. Our stronger riders will sometimes do a brewery tour around here. That's what I need - a club where you ride to a bar, brewery, or at least coffeehouse! LOL Heh, our club rides all start and end at a bar! The owner is cool though, and has a "cyclist special" menu for us (variations on the egg mcmuffin theme) as well as a really good menu. We've even gone there for dinner a couple times. A lot of recreational clubs will either start and end at a coffeehouse, or else most of their rides are to the various coffeehouses around. |
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Post by samedeepwater on Jun 2, 2016 6:18:05 GMT -5
I have the best of everything where I live. And for any of you who may have followed me on EP, you also know that cycling was one of the things that saved me during the waning years of my marriage and the eventual separation. I live in a rural area, so I can pretty much leave my driveway and head for 50 miles in any direction have nothing but paved country roads with little traffic. Although it is fun to blow by the occasional tractor. scrimshaw One of my best friends and long time cycling buddies moved to Ventura a couple years ago. Other than maybe Colorado, based on his impression, California is like cycling heaven. He catches multiple stages of the Tour of California every year, and some of the pictures he sends from the road are just incredible. Location is everything, so I understand about being in a crowded urban area. But I know you love it, just as I do. At the start of every week, I plan my cycling days along with everything else I have going on. HTFU And be safe. |
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