Biking in the City

Get a light on your bike for evening rides, never forget to wear your helmet, always assume that drivers don't see you, and follow all of the common sense rules as rigidly as you can.

Wear your brightest, most obnoxious jersey and I second that you should assume that none of the drivers see you.

In some respects, it's safer to ride in the lane as if you were a car, depending of course on how fast the traffic is moving. City traffic usually tops out at 15-20 mph, which even I (being ultra slow) can get up to easily in a nice gear. This is how the bike messengers ride, but even they get hit once in awhile.

You'll have to build up confidence and comfort. If you try to hug the 6" at teh side of the road, cars will try to pass you in that lane and you are more likely to get brushed, or get run into somethng on the side of teh road like a grate.

If you are more into the center of the lane, they are forced to switch lanes to get around you.

In faster moving traffic, though (20-50mph) I do stay to the right but still give myeslf about 5 feet of room in order to avoid car doors, sewers, grit, etc.

Traffic consisently faster than that isn't worth riding in, in my opinion.

You might not want to follow my example considering my current situation You obviously want to wear clothes that make you easy to see. A light on the front/back of your bike can't hurt either. When riding with traffic there really isn't anything you can do if someone is coming up from behind. You really need to hold tight to the side of the road and concentrate on not waivering around. Just concentrate on what you are doing. I've found that reaching for water bottles and stuff causes me to not hold as straight of a line so wait till you are in a safe place before adjusting gear or reaching for fluids/nutrition. Remember that you should be following the same rules of the road as autos which doesn't always work in your favor because cars most often DON'T know this and may expect you to yeild to them even if you have the right of way.  If you are concerned about running off the edge of the road then go ahead and ride a few feet in from the edge.  You may get some A-holes honking at you (I typically respond with "the bird" but you are actually 100% legal taking the lane...same rights as an auto.  The best advice I can give is to never expect a car to behave the way they should regardless of the rules of the road. Be safe, wear your helmet, always carry your ID and insurance card, and get a Road ID with emergenct contact info. I'm afraid that it's not a matter of if you have a run in with a car, it's when. Considering how much time we all spend out on the roads you'd be extremely lucky to never be involved in some type of incident or close call.


Edited by TH3_FRB 2006-04-23 12:17 PM