Bicycles and Motor Vehicles

Having promised at the start to discuss off-road riding, a letter from Paul Nadas about a standoff between a bicyclist and a bus struck a chord with me because it addressed issues I have faced from the viewpoints of both the driver and the rider.

Intense arguments come up in the bicycling community as to how one should ride on the public roadways. Two polarized schools hold that a) one should follow to exactitude all rules and laws or b) anarchy should prevail. You can find lots of fights about the issue in various web forums.

I'm someplace in the middle. After many years of commuting and pedaling just for fun, I in fact do ride the wrong way on one-way streets and run red lights. Very occasionally, I ride in a motor vehicle lane and take the right of way, sometimes to the displeasure of drivers. I do always try to share the road in cooperation with others.

Momentum is a valuable commodity to the operator of a human powered vehicle. This in itself led me into some of my current rules and habits, which I will try to describe.

- Stop signs - If there is good visibility and no traffic, sail on through. Otherwise, yield or stop as appropriate.

- Traffic lights - similar to stop signs, but more caution is indicated, because they tend to be at busier and more complex intersections.

- One-way streets - go against the flow with extreme caution - in particular, crossing traffic, including pedestrians, will have absolutely no idea that you might be approaching.

- Emergency vehicles - get off the road.

- Pedestrians - stop and yield the right of way.

- Sidewalks - Sidewalks are for pedestrians. In general, stay off. If you are forced on to one by circumstances and there are pedestrians, get off and walk the bike.

- Being passed by motorized traffic - Be aware. If you're holding up someone on a no-shoulder road, find the first opportunity to hop the curb or pull in a driveway - use a sidewalk segment if available. Especially appreciated by large trucks moving uphill.

- Lane threading - only when necessary, only in the direction of flow, usually limited to slow speed.

- Passing moving motorized traffic - if you can, more power to you! Be careful.

- Passing on the right - Presume invisiblility and have an escape route - I lost a pedal once doing this...

- Taking a lane - This is sometimes necessary to set up for a left turn or for avoiding an obstacle. Signal your intent and don't block for any longer than necessary.

- Riding in groups - fall into single file if traffic approaches. D'oh...

- Judgement calls - Yield to the other vehicle.

- Reacting to tickets - You used your judgement as you do when driving. You got caught. Accept it.

What this discussion ignores is the public relations/political dimension. Some drivers go critical if, say, you proceed at a red light leaving them behind. Some tend to express it if and as they catch up to you.

The Access Problem - Where to Ride?

Compared to a lot of places in the United States, it's pretty easy to find a place to ride up here. There are miles of undeveloped ridgelines, logging roads, farm roads and gravel roads. Climb on a bike, start riding, and generally within a few miles you'll find some promising lead that can peter out in yards or take you into a network in which you can get gloriously lost.

However, all is not roses. While the default culture in Vermont has been open access to private lands, sprawl and attendant posted signs are starting to crawl up the hillsides; as I understand it, Vermont is also the only state in the U.S. in which roads and trails on federal park lands are by default off limits to bicycles. There's still no shortage, but the sky is perhaps a little red in the east.

Some of the discussions to follow will concern organizations, events, and political forces that balance each other to shape the future of off-road riding here.

An Introduction

I live in Northwest Vermont, in the Champlain Valley, and I profess to be a bicyclist, mostly of the off-road sort. Not being of the persuasion of skiing, I pretty much ride, sometimes floundering, year-round.

The approximate premise of this locus is to discuss ideas and observations about pushing pedals in Vermont. I do not promise to stick to the proclaimed theme.