Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames0910
Yikes, that is a busy spot to be flying that fast. Then again, it's not like there's anything that says "heads up, slow down, be cautious" there either.
I was thinking about this on a ride yesterday around Glenmore where there were hundreds of people out on the pathway. Urban cyclists have to make a thousand microdecisions on any ride, and each has the potential to erupt in conflict, make someone upset or lead to injury. Urban cyclists also have to interact with a larger variety of trail users, whereas gravel, mountain or road bikers outside the city generally only have to deal with one or two. Each decision is small and innocuous, but taken in totality it's no wonder people get angry at cyclists. If on each ride you go on, you are forced to make a hundred small decisions, each with the possibility of pissing somebody off — well, you're bound to get one wrong eventually (and others won't see the hundred you get right, just the one you got wrong).
Some examples I noticed on just one ride where everything went OK but each time there was the potential for things to go the wrong way. So many of these come down to a lack of thoughtfully designed infrastructure which makes it all the more frustrating:
• pathways that end suddenly and dump you on the road
• pathways that are also sidewalks
• pathways with no curb cutouts that force you onto the sidewalk
• roads that go from "safe to ride on" to "really not a good spot to be" with no warning
• roads where parked cars or other debris force you into traffic
• traffic signals on bike routes that don't really consider the needs of bicyclists
• unsigned crosswalks on bike pathways
• inconsistent infrastructure like "bikes use pedestrian signal" signs
• sharp corners, blind intersections, and sudden hills with no signage (or a combo of all three)
• pathways that get squeezed for no good reason or without warning
• pathways that cross traffic in the middle of the road rather than at an intersection
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The Shifter video about comparing Calgary to the Netherlands touches on a lot of these and how cycling infrastructure is such an afterthought.
It's such a pleasure to have the covid memorial closure and even yesterday I was cycling back and forth along the Calgary Marathon route to watch the runners and when I got the Stampede grounds, I was blissfully cycling around the huge parking lots and paved but open fairgrounds when I suddenly realized how great that felt.
Cycling is such a "corridor" activity You are always on a tight and narrow making all these decisions and when you are suddenly free of that corridor mentality it feels amazing.
There were quite a few cyclists operating along the marathon route as pacers or supervisors of the race and I'd be interested to know how to get involved in that.