Cycling Thread 2

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Slava

Ideally they could just split all the paths and have dedicated cycling lanes. I do think that 20km/hr is ridiculously slow, but the other problem is those guys flying down a path 50km/hr and blazing by people without warning.

Yeah, that is the stuff that irritates me. Like these guys:



https://www.strava.com/segments/9388393
https://www.strava.com/segments/16035208

[kermitology]

50km/h deserves a $400 fine. That's obscene speed on a pathway.

Compare that to this section by the Inglewood bird sanctuary: https://www.strava.com/segments/4135178. This leg, I have no issue with people going fast. It's wide, it's open, you can see the whole thing and it's fairly empty. But if you see someone, slow down.

Oh, and the entirety of Carburn park is 10km/h. I tried riding part of that at 10km/h this morning.. it's almost impossible to ride that slow.

[Northendzone]

wowsers almost 60 kph on that inglewood section - i hope he was not riding into the wind and even more important i hope he did not pass anyone at that speed.


i wonder if you looked at a lot of segments if you see a lot of the same names at the top of the leaderboard - i have to think you would especially if you focused on one quadrant

[Wormius]

I don't know if its a gender thing, but I have noticed that the women leaders are not as reckless in their speeding.


I kind of find this fun going through Strava.. Some tricksters made a new segment after one was listed as hazardous.


https://www.strava.com/segments/7351427
https://www.strava.com/segments/15266099

[kermitology]

The only way IMO you hit that kind of speed it when you have a tailwind.

[KTrain]

There are a couple guys who have most of the KOMs in the city. They're also flying at some pretty dangerous speeds on the paths.

I tried to cut most of the paths out of my ride today. Sticking to the roads. For the first time in since last year I was yelled at to get off the road and get back on the bike path (Multi-Use Path...).

[ken0042]

Sure hope it wasn't along 52nd street between 126th and 106th....

I see cyclists on the road there from time to time, and I just don't get it there.

[KTrain]

It was along 52nd. There are 3 lanes and the shoulders are decent. There's lots of room for everyone. Especially at 1:30pm.

I've seen too many run-ins with drivers who don't yield or stop to allow people to cross the road to get to get back to the path. Unless you get off your bike to cross every crosswalk...

Staying in the shoulder, being visible, follow a consistent line, stopping at lights, etc. is safer than jumping from path to road, path to road.

And also not being allowed to exceed 20km/h on the MUP.

[stone hands]

i yield to cars at the lights along 52nd in that area because 8/10 times the person is either not going to see me and go through the intersection, or see me and try to gun it to get through before i make it there, even though i will clearly get there first

i am sure a lot of other(all?) roads are like this, but for some reason that stretch of 52nd is just terrible for people who value the 3 seconds of quicker travel time over someone's life

[Northendzone]

i live in the south and i bleeive that yesterday i had one of my best times riding home as i covered the 17k from the office to my house in just a little less than 37 minutes of moving time. i will admit i did sneek thru one light that was a late amber just to keep up my momentum. i think my typical time is in the 43 minute range

k-train i hammered it down the mck towne home stretch and the best i could do was 33s - so for now i am in the top 10. i beleive i would need a gale force wind to get below 30 seconds

there were several stretches where i was doing 35 or so on very quiet pathways

[Slava]

Originally Posted by kermitology

50km/h deserves a $400 fine. That's obscene speed on a pathway.

Compare that to this section by the Inglewood bird sanctuary: https://www.strava.com/segments/4135178. This leg, I have no issue with people going fast. It's wide, it's open, you can see the whole thing and it's fairly empty. But if you see someone, slow down.

Oh, and the entirety of Carburn park is 10km/h. I tried riding part of that at 10km/h this morning.. it's almost impossible to ride that slow.

To be entirely honest 20km/hr is really slow. I know that doesn't jive with my earlier posts here, but that's part of the problem. It's not really out of control to ride along over 20km/hr and it's the mix between cyclists and pedestrians (including runners) that causes the potential issues.

[Oling_Roachinen]

They haven't even given out a $400 fine, probably because even they know how absurd it is. So really is it going to act as a deterrent? If only 1 or 2 cyclists get it this summer they're going to just be the person with bad luck (or more likely the jackass going 50 km/hour somehow), but a more reasonable fine of say $100 for going over 30 km/hour in a 20 km/hour zone that can be handed out more frequently might actually deter people from speeding.

[Fuzz]

For most paths I'm not going to ever ride 20km/h, it's ridiculously slow. They want to get more people biking, well you don't do that by artificially slowing their commute time. Target specific congested areas, sure. But the blanket 20km speed limit is silly. Maybe something a cycling coordinator could look at improving...

[Wormius]

That comfortable speed is going to be different for a lot of people though, and what would be that "happy" speed? 20kph vs 30kph saves you 10 minutes on a 10km commute.



I think a problem is when people go out cycling they don't like that feel of governing themselves. It feels unnatural. Going in a lower gear and spinning wildly and going slow feels awkward. But at the same time, who's concern should that be?

[Fuzz]

Well it's a max speed, not a "you must go 30km/h" speed so I'm not sure where comfort comes into it. I just think they'd have more adherence if the speeds were a bit more reasonable, and could have slow zones where necessary, and ticket there. If they are going to raise fines to shocking levels like this, they should have considered the other side of it. "Yes, fines will be higher, but we think you will find the increased speeds in areas where it is safe make it more acceptable." Though its still bonkers it's higher than speeding through a playgorund zone in a 3000lb vehicle. Sounds like a Sean Chu initiative.

[Northendzone]

based on my years of cycling around calgary i have only seen speed enforcement on the pathway in the area of eau claire, sandy beach and once i ran into the boys right on the pathway at glenmore between where lynnview ridge ends and riverbend begins - there is a chunk of singletrack that is closed to bikes. on the day in question i did not feel like making the climb, so i took the singletrack. they were waiting there and asked me why i was riding there, i decided to be honest and i got a warning.

i feel like most of the time they give out warnings rather than paper.

i hope they don't really start enforcing this or i hope when they do they are selective and dealing in areas that have high utilization

[Fuzz]

I'd love to know the impetus for this, and where they came up with their numbers. I'm not aware of anywhere else that has these kinds of fines.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

based on my years of cycling around calgary i have only seen speed enforcement on the pathway in the area of eau claire, sandy beach and once i ran into the boys right on the pathway at glenmore between where lynnview ridge ends and riverbend begins - there is a chunk of singletrack that is closed to bikes. on the day in question i did not feel like making the climb, so i took the singletrack. they were waiting there and asked me why i was riding there, i decided to be honest and i got a warning.

i feel like most of the time they give out warnings rather than paper.

i hope they don't really start enforcing this or i hope when they do they are selective and dealing in areas that have high utilization

They're building a new path on the west side of the river between Ogden and Glenmore. At least, I'm pretty sure they are. I've thought of riding that, but never done it. Lynwood is so pretty in the morning looking at the mountains.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

... on the pathway at glenmore between where lynnview ridge ends and riverbend begins - there is a chunk of singletrack that is closed to bikes.

Where is that, exactly? When going into work in the morning I almost always take that route, and I thought it was all bike path. (or at least shared path.) Now you have me curious.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Well it's a max speed, not a "you must go 30km/h" speed so I'm not sure where comfort comes into it. I just think they'd have more adherence if the speeds were a bit more reasonable, and could have slow zones where necessary, and ticket there. If they are going to raise fines to shocking levels like this, they should have considered the other side of it. "Yes, fines will be higher, but we think you will find the increased speeds in areas where it is safe make it more acceptable." Though its still bonkers it's higher than speeding through a playgorund zone in a 3000lb vehicle. Sounds like a Sean Chu initiative.

I am just thinking about how the determination for what a max speed limit should be made. It must have to do with what some cyclists are feeling comfortable with doing, thought maybe not necessarily safety-oriented. Why don't you like 20? Because it doesn't feel right?



I mean, I don't like 20 either because it feels like I am braking or just freewheeling a lot to keep my speed in check. That said, I don't think the speed limits should necessarily be higher because of what feels better to ride at.