Re: Urban Crossings

Excellent point Jon. I live just outside Washington, DC right in the heavily 
traveled metropolis. We had a cycle visitor thru warmshowers who didn't ask 
directions and road straight thru town. I'm amazed he made it much less felt 
comfortable. We have amazing cycling routes AND paths but he just didn't ask. We 
have a nice park, Rock Creek park, that closes most roads to motor vehicle 
traffic on the weekends. The park has tentacles thru a large portion of the 
city. Then we have hundreds of miles of trails and paths for the crosstown rider 
to avoid city traffic and arteries. Personally I ride the city arteries without 
hesitation, but enjoy the byways as well. In my city which includes many parts 
of Northern Virginia, DC & Maryland. We also have the beautiful trail that runs 
from Northern Virginia, thru DC, Maryland all the way to Pittsburg. There's 
another beautiful rail to trail from Baltimore to York, PA. But if I'm not asked 
it can be extremely difficult. 


Each of us has our style and experience/comfort level. I'm very much an urban 
cyclist. When I go to NYC I would expect to ride thru. It's hard to judge 
another cyclists abilities and capacities/interests in order to help them. I 
don't know their standards or experiences. What may seem like "a stroll in the 
park" to me may be a nightmarish heavily traveled highway to another. I don't 
keep statistics on hills either, so it's hard to tell someone how many feet of 
climbing there are without visiting some website. Someone from Florida may say 
my route is very hilly. Someone from Colorado may say it's like a pancake.

I would probably avoid an urban route if I wasn't going to enjoy the fruits of 
that journey. I would have to have people or museums to visit or music to hear 
to make enduring the city traffic worthwhile. Otherwise I would skirt the urban 
area. It would be a significant decision.

Steve
http://www.mohrnet.com/commute.htm
http://www.mohrnet.com/bikeIndex.htm




----- Original Message ----
From: Jon Meinecke <[email protected]>
To: touring <[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, February 11, 2011 8:05:43 AM
Subject: Urban Crossings

As a counterpoint to the bike paths/lanes/tracks are safer-
or-not threads, perhaps there is some interesting and useful
group experience with "urban crossings".

How do people deal with crossing through medium to to
large to very large urban areas on long distance tours?

Avoid them?
Skirt them?
Just follow the main route?
Avoid the main route?
Call a cab?

I read a trip journal of a cross-country cyclist who rode
through my not large, but not small city.  He commented
on the traffic patterns and the comfort-level of the route
he took in not entirely complementary terms.

His route was basically the main drag and most direct
route through town.  Though not unsafe,  it was not a
route that many local cyclists would recommend.  And
alternatives, not as direct, but lower traffic could be
been derived from simple city street maps.  Even better,
more scenic and bike friendly routes could have been
used, but only with local cyclist input...

Even smaller cities can pose similar obstacles to
crossing.  The main drag coming into Lawton, OK
from the east loses it's shoulder and gains curbs and
heavy city traffic.  I rode well 'out of my way' just to
get off that street as soon as I could.

Major cities can pose even larger challenges.

What is other people's experience?  Do you plan
urban routes, or just wing it?

Jon
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