A Traffic Signal Question and a Tire Question

Ride safe! Keep in mind that if you ride the road you are a vehicle subject to all the laws a car would be. Just because you see bikes running red lights doesn’t mean it’s legal. It’s not worth risking your life by running a light or stop sign just because you don’t feel like freemounting again.

Every scenario is different and you’ll have to learn to evaluate on the fly. Just remember the laws of the road and your safety. You’ll enjoy your ride much more that way. Don’t be in a rush… Hey, if you miss your turn go past and turn around.

Decide what you want to be, a bike or a pedestrian, then plan accordingly. What I’m getting at, is if you ride on the road like a bike, ride like you drive.YOU have as much right to the entire lane as THEY do (at least in Utah you do). When getting ready to make a left, signal your turn, and get into the middle of the lane so people can see what you want to do, then merge into the turn lane. You don’t want to wait until everyone’s stopped at the light and then cut over to the turn lane.

If you ride on the side walk, stop at the light, cross in the crosswalk when the light allows it.

That’s my take on it. Other’s probably do it completely different.

One of the biggest reason I did that diagram about going from the right and go left on the stop sign is also because the other side of the road has a road crown with an absurd angle. I’ll try to take a picture but pretty much any big road crown I try to avoid. It’s just awkward significantly leaning to one side and then there’s a higher risk of swerving right into park cars. Like in that case, the road crown on the left would cause me to veer towards the left where the cars are parked (of course the picture of the cars in the diagram are too big, there’s enough space on either side for them to park). On the right, the road crown is not as severe and the angle of the street at that height, it just feels much less likely to swerve into a car. In the city I don’t get that much road crown and so it’s much much better. I don’t know how I’ll ever get use to it, it’s just weird.

I also tend to go on the pedestrian sidewalk because there are places to hold onto. Out in the street it’ll be a tough reach and I just might fall to the side trying to reach them. Gosh…I just gotta learn that hopping in place.

I did another commute through the city today at 6 PM, no UPD! I just had to get off a few times because of the light and nothing to hold onto. I did hold onto a pole a few times. I’m able to time the lights better.

I also practiced the braking! I can sorta use them while going down a slope, not as afraid. I would love to learn that corbin braking technique…the one where people lift their legs entirely, lean back, and brake full power, then put their feet back on the pedals and pedal on…so awesome!

EDIT

Yeah I’ll put that in mind as well. If I’m on the road then I’m like the cars. I did not know about the stopping at stop signs. I’ll have to either slow down and let the car that came first go ahead.

Over here in the UK, I couldn’t agree more. Bikes are subject to exactly the same laws as cars (we have a couple of ‘extras’ I think), are classed as ROAD vehicles, and as such are allowed full use of the lane (and also are allowed to ride two abreast). I personally try to take all my turns on the road, stop at everything I should (crossings) and use turning lanes accordingly. Riding on the road isn’t a right, it’s a responsibility, and (over here at least) illegal not to do so! So ride legally and safely, and ‘what you like’ comes second (the UK Highway Code is published online in its entirety and I’d assume whatever the US equivelent is, is too) :smiley:

Sometimes if it’s busy and I need to take a right turn (remember in the UK we drive on the left) I’ll mount a curb, hop off and WALK across the road, re-mounting when possible. But I’d never ride onto the pavement, then carry on riding along it to avoid stop lights (or to cross the road easier) :smiley:

For today’s commute I tried slowing down at stop signs and the whole idea of waiting for the car ahead of me to go just didn’t happen.

What tends to happen is that as soon as they see me, they have the “deer caught in the headlights” kind of look to them. So I try to stall and they stall too and…it just sucked hahaha! They just pause at the stop sign and not go even when I’m still a car or two lengths away from the stop sign. So there’s a lot of “no, you can go”…“oh no, you can go” …“oh it’s okay I insist” …“hmm…alright”…“wait a minute I thought you said I can go?” …“Oh, okay go”… “it’s okay I already dismounted” … “so sad”.

So now I dunno, I just sorta signal where I’m going, if I’m going straight I’ll point ahead and sorta keep going.

So I’ll slow down and if they don’t go I’m just going to go. Fully stopping and stalling on a giant unicycle is hard as heck…I have nowhere to hold onto and the idea of using someone else’s car to stay up makes me very nervous, an idea that was brought up awhile back.

Edit: One of the biggest issue I have with stalling is stopping that giant wheel from turning and having the pedals at a 3-9oclock position to try to bunny hop. I usually mess up that position as if bunny hopping in place isn’t challenging enough. Grrr…I’ll get it…one of these days.