Day 15. 4/17/22. REST day. DeRidder, LA
The usual rest day activities. Bicycle lube and maintenance. It’s chilly and windy today. So, of course, today we decided to send back some of the extra “warm” clothes we’ve packed. Curtis is off to the post office. Hope we don’t regret this decision. Keeping the down puffy though..happy to have it today…cool and windy morning. I’ve acclimated quickly😊
We also spent some time this morning looking at this week’s route which will take us through Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We will follow the Mississippi River for a day or two. Decided to spend a night in the heart of New Orleans so we booked ourselves a place at Old Hotel No. 77 (French Quarter). This is where our co-adventurers Bruce and Dean stayed and we trust their intel completely! We’ve just got one night but a short ride in, so hopefully a little time to poke around the area.
I’ve been thinking about this post for a few days….Saving it for layover day. I have so much time to think while I ride and get down to the nitty-gritty of road biking and vehicle traffic and bicycle safety. So I thought I would let y’all know how I/We see it from our bicycle point of view.
Just about everyone I know and even strangers depart with the advice to “Be Safe”. While this is kind, I’m wondering what defines “safe”. I think I’d rather take Adventure Cycling’s advice to “Be Defensive”. We do the best we think we can. We wear neon green, yellow, pink, orange shirts. Our helmets are neon green and orange. Our bikes have flashing red taillights that can be seen from a very, very long distance. (Seems even brighter on cloudy, rainy type days). We have flashing white headlights too. We also use a rear view mirror either on our helmets or handlebars. We have a very good view of oncoming cars. I think you’d have to be asleep or very, very distracted to NOT see us!
I’ve often thought that while I try to be very noticeable that vehicles do not do their part to be more noticeable. If a vehicle has its headlights on you can see them when they are quite a distance behind you. This is helpful for us to get on the shoulder if necessary. Cars approaching should have their headlights on as well. As a driver I can tell you it’s equally as helpful when driving on cloudy, snowy, early morning, sunset hours. I don’t understand why all vehicles don’t have automatic headlights!! People…turn your lights on😊
This brings me to my next point. Roadway shoulders. If you wonder as a driver why bicycles are not riding on the shoulder there are several reasons why or why not. Let’s begin with shoulder widths.
1. No Shoulder or White Line IS the shoulder. Generally I will be far enough in the lane to force a driver to SLOW down, either hit me or pass me like a car. If I get too close to the edge a car will try to “slip” by without even going over the center line. That’s too close for me.
2. White Line with 15” shoulder with 6”-15” rumble strips. None of these are very good options to ride on the shoulder. Small rumble strips 6” are better but the really wide ones make it unrideable. 6” leaves about 8-10” to ride but usually half of that is rough or littered.
3. White line with 3’ shoulder with variety of rumble strip sizes. This can be very rideable depending upon the surface condition of the shoulder and how clean it is.
4. 6-12’ shoulder. Rumble strips can be super wide and there’s plenty of room. I call this the “Everybody is Happy” shoulder. Cars are happy the damn bikes aren’t in their way, trucks don’t scare me and bicycles are comfortable and happy the cars are so far away. Only the noise is unavoidable. The only reason a bicycle would not be riding this shoulder is if the asphalt surface is rough and rumble. And sometimes that is the problem!
I have some photos of various rumble strips and asphalt examples.
So the next time you’re driving take a close look at the bicycles point of view of the roadway and shoulder please. When you approach a cyclist slow down, let your tires cross the center lane or better yet, pass them like a car (both wheels in the other lane). If that’s not possible, slow down some and give as much space as possible. We know you are there…we’ve watched you approach. Please don’t honk right as you go by, that startles us and makes the bike swerve. (Unless your intent was to watch a potential crash).
Since there are 3 of us riding and we have wide loads, we have given some thought to enable cars to pass us more easily. Unless we are on the “Everybody’s Happy “ shoulder, we generally do not ride very close together. We discovered in the Texas Hill Country that if we separated by a good distance cars could “hop” past us more easily than holding up to pass all 3 at once. The roads were winding and twisting with not much vision ahead (and busy). We were all happier and felt more comfortable and “safe” if we split up. We have adopted this strategy several times since. I’d like to think the drivers appreciate it as well. We did have a Constable (Sheriff) in Bandera County, Texas stop to thank us for riding single file! He had plenty to say about the cyclists in large groups riding 2-3 abreast on the hilly narrow roads he covers. He also told us about the cyclist killed recently on our route. I’m happy to say we passed that area just a few days ago and it was certainly on our minds!!
We have not encountered very many impatient drivers fortunately. The few we did were closer to cities than on the rural country roads. (Go figure) They typically let you know by holding the horn or revving the motor right as they are next to you. Our response is to give them a friendly wave. I feel sorrier for the people they actually know that have to deal with their nasty nature!
Now that I’ve given my 2 cents, hopefully my non-riding friends and followers can understand highway riding from a cyclist’s perspective. Thanks for reading this to the end. It will make me feel good😊
cinnicrew 