Nice reminder in the DNJ for people to think and be aware about bicyclist

"Murfreesboro Police Lt. Alvin Baird said the city's greenways are safe alternatives to bicycling on roadways that don't have bike lanes.

"We have bike lanes in the city. As far as safety, if it is for recreational use, ride on roadways that have bicycle lanes," he said."

That statement seems pretty ignorant. There aren't many roads with bike lanes. Those that are designated bike routes are some of the worst rodes in the area to ride on. Then the bike route will suddenly stop. Are you supposed to call a cab when the bike route ends? How well do you like riding Northfield or c

I agree, the bike lanes are roads to nowhere. Also, I have found the greenway to be a dangerous place. A crash on the "safe" greenway put me out of action for 5 weeks this year. I would rather they had encouraged riders and drivers to obey the rules of the road and to watch out for each other.

Many comments on the DNJ site in response to the article. Like we already knew, idiot drivers feel inconvenienced & feel justified in running us off the road.

And the biggest photo was of a non-helmeted cyclist, even though the article emphasizes safety.???

I saw that too. Ed was looking at the article to see if it required a response from us. I told him I thought he should at least write in that the helmetless rider was a direct violation of the rules we ride by since there are numerous examples of members whose lives were saved by that helmet.

Only the relatively hard core ride with helmets. I see many students & working commuters without. There is a group that apparently commutes on mostly mountain bikes or old 10 speeds. They also frequently ride against traffic. Education is needed for those riders but the troubling attitude is the drivers that think people deserve to get hit because they're riding ON THE ROAD.

About 10 years ago me and and couple other club members volunteered and met weekly with city attorney, city road manager, engineer, a mayor want-to-be, and a couple other individuals and developed a 20 year master plan to bike lanes, etc. the city was to follow.
My best guess is that plan is composting in the BFI mountain and if the wind blows just right you can smell it and other plans that were to be followed rotting since obviously the plans are not being used.
When I have called and have asked about why bike lanes are not being added to new road construction per the plan, why the greenway with money approved for expansion is not being done and etc. I can only say the response smells as bad as BFI mountain and is made out of the same material.
If members of the club want any serious consideration given to planning for bike commuters, riders,bike lanes, etc. it will take much work and effort and IMHO would need to follow the LAB's outline for Mufreesboro to become a Bicycle Friendly Community. A good example is Chattanooga.
Just my two cents worth.
Cary

http://www.bikeleague.org/

Oh no, it is getting worse. See Alicia Pickett's DNJ column this morning. She love to ride - with her ipod!

You know you guys sure complain and b.... and moan alot. Last night I was contemplating these posts as I was riding the old Landshark down Broad Street with the wind in my hair, Hendrix blasting the "Watchtower" in my ears, and my loose clothing flapping in the breeze. You know I really should fix my brakes.

http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/roadrules.php

as a club, we can attempt to educate the ignorant. I've emailed this above link to Ms. Pickett.

Has the Daily Newsless Journal contacted the club for comment? It would be nice if they could get our point of view regarding cycling safety. Maybe we could invite a reporter for a ride.

Some dnj reporters have come out to rides. The photos of Larry Kirk and Cindy Carlton were taken at club rides and some members were interviewed. But that was last year, and I am not sure how much safety was discussed.

I've decided to not worry about it anymore and just go for a ride.

Not to worry? We're having to move further out to get good riding. Rides from both Kimbro & Osborne/Emery were moved because of congestion. Lynn talks about when traffic was light enough to routinely leave from Mitchell Neilson. Contrary to attitudes of some drivers, having only 2 wheels doesn't qualify you to become a target. It would be great if we could develop a ground swell of bike riding & support. How?

The photos of Larry and Cindy were taken last week on a ride I lead leaving from Cannonsburgh trailhead. He took many more then what was in the paper. We asked what they were for and he only said the DNJ was doing an article on Bicycle Safety. In fact the phtographer used to ride with the club years ago.
Cary

No one from the DNJ has contacted me. I was formulating ideas for a response, but after reading the responses that were already posted on their website, I decided to avoid getting into what usually just turns into a spitting match.

I think the worst thing in the DNJ stories was the single quote from Police Lt. Alvin Baird, suggesting that the bike lanes and greenways were good alternatives to riding on the roads. My fear is that it sounds like a bit of 'blame the victim' and could be taken as such by some motorists. I'm still considering writing a response directly to Lt. Baird about that, but I want to make sure I have it calm and well reasoned. I'd also like to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Alicia Pickett article was pretty poorly written, aside from the merits of anyone's point of view. I'm sure each quoted person had much more to say and all quotes were pretty much out of context.

Yes, we are being pushed further and further out. But that is because the type of riding we do simply doesn't lend itself to urban areas even if 100% of the motorists were 100% bike friendly. Let's not confuse the problems of urban growth with the problems of anti-bicycle motorists.

It's problems of urban growth in conjunction with anti bicycle motorists that will be the problem. Riding in Chicago in the 70s was more conjested but motorists accepted that we were there & didn't feel a wreck was what we deserved for stupidly believing that we should be allowed on the road.

I believe it's a difference in culture. Midwestern culture is more tolerant of others than what I've come to experience in the South. That doesn't mean they respect cyclists' rights more, just that they tolerate us on the road better. You see more slow moving farm machinery on the roads up there than cyclists most days.

The bicycle isn't seen as a toy there, but a valid means of transportation, and generally used by the lower income. Bike commuting is very prevailent in many of the small farm towns, but mostly on wal-mart brand bikes and no helmets.

Larger Midwestern metropolitan areas suffer from similar runins as we see here though, comes from people in too big of a hurry, too distracted from cell phones, traffic delays causing road rage, and from general lack of respect for your fellow man.

Rural and urban road/developments seem to be better planned out up there as well. All roads are in a clean grid pattern allowing for myriad roads to get you from A to B. Tennessee with it's mountains and hilly terrain seems to have been paved from cattle trails and old settler mountain passes. At times there are only a few roads to get from A to B. Add that to the urban growth and you've got a hot spot for tension.

The two sides will never agree to see eye to eye, all we can hope for is that toleration will grow.

This rambling has been based on my experience growing up Midwest and over the course of my 10 years in Nashville. Any reproduction or rebroadcast of this message without written consent of the NFL is strictly prohibited. Thoughts and opinions written above are not necessarily those of the producers of this content. Allergy notice: Made with Peanuts.

Vive la gravel!

If Junkman is saying he remembers the 70's....he is lying. nobody his age truly remembers the 70's.....

Vive la gravel to you too Thad! So does that mean you're going to Rouge Roubaiux.

days when the walls were such pretty colors. They moved too.

You know you guys sure complain and b.... and moan alot. Last night I was contemplating these posts as I was riding the old Landshark down Broad Street with the wind in my hair, Hendrix blasting the "Watchtower" in my ears, and my loose clothing flapping in the breeze. You know I really should fix my brakes.
...can I at least get a comment on my witty sarcasm?

Hey Woodbury Man, you forgot to say that you were riding against the traffic.

i think we should invite all local cyclists to the greenway for a ride to show how inadequate it would be if many more road riders would use it.

Yeah, against traffic with a tall budweiser in the bottle cage...

Thanks David, I needed some feedback!

Hey, don't forget some Woodbury Meth!!