The Herald-Sun
November 9, 2004 2:11 pm
DURHAM — This week, I want to answer some of the questions I’ve received. I’ve gotten a lot, and I want to thank all of you who’ve written in to show support for the column. Today, I humbly offer answers to three of the toughest questions you’ve asked.
First, Meg Gallagher writes: “When I commute to work from downtown (against the flow of into-the-city traffic), I often find myself at street lights that will only be triggered by a car (especially left turn signals). Rather than wait 10 minutes for the rare car going my way, my solution is to get off the bike and walk it across the street; but even that has angered some drivers. What can I do?”
Meg, what you describe is all too familiar. People and bicycles usually don’t trigger the inductive loop sensors in the pavement. Loop sensors, however, will detect just about any metal. So, some will detect your bike. To see if your bike can trigger the detector, make sure you stop your bike in the middle of the turn lane, before the white stop line. Be conscious of where you’re standing, and make sure you’re not blocking a car from also pulling up to the sensor.
Sometimes it’s tempting to ride through the intersection when it’s safe, regardless of the color of the traffic light. Pete Schubert, a local bicyclist, encourages riders to wait for the green. “If this means waiting an extra 45 seconds at a red light, I use the time to rest, observe the road in all directions, scan for debris and plan my path through the intersection and beyond.”
Alison Carpenter, Durham’s bicycle and pedestrian transportation planner, says, if the light will not change, the safest thing to do is “to dismount and cross at the intersection as a pedestrian.” She also encourages you to contact the city with intersection improvement requests. You can use the Durham One Call system (560-1200).
Next, Paul Novak writes, “the major reason I’ve not tried mountain biking is because I can imagine only destruction and erosion of the land. Activities that destroy the very features that bring me to an area don’t make any sense to me. Will you comment on this in your column?”
Paul, you’re absolutely right. Increased traffic on any trail, whether hiking or biking, risks more erosion to that trail. But a mountain bike, by itself, is no more damaging to a well-designed trail than a set of hiking boots or horseshoes.
Generally, singletrack is less obtrusive than other trails; it’s narrow (4 feet is the most you need), and usually zig-zags across the fall-line of a hill. This way, the trail is designed to minimize erosion.
The mountain bike community has some unwritten, but fairly well self-enforced, rules about when to ride. We don’t ride in or within 24 hours of rain. Riding (just like hiking) when the trail is wet can do serious damage to both the trail and the root systems of trees.
If you want to try mountain biking, ride only when it’s dry. If you’re not sure whether a trail is sufficiently dry, then ride only trails in public parks. Lake Crabtree’s and Beaverdam’s singletrack are monitored, opened and closed by park officials. These trails won’t be open unless it’s OK to ride them.
One important way that mountain biking helps protect natural resources is that it gets people to care about places they might not otherwise care about. If you ride the trail network at New Light or Little River, you get invested in the land. You don’t want it to change. You’ll stand up if the land is ever threatened with development.
All this said, you’re still right. Whether we’re mountain biking, hiking, riding horseback, fishing, geo-caching or whatever, we need to respect the land we’re using. Ideally, everyone who uses trails also volunteers some time repairing the trails from erosion and building features to prevent it.
Another simple way to help protect a natural area you love is to carpool to the trailhead.
Finally, Kim Clark asks, “as a novice I have enjoyed the [American] Tobacco Trail very much. But how do you decide which roads are more bike-friendly than others if you are looking to venture out where there are no bike paths? I know distance isn’t the only criteria in deciding if a route is ‘bikeable.’ ”
Kim, these are a few things I do to find good biking routes.
I pick a route that will more or less make a loop back to where I start; that way I don’t have to backtrack. This just makes the ride more interesting. I do this either in my head (if I know the streets well enough) or with a map.
I look for roads where traffic is light, and I try to avoid roads with little or no shoulder. I want at least two feet of shoulder (room to the right of the outer white line that defines the lane) when I ride.
Unless there is a comfortable shoulder or bike lane, I avoid roads with high speed limits. Without a wide outer shoulder, I don’t ride on a road marked 35 mph or above since most drivers are really traveling closer to 50 mph.
If I want to test a route that I’m not sure of, I ride it on a Sunday morning. That way there’s very little traffic (if any), and I’m free to check things out.
Bicycling in groups or with at least one other person also helps negotiate traffic.
I hope this helps, but I’m afraid you’ve all asked deceptively complex questions. I welcome more questions, tough or easy.
There’s also a local listserv that cyclists may be interested in, and you may want to bring up your questions there as well. It’s at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/durhambikeandped/ It’s a low-traffic site with some very helpful folks.