Wetbike weather

Almost seven inches of rain so far this week. Nice thing about a bicycle is that its a little tougher to flood the engine. I hope...

The street outside our house at eight this morning.

Further Comments on New Mexico State Rt. 4

  And, a Few Comments afterwards on Those Nice Roads We Normally Ride On.

 

Looking downhill, westbound, towards Las Conchas

I rode back up NM4 to Las Conchas today on the pedalbike rather than the gas burner. The two shoulders, i.e., headed towards La Cueva vs. heading towards the Valles, are quite different in texture. It looks like the state put the worst pavement dropoffs on the La Cueva bound lane (South? West?).

Between Valles Caldera and Las Conchas, this means you are riding downhill with a steep dropoff on the shoulder. So if someone driving the speed limit of 55 mph is trying to pass me, I'm pretty much going to hold my line and let them figure it out.  I can't see wanting to bunny hop the bicycle off a 2-3 inch ledge at over 20 mph--and then back onto the road again to assist an overtaking vehicle. Nor should I have to put myself at risk by doing so.

Closeup of westbound lane pavement lip. 
Blackberry case for scale

Headed back towards the Valles, the shoulder really isn't much worse than it was before, which is being charitable. So it is still possible for me let traffic overtake if it is backing up by moving right when it is safe for me to do so on one of the wider bits of shoulder. Fortunately, traffic is rarely heavy except on holiday weekends.

Heading Back East Towards the Valles Caldera
This is probably the best bit of shoulder on that stretch

The State of NM has a lot of reasons for its paving practice, many having to do with the lack of money. This practice trades money for personal safety. Perhaps there is money in other pots that can be raided to fix the badly paved shoulders all over New Mexico. That is a political decision. Fortunately in the case of NM4, it is a narrow mountain road; people expect primitive conditions. Indeed, most people behave prudently. Its the rare bad situation that leaves you with only a white knuckle response.

The dinosaur rock just east of Las Conchas.
 Good place to take shelter from hailstorms, 
as I once discovered

Right Hooks on Diamond Drive...Is that a right turn signal blinking on your car, or are you just happy to see me?

Ironically, its sometimes the superficially "nicer" roads that will get you. Heading home on Diamond Drive in that wide bike lane and passing the Orange/Sandia intersection, someone in a dark SUV dashed ahead of me a little and made a right turn. This happened quite suddenly (perhaps because I was tired from the ride into the mountains?) So I had to make a quick judgement call. I took a quick look over my left shoulder* to check traffic and then did a quick jog (more like a lateral sprint) out of the bike lane and into a gap in traffic in the travel lane to pass on his/her left as he/she slowed down to make the turn (I could have done a quick stop* or instant turn*, too, but did not have to). If I had been totally oblivious, it would have been the classic right hook crash (see video below). Vigilance never hurts, and sometimes, nicely "improved" roads breed complacency.

* The over the shoulder scan, quick stop, and instant turn are taught in League Traffic Skills courses.



In the situation shown in the video, I'd not recommend hammering in a bike lane when there are side streets and curb cuts immediately ahead. Combining bike lanes and side streets is a bad design to begin with, so one has to assume a finite number of right of way foul-ups will occur and you need to avoid them. The design shown is the worst, which has a solid line to the intersection, thus encouraging cyclists to keep right and motorists to turn right from a cyclist's left. I had a roadway situation much like this on my daily commute to the University of Hawaii, riding along Kalanianaole Highway in East Oahu. While I used the long stretches between side roads as a place to get in some training, I always approached intersections with some caution rather than flat out.

In this case, perhaps the cyclist might have wanted to merge left behind the car when he saw the right turn indicator blinking rather than being trapped; it looks to me like there was time to do so.  Perhaps he was indecisive, sitting up and hollering while braking, and he lost precious time. Or he just didn't know how to set up and countersteer sharply. It looks like he slid the rear wheel just before impact, suggesting he was still on the brakes rather than using his traction and bike handling skills entirely to maneuver sharply. He also might have slid on the white pavement markings.

  Sorry to be an armchair quarterback when someone in the video has just eaten at the Pavement Cafe, but....

 Coffin corner indeed. Excellent way to test the strength of one's collarbone. Situational awareness and training. Repeat five times....then go practice.

Pavement edge dropoffs on NM-4 West of Valles Caldera Are Worse Than Ever

Stay Away From the Edge

Took a motorcycle ride up NM4 today just for the heck of it. I was headed to Las Conchas. Just past the turnoff to the Valles Caldera staging area, there starts new pavement at least as far as Las Conchas. The edges have an abrupt 2-3 inch drop in the "La Cueva" direction (South? West?). So now the pavement edge dropoff is worse than ever. Plus, the shoulder, what there was of it, looks pretty trashed.  So you will have to ride your bicycle well into the lane. If you are on a moto, please, please don't overcook a curve and drift to the edge. It could be fatal.

I don't know if the State of New Mexico is planning on remediation of this or if we are supposed to live with this. My suspicion is this is what we get, because it conforms to NMDOT practice elsewhere in the state. Partial paving might save a few bucks, but at risk to your life due to the possible loss of control if you hit the edge lip wrong.

I'll email the district engineer, BCNM, LAB, and our state legislator. You should too.

Homebound LANL bicyclists crossing Jemez on Diamond Drive: Don't Get T-boned

Last night I saw two northbound cyclists pull into the leftmost of the two right turn lanes on Diamond Drive where it crosses Jemez Road. When the right turn green arrows lit up but the two left turn arrows were red, they crossed straight ahead across Jemez Road to work their way to the bridge sidepath.

Cyclists travelling northbound on Diamond Drive  and crossing Jemez Road must note that when the right turn arrows on Diamond at Jemez Road are green but the left turn arrows are red, westbound Jemez Road traffic has a green light. Therefore, the two cyclists could have been t-boned at high speed by westbound traffic if they were oblivious to that traffic pattern. They were, simply put, running a red light.

Westbound Jemez Road traffic only (to my knowledge) has a red light when left turn Diamond Drive traffic has a red arrow AND when a pedestrian in one of the N-S crosswalks has activated a protected pedestrian crossing WALK cycle stopping westbound traffic. Or, of course, when left turning Diamond traffic has a green arrow.

Since there is no northbound Diamond Drive lane crossing the bridge any more, there is not a straight through green light.  Two ways to legally and safely cross Jemez Road straight north from Diamond Drive to the Omega Bridge sidepath as a cyclist, at least that I can think of, are these:

1. Legally mount the sidewalk and activate the pedestrian crossing cycle. Cross as a pedestrian, either by dismounting and walking the bike or by riding slowly and carefully in the crosswalk. Both are legal. Do not ride fast in a crosswalk--you may endanger pedestrians and may be hit by a "right on red" motorist not looking far enough into the crosswalk to note your presence.

2. Get into the rightmost left turn lane and cross with the left turn green arrow as left turning traffic. Immediately upon crossing the intersection, signal and peel off onto the shoulder and get onto the sidewalk at the ped crossing ADA curbcut or beyond.

I'm hoping the cyclists in question did not assume they were safe because their lane arrow was activated green. That is a complex intersection and one must pay attention to all the different traffic duty cycles to stay out of trouble. Going straight on a right-only arrow is not too safe, not to mention not too legal.

Reflections on Equitable Transportation: A discussion of class, race, stereotypes, values, and bicycling

Excellent essay over on the League of American Bicyclists web site by Adonia E. Lugo, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at UC Irvine and a member of the LAB Equity Advisory Council. I highly recommend it and without further ado, recommend you go here.

"...Usually when people talk about bikes, they focus on bike lanes, cycle tracks, and other kinds of infrastructure projects. What about the culture that underpins our uses of shared roads?..."

Short fuse item: Old Solutions from a Passing Generation: USDOT's Proposed Strategic Plan Falls Short

I won't reinvent the wheel here, and simply suggest that folks go read League of American Bicyclists Exec. Director Andy Clarke's strong crititique of the latest USDOT proposed strategic plan, and send your comments to the email or interactive site embedded in the LAB link I've provided above.

Sounds like more of the same from the USDOT: Car is King, Long Live the King, no thinking outside the box, etc. Short fuse on this one. Comments due by 10 September. Fire a broadside or two for sustainability and safety.