This is what I think happened: someone on a bicycle really pissed off the town's Parks and Recreation department, so he/she put this sign where it would force bicycles into the "fast lane" of traffic.
I will miss my friend Mark to be sure, but I also agree with your characterization about who "owns" the road. The same is true here. The only place I will ride, and I mean ONLY place, is a designated trail where no motorized vehicles of any kind (other than service vehicles) are allowed. There's plenty of such places near where I live in greater Chicago. Mostly I feel very badly for Mark's widow, and his two kids, a daughter who is a freshman in college, and a son who is about 11 or so.
Um, Cambridge MA has *combined* bicycle/vehicle lanes. Yes: both a car and a bicycle are meant to share the lane... which basically means that the lane belongs to the bicycle.
I am sorry to hear about Brad's friend Mark, and hope Brad will forgive my poor attempt at sarcastic humor.
Brad's response is the correct one: for safety sake, and because drivers are too obsessed with their phones / coffee / gps / passengers to actually pay attention to the road, bicyclists should be very wary of any kind of motorized traffic. I understand this: as a motorcyclist, even *I* worry whether a car will cut me off...
No worries on the sarcasm. There is a lot of truth in your words. I just make CERTAIN my teen daughter knows that when I ride, I do so in a safe manner. Mark knew the risks and continued to "play with matches in the powder magazine."
Just as a matter of context, let me describe Lincoln Ma to you.
It's a small leafy suburb of Boston with a easy commute to Cambridge. The roads are windy and narrow because they haven't changed since they were carriage roads in the 1700's because Town ordnance's forbid moving the rock walls or cutting down the trees that border the roads. Most roads in town don't have the room for a painted center line much less a dedicated bicycle path.
$900 K will buy you "FIXER-UPPER" in the only housing development in town. ( which was built in the 50's by a group of MIT Professor's who decided they should practice what they taught in their Urban Planning courses.) Plan on spending another 1/2 million to make it livable. Everything else in town is more $ ( mostly a lot more ).
The median yearly Property Tax bill would pay for a new car.
The only stop light in town is over in the far corner at the turn off to the Private Jet hangers and the Technology park ( mostly filled with MIT spin-offs and startups)
The very low density and lack of traffic make Lincoln a magnet for every Spandex Bicyclist from Urban Boston as they apparently practice for their upcoming trip to the "Tour De France". Exactly how it is they seem to be able to do this on a weekday afternoon remains a mystery.
But, as Brad notes, they do so at their own risk. Just the other day I came around the corner to find a young woman standing at the edge of the road fixing a flat tire her bicycle. The problem was she was dressed in dark clothes, standing in deep shadow of a tree with her back to traffic ( it was a hot sunny day ). I only just saw her as I went by. It might be easy bicycle riding territory but it's defiantly not a safe one.
Just to amplify Ted's comment, Lincoln is tiny village of a few thousand people, but os so upscale and well-heeled that it has (for example) a house designed by the Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius. I used to live in the next town over (Sudbury) which was "poor" by comparison, LOL
And yes, I avoided going through Lincoln because the roads are dangerous in a car, let alone on a bike.
How curious.
ReplyDeleteIs it significant that they parked the sign where it blocked the bike lane?
Or am I just chewing the obvious?
This is what I think happened: someone on a bicycle really pissed off the town's Parks and Recreation department, so he/she put this sign where it would force bicycles into the "fast lane" of traffic.
ReplyDeleteThink of it as real-life "Frogger".
Yesterday I had a cycle enthusiast friend killed in Lincoln MA by an SUV driver. The road didn't have a proper bicycle lane.
ReplyDeleteIf you listen to the bicycle enthusiasts , The roads in Lincoln , Concord and Carlisle ARE the bicycle lanes ---- it's the cars that are the problem.
ReplyDeleteI've been saying for years that it was only a matter of when a bicyclist would lose to a car here in town. ...... Not if
@Ted,
ReplyDeleteI will miss my friend Mark to be sure, but I also agree with your characterization about who "owns" the road. The same is true here. The only place I will ride, and I mean ONLY place, is a designated trail where no motorized vehicles of any kind (other than service vehicles) are allowed. There's plenty of such places near where I live in greater Chicago. Mostly I feel very badly for Mark's widow, and his two kids, a daughter who is a freshman in college, and a son who is about 11 or so.
- Brad
Um, Cambridge MA has *combined* bicycle/vehicle lanes. Yes: both a car and a bicycle are meant to share the lane... which basically means that the lane belongs to the bicycle.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about Brad's friend Mark, and hope Brad will forgive my poor attempt at sarcastic humor.
Brad's response is the correct one: for safety sake, and because drivers are too obsessed with their phones / coffee / gps / passengers to actually pay attention to the road, bicyclists should be very wary of any kind of motorized traffic. I understand this: as a motorcyclist, even *I* worry whether a car will cut me off...
Burt,
ReplyDeleteNo worries on the sarcasm. There is a lot of truth in your words. I just make CERTAIN my teen daughter knows that when I ride, I do so in a safe manner. Mark knew the risks and continued to "play with matches in the powder magazine."
ReplyDeleteJust as a matter of context, let me describe Lincoln Ma to you.
It's a small leafy suburb of Boston with a easy commute to Cambridge. The roads are windy and narrow because they haven't changed since they were carriage roads in the 1700's because Town ordnance's forbid moving the rock walls or cutting down the trees that border the roads. Most roads in town don't have the room for a painted center line much less a dedicated bicycle path.
$900 K will buy you "FIXER-UPPER" in the only housing development in town. ( which was built in the 50's by a group of MIT Professor's who decided they should practice what they taught in their Urban Planning courses.) Plan on spending another 1/2 million to make it livable. Everything else in town is more $ ( mostly a lot more ).
The median yearly Property Tax bill would pay for a new car.
The only stop light in town is over in the far corner at the turn off to the Private Jet hangers and the Technology park ( mostly filled with MIT spin-offs and startups)
The very low density and lack of traffic make Lincoln a magnet for every Spandex Bicyclist from Urban Boston as they apparently practice for their upcoming trip to the "Tour De France". Exactly how it is they seem to be able to do this on a weekday afternoon remains a mystery.
But, as Brad notes, they do so at their own risk. Just the other day I came around the corner to find a young woman standing at the edge of the road fixing a flat tire her bicycle. The problem was she was dressed in dark clothes, standing in deep shadow of a tree with her back to traffic ( it was a hot sunny day ). I only just saw her as I went by. It might be easy bicycle riding territory but it's defiantly not a safe one.
Just to amplify Ted's comment, Lincoln is tiny village of a few thousand people, but os so upscale and well-heeled that it has (for example) a house designed by the Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius. I used to live in the next town over (Sudbury) which was "poor" by comparison, LOL
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I avoided going through Lincoln because the roads are dangerous in a car, let alone on a bike.