Secrets of the City

Paging vlado and wayno

The word is “passionate” not “angry”

“How to Use Grammar In Subject Headings”

What I don’t understand is why bikers choose streets like Hennepin, Lyndale and Park, etc. to bike on in the first place. I have done my share of biking in this city and have always found those streets to be the least enjoyable to bike on and actually less efficient in most cases. Move over a block or two to a side street and take up as much of the road as you want for most of your trip. Seriously, Humboldt from lake to franklin is actually a pleasant ride; Pleasant avenue is to for that matter.

I wouldn’t consider most of the side streets I’ve ridden to be more efficient. The ones I’ve taken tend to have stop signs every other block.

With a stop light and bike lane, I can usually adjust my speed so I don’t have to stop at a red light.

I also feel safer with stop lights. Too many drivers roll through stop signs in residential areas without looking for bikes.

Sidestreetbob, what month are we talking about? After a heavy snow, if the side streets have not been plowed, it makes the most sense to ride on snow emergency routes like Hennepin, because the side streets are narrow and icy.

Side streets are way more efficient. The simple fact is that there is a lot less to worry about and bikes are more flexible in where they can go.

IMHO – most cyclists lack basic common sense. Any cyclists who ride on Lake Street at 5pm on a weekday is an idiot. I also put anyone who rides in 6 inches of snow in January in that category also. I get more ticked off at other cyclists than I ever do against cars.

(speaking as someone who normally puts in a 100 miles a week on a bike. now going to sit back and watch this thread explode with the “passion”)

yoshi, we’ll just have to disagree. I wouldn’t consider stopping every other block for a stop sign to be more efficient. It might be true of Lake, since I haven’t seen bike lanes on it.

But Portland/Park, with their bike lanes? No way.

And Hennepin/Lyndale through the Uptown area? With all the street parking and stop signs on the side streets, not a chance.

Hmm, as far as taking Park or Portland, they’re kind of designated as major north south bicycle routes, with clearly marked bicycle lanes. That might be one reason that people take them.

Lyndale and Hennepin do have quieter streets to the side, but they are not all that great for actually riding on. Lots of stops, streets that dead end, or cross streets where the timing of the lights is such that you can end up waiting several minutes for a gap in traffic. If you were on Lyndale or Hennepin for these intersections, you would only have at most one cycle of the light to wait through.

It kind of depends on how you normally ride. I like to cruise somewhere between 18 and 23 mph. Try driving down any of these streets at that speed, you can’t do it with the way the stop signs are set up. Stop / Start / Stop / Start. Annoying in a car, nearly impossible on a bicycle.

In the winter, I’ll be moving slower, but still need to stick to main streets because of the snow and ice.

OP – If you want to piss off local cyclists, then by all means, talking about killing and injuring us is a good way to do it. Even if as soon as you post you suddenly say you were just joking or ranting, we’re still not going to be happy.

I’m fairly sure that this method of pissing people off also works well with any ethnic minority you can think of.

Write a piece about how black people are annoying to white people and wait for the angry comments to pour in.

A cyclist with a certain amount of experience can bike on Lake St. in rush hour or snow just as easy as most drivers. Cars and trucks give you a false sense of safety. If they were actually safe, they wouldn’t kill around 40,000 people every year.

So now bicyclists are the new victims of something that resembles institutional racism?

HTR:

1. No one writes a piece like that. They write one about how black people do things like this and white people do things like that.

2. No one is saying that cars are absolutely safe. Nor is anyone saying that the amount of accidents in cars is less relative to the number of licensed drivers. I will, however, say that I’d rather be in a car than on a bike if the two modes of transportation are the same. Also, the chances of me dying in a non-highway speed accident should be the comparison standard since people on bikes are not on freeways.

put a little scare into a bicyclist on the way home from work today.  those stop signs are for you too, sweetie!

Here’s one of the stupider things I’ve ever read from an anti-biker(from the article):
To be honest, I don’t even know the rules of the road for the bikers, I’m sure they have rights too…but my truck is a big 4×4, and I can only squeeze in so close to the car next to me. I’m not risking hitting another car and causing a big fat accident because you dedided to “bike to work in shitty weather”.

So, she admits not knowing the rules of the road (to inform her: cyclists are allowed to be on the road and you, as a driver, are required to give three feet of clearance) and apparently would rather hit a cyclist than another car. Way to raise the bar of discourse, metblogs.

I’m so over the two-wheels-good, four-wheels-bad debate.

It’s an issue to dwell on when times are good.

Tried and true formula. Can’t miss.

By the way I’m totally with thatgirl on Park and Portland. Great routes for navigating the city.

I don’t understand why cars take streets like Lake or Hennepin.

They are stressful to drive.

Also don’t see why people drive when it is cold out, or snowing, or in the rain, or around 9 am or 5 pm.

Don’t get me wrong, I have drove before, and I do enjoy the occasional Sunday car drive, but why do it during rush our or downtown or after dark or on a busy street?

I’m hoping the above comment is sarcasm.

Actually, it’s pretty much on par with my attitude on driving. I dislike Lake and Hennepin (especially the intersection) and avoid them if I can, hate driving on snowy interstates, have a hard time driving at night, and rush hour nearly gives me a stroke when I have to drive to St. Paul for class. But that’s just me.

I don’t think people drive during bad weather or rush hour because they like it.

Yeah, but I really wonder how people can drive in rush 2 times a day 5 days a week without wanting to shoot themselves in the face. It stresses me out THAT MUCH.

Stupid is as driving cars. Driving a bicycle is like a box of chocolates. . .

“By the way I’m totally with thatgirl on Park and Portland. Great routes for navigating the city.”

Me too. I use those routes almost exclusively to go downtown and back from my house in S Mpls.

A question for all those without cars…
What do you do in the summer to get out of the city? Or don’t you? I can’t imagine staying around the city every weekend in the summer.

The Rat got photographed running a red light on Park Avenue.

Got the ticket the same day those cameras were declared unconstitutional.

Nab the perps and the system puts them right back out on the street….

heh

It’s possible the the Metblog’s author is from out of the state and biking in the winter seems too insane to fathom.

I have friends in warmer climates that wonder how we even go outside at all in the winter.

That said, it was a poorly written piece and I fail to see any socially redeeming value other than giving people a reason to tear into the author and vent some stress.

@yoshi – “IMHO – most cyclists lack basic common sense.”

I’d ammend to, IMHO – most people lack basic common sense.

Bryant is a far better bike route than Lyndale and Hennepin.

MN Deaths, 2007:

Automobile: 510
Bicycle: 4

You can’t do a straight comparison based on number of deaths.

When you’re Anaonymouse, you can do whatever you want.

I like to bike, but have to drive to work, and go through South Minneapolis every day. I sigh a sigh of relief every day I get home without some biker stuck in my grill. When I ride my bike, I’m pretty sure that if I get tangled with an SUV, I lose. So, I’m pretty cautious, use common sense on my route, don’t ride between stopped cars at lights, and observe the signs/lights to begin with. As someone who considers himself a safe + responsible cyclist, I would love to see the police start pulling over people who blow through lights!