Comments on: Turn Right to Go Left

By: PedalmanTO

PedalmanTO — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:50:00 +0000

I’m always looking ahead and checking for stop signs and red lights. Red lights, I’ll slow down to a crawl and hope it changes to green. A stop sign- I stop. In my city(Toronto) there is always traffic and cyclists are gaining more respect every year. They will only be able to continue this if they follow the rules of the road.
I see lots of new people jumping on the bike as an alternate mode of transportation each week. If they see me ahead of them not coming to a complete stop at a red light(one foot down) before making a right turn, the chances are they won’t either.
I don’t like losing my momentum but I think I would really dislike getting hurt or know that someone else got hurt because they were ‘just doing what I did’

By: Jonathan Davis

Jonathan Davis — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:39:00 +0000

I really dislike stopping as well! When riding solo and on the congested roads of Oxford, UK I always try to obey the traffic lights (I detest red-light jumpers) and other rules of the road.

However when approaching a light that has turned amber, before going red, I begin to coast towards the light and merge into the traffic, as the cars are slowing down also. Best bit about UK traffic signals is that you get an amber light before green, so it’s a nice way to get primed for a sprint.

Sometimes when I’m in the front the cars will slow down with me, and we’re off to a rolling start when the light goes green again! The only thing it messes up is my average mph reading

One rule I’m not sure about is going the “wrong way” up a one-way, as a cyclist is this allowed? It may depend on the traffic laws of the city, but I thought it was commonly accepted.

By: Jonathan Davis

Jonathan Davis — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:39:00 +0000

I really dislike stopping as well! When riding solo and on the congested roads of Oxford, UK I always try to obey the traffic lights (I detest red-light jumpers) and other rules of the road.

Sometimes when I’m in the front the cars will slow down with me, and we’re off to a rolling start when the light goes green again! The only thing it messes up is my average mph reading

One rule I’m not sure about is going the “wrong way” up a one-way, as a cyclist is this allowed? It may depend on the traffic laws of the city, but I thought it was commonly accepted.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:52:00 +0000

Awesome….nice to know that I was inside your head today while on your commute. I’m going to give your technique a go.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:19:00 +0000

I don’t like to stop but I will if I get caught by a light. Usually though I’ll see the light change up ahead of me and just slow down to time the light changing green or work on my track stand if it doesn’t change right away. For stop signs I’ll slow, do the briefest of track stands, and then mash on the pedals to get started again.

By: Clive Chapman

Clive Chapman — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:38:00 +0000

I thought you were on about “countersteering” a skill I learned when I was doing my motorbike training. When you are riding along you push on your right handlebar and you go right, weird, try it on you push bike. I was thinking about this on my commute in this morning and did it for the first time while cycling, it works! Don’t ask me how, but it does.

You see! Even on a dark rainy Birmingham England commute I’m thinking about one of your posts Darryl, how sad am I?! LOL!

By: Eric Hutchins

Eric Hutchins — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:05:00 +0000

First I have to say that I love the “no H word rule” we need to starting using that with our kids. but thats a whole nother story.

I totally agree with the concept of your post. I REALLY DISLIKE stopping for traffic lights, but, I want obey the road rules as much as I dont want to get squished. I do as much as I can to get away from town and way from traffic, but, time does not always permit that. So I think this is an effective solution.

By: Heather Nielson

Heather Nielson — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:22:00 +0000

I’m right there with ya Darryl! I absolutely HATE (I don’t minding using the word stopping at stop signs and stop lights – a few maybe at the beginning &/or end of my ride are okay, but I want to RIDE. Another thing I do is practice track-standing at the stop-light – multi-training/tasking I guess. Thanks for the post!

By: Chrisgomez Photo

Chrisgomez Photo — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:16:00 +0000

Depends on what I’m doing. If I’m going for distance then I’ll choose a route that doesn’t have many lights. If I’m downtown then I just account for having to stop at lights and plan on making up for it in the hills doing repeats, so the front end of my ride will consist of pure torture to the quads on hills followed by an easy recovery/speed work through Shoal Creek. Once I get to campus I’m extremely cognisant about lights b/c of campus police. Again I account for it prior & will just do like the other person said and do a sprint to get the speed back up. If the shoulder is wide enough & there’s no other riders behind me then I’ll do figure 8′s or just track stand it until the light changes.

By: Antoine RJ Wright

Antoine RJ Wright — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:19:00 +0000

It depends on the road and conditions. But usually, nah, I’m god for stopping, getting into the left side of the lane, or turning lane, and waiting my turn with the cars to turn. It breaks the riding flow yea, but keeps me in the flow of traffic.

Now, when there is no traffic, and I’m riding somewhere unfamiliar, this would be something I’d do.