Seriously, I know this guy probably has headphones on, but WTF? When you jog anywhere, especially on a shared trail, you stay to the right. Notice he's all the way left at first, then when I get closer he's now smack in the middle. He left me little space to pass on the left. I was close enough that I could have kicked him...
Having been a week since my last post, I spent some time researching other Baltimore cycling-community-related websites. One that seems to be pretty popular is BaltimoreBrew.com. This website is more for various off-beat communities in Baltimore and cycling falls under that category.
The article that caught my eye is called Safety tips for Baltimore cyclists, after a rash of attacks on bike riders (link).
According to this article, and as mentioned in the comments section, the cool thing that the youth of Baltimore have been doing is throwing rocks at and robbing cyclists. Isn't this such a great sign of our future?
One form of advice from the author, in avoiding attackers, is to take St. Paul street down town. Now, I'm not sure what areas of Baltimore he means. I used to take St. Paul street down to the inner harbor and constantly felt like I was going to get killed. So now I always take Guilford from Mt. Royal and motorists seem to respect my cycling space (usually). I will try St. Paul St. again and see if there are any differences these days. I'll be sure to record these trips in case I notice any crappiness.
I can go on all day talking about what I agree or disagree with article on, but instead here's my advice:
When Traveling north from the Inner Harbor, TAKE CHARLES ST.
There are two main reasons for this:
1. Charles St. has some of the heaviest foot traffic in all of Baltimore. No one is going to attack with so many witnesses and people that (hopefully) would help out.
2. If travelling during rush hour, dead stop traffic = fewer cars passing you at 30 mph. Learn how to read cars. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I find it fairly easy to weave in and out of dead-stop traffic.
Travel with pepper spray that is quick and easy to access
I keep pepper spray attached to the side of my bike via Velcro. If I need to use it, it's less than arms reach away for quick response. I take it off every time I leave my bike outside so no one will steal it or use it on me.
When in doubt, use the sidewalk
Now, I know most of you are thinking "but that's illegal!" and you would be right in thinking that so do this at your own (legal) risk. When taking Charles St. during rush hour in the afternoon, when it's completely down hill from the Brewers Art area until Penn Station, some people become reckless drivers. I know better than to stay all the way left or right, especially since people are now parking their cars on both sides. So, instead of thinking I can cheat death, I just take the side walk and ALWAYS GIVE PEDESTRIANS RIGHT-OF-WAY (of course if there are a lot of people on the sidewalk, either walk your bike or go VERY slow). Yes it might take a little longer to get to where I want to go, but I'd rather hang with the "walkies" to get home, then ride with a sweaty, bald, disgruntled, cubicle-jock on the verge of cracking behind the wheel of a two-ton-bike-breaker (car). My point is that some days I get that "bad feeling" pushing my luck with a bike. So I'd rather "break" the law and be safe than "obey" the law and be a sucker.
Thanks for reading!
The article that caught my eye is called Safety tips for Baltimore cyclists, after a rash of attacks on bike riders (link).
According to this article, and as mentioned in the comments section, the cool thing that the youth of Baltimore have been doing is throwing rocks at and robbing cyclists. Isn't this such a great sign of our future?
One form of advice from the author, in avoiding attackers, is to take St. Paul street down town. Now, I'm not sure what areas of Baltimore he means. I used to take St. Paul street down to the inner harbor and constantly felt like I was going to get killed. So now I always take Guilford from Mt. Royal and motorists seem to respect my cycling space (usually). I will try St. Paul St. again and see if there are any differences these days. I'll be sure to record these trips in case I notice any crappiness.
I can go on all day talking about what I agree or disagree with article on, but instead here's my advice:
When Traveling north from the Inner Harbor, TAKE CHARLES ST.
There are two main reasons for this:
1. Charles St. has some of the heaviest foot traffic in all of Baltimore. No one is going to attack with so many witnesses and people that (hopefully) would help out.
2. If travelling during rush hour, dead stop traffic = fewer cars passing you at 30 mph. Learn how to read cars. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I find it fairly easy to weave in and out of dead-stop traffic.
Travel with pepper spray that is quick and easy to access
I keep pepper spray attached to the side of my bike via Velcro. If I need to use it, it's less than arms reach away for quick response. I take it off every time I leave my bike outside so no one will steal it or use it on me.
When in doubt, use the sidewalk
Now, I know most of you are thinking "but that's illegal!" and you would be right in thinking that so do this at your own (legal) risk. When taking Charles St. during rush hour in the afternoon, when it's completely down hill from the Brewers Art area until Penn Station, some people become reckless drivers. I know better than to stay all the way left or right, especially since people are now parking their cars on both sides. So, instead of thinking I can cheat death, I just take the side walk and ALWAYS GIVE PEDESTRIANS RIGHT-OF-WAY (of course if there are a lot of people on the sidewalk, either walk your bike or go VERY slow). Yes it might take a little longer to get to where I want to go, but I'd rather hang with the "walkies" to get home, then ride with a sweaty, bald, disgruntled, cubicle-jock on the verge of cracking behind the wheel of a two-ton-bike-breaker (car). My point is that some days I get that "bad feeling" pushing my luck with a bike. So I'd rather "break" the law and be safe than "obey" the law and be a sucker.
Thanks for reading!
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