Was almost taken out by a side mirror on the Booty Loop this morning, and that's it for me.  I'm done.

On May 1st I was struck by a car in a right hook accident on a commute home from work.  Contusion/sprain on my shoulder, mainly AC joint and rotator cuff.  Did physical therapy for a month with OrthoCarolina and have been continuing exercises at home to help rehab my shoulder.   I've been back on the bike for a few weeks now, and mentally I just can't get over it.  I've tried my old routes into Waxhaw, tried riding the Booty Loop, and I just can't get over it.  The first few rides were full of intense anxiety and stressed me out an unbelievable amount, but I tried to push through it and hoped it'd get better.

I can't have fun with it anymore.  Each of my last few rides had one incident of someone buzzing by me super close, or someone cutting me off to take a turn, and I tried to shake it off like I normally would.  Then today I got buzzed so unbelievably close by a car trying to squeeze between me and a curb on Selwyn (the right lane was taken up by parked cars for the church there on the intersection with Providence), that I swear if I hadn't lifted my left arm when turning to look at the revving engine my elbow would've been taken out by the side mirror.

It's not worth it for me anymore.  I've been road biking for over four years now and logged nearly 10,000 miles.  But I don't want to become a statistic or a returning client for NC Bike Law (who have been great handling my current case, by the way!).  I'm going to stick with mountain biking, spending more and more time in the woods as the trails dry out, and start racing BMX at Hornet's Nest, and probably pick up running again after a few years off just to keep my legs occupied.  I've never stopped riding bikes and I never will, but I'm hanging up the carbon and the skinny tires and taking a much needed break.

Quote:


I agree there is a cultural problem..

But the sense of entitlement over minor issues?

Hey, I'm sure you have a hard time dealing with problems everyday. But when I purchase something I want it to work right the first time, and the way it was described by the sales person when I laid my hard earned money down (right the first time). If not it needs to be addressed the right way, which is as if it had worked right the first time. Not like some 3 year old put it together, or formulated company policy on how to talk the talk, but not walk the walk.

I mean it's sort of like paying taxes and not getting a bike lane. Is it that much to ask to live in a country or a community with a little less NASCAR/NBA/NFL worship and a little more brain power? Yeah I know, it's a money thing. And crumpled bikers are just another cost of doing business.

People who are struggling in this world is an unrelated issue, sorta. One that, as a consumer, is not my personal responsibility to correct.

"Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me."

Point it, it's the deeds that count. And once Johnny azhole gets within the anonymity of his or her vehicle it's drop the facade, damn the torpedoes, etc.. full speed ahead. You frequently see about the same behavior from some bikers on mixed use trails.

As for the road bike thing, can't blame the OP. Road riding around these parts is in some ways a death defying act. 

I lived in Waxhaw for the first few months after I moved down here last year.  The guys riding with Bike Depot were great and, aside from getting used to the hills here, I still had a lot of fun doing it.  Since moving closer to the city last August my experience has been less than stellar. 

I really thought I'd be able to recover after the accident, but it's just not worth it for me anymore. The stress levels far surpass the fun levels on every ride since the accident, and I'm just going to stick to the mountain bike instead since that is fun 100% of the time and I don't have to worry about some impatient A$$$$$e behind a steering wheel.

I live pretty far out.  Sucks everytime we want to go somewhere.  Really sucks to have to drive so far to ride mountain bikes.  Works in my favor for the road bike (which I only seam to ride when the trails are wet).

I generally ride out in Concord or Union county and rarely feel nervous.  I live in Ballantyne so I travel down Audrey Kell a lot and generally feel safe.

Sunday mornings, when Myers Park Methodist takes up one lane, are the absolute worst time of the week to ride the booty loop.  

There are plenty of good group rides on the weekends.

I love riding my road bike but sadly I agree that riding arou s here is not safe. It won't be even moderately so until they start building bike lanes. Share the Road will never really work because the roads are built for cars with no consideration for alternate forms of commuting. I'm sure it's a tough sell to foot the additional expense for bike lanes but I think that bike lanes and greenways really do have a positive impact on a community.  And they make the whole town look a lot nicer too IMO.

No cars in the woods.

Usually.

armor up and get at it!  BRRRRAAAAAAAAAP

If riding in Union County (closest to Mek berg) on a weekend it's all good until about 7:45 AM then game on.  I won't consider a ride here on a weekday at any time of the day.

Props to anyone that gets back on their rig after a crash / near miss.

Its Teh Patrick wrote on 07/22/13 at 7:57pm:



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I spent a few hundred miles commuting to work from September up until my accident on May 1st, and at least in the Charlotte area I feel bike lanes do nothing more than keep people from feeling they need to move over.  They will still pass you crazy close, hugging the line between the bike and car lanes.  I don't know how many times I was passed far less than 3 feet when I was in a bike lane, or how many times I thought I was going to get right hooked but had slightly more time to slow down to avoid it.

Awareness and better driver training is all that will help. Most motorists think bikes belong on the sidewalk, most people who ride bikes either don't know they have to follow the same laws as cars or don't care because there's no enforcement.  It's a bad situation all around.

I don't feel like bike lanes serve the 60% that are "interested but intimidated" riders that might otherwise commute by bike. I feel like the strong riders don't need a bike lane, and it doesn't provide enough separation to make less experienced riders comfortable.  And you have the door swing concern.  Segregated bikeways would serve more people, but could be expensive and hard to implement.

Bike lanes would be costly, but so are the senseless concrete medians (some are nicely landscaped though) on EVERY street in this city, that impede cars from accessing businesses in a fluid manner.. This city has some interesting priorities.

Solar wrote on 07/25/13 at 1:20pm:


This.

[quote author=5B4C6A73687A6D1F0 link=1374440200/27#27 date=1374758458]Second question- do you intentionally wear bright clothes?[/quote]

I don't ride on the road, though I would like to if it were not for all the things mentioned on this thread. But even as a fellow biker who's very understanding of road bikers (when approaching them on country roads where I live, I move totally into the other lane when passing just to give them confidence that I'm aware of them and being careful), I'm contantly amazed at the dull jerseys that they sometimes wear. Riding on the road and wearing a GRAY jersey? Really? How about helping us out? Understand that drivers can be somewhat distracted and come up quickly on a biker that they don't expect to see. If I did ride on the road, I'd only wear florescent orange or high vis green jerseys. When I'm deer hunting, I'd wear hunter orange even if it were not required. If I'm dead or wounded, it doesn't matter who's fault it was. Make it hard for somebody to miss seeing you. It's your life you're saving.

Again, I'm on the biker's side in this. And I'm confident that many of the road casualties are angry drivers trying to intimidate the biker and then miscalculate and hit them. I think the drivers should be prosecuted for manslaughter (recklessness that lead to unnecessary death) in some cases. But help yourself to stay alive as much as possible.

stateprez wrote on 07/25/13 at 3:05pm:


I do this as well. I ride about 2-3 feet off the white line, about where the tire track of a vehicle would be. For one, i feel like this gives drivers a better chance of seeing me, and for two, generally the further towards the shoulder you get the rougher and more damaged the pavement is which eats up your tires. I watch/listen for cars coming from behind, and when there is traffic i wait until they are close enough for me to make eye contact with them before i move over towards the white line to let them know ive seen them. When i have to go through town(i do NOT live in charlotte just to clarify), i use the same tactic because i have noticed that if you stick on the white line or close to it people feel like they dont need to give you the same amount of space and will buzz by very closely.

Make a road trip up here to Avery or Watagua County. Lots of good road rides very little traffic.  Did see a bear crossing the road on my ride tonight.

I used to love road biking when I lived in Detroit. Most of the side streets and back roads all ended up somewhere where you wanted to go. The closest trail to me was 26 miles away. So I only rode the dirt on weekends. I moved out to Statesville and thought all the boonie and country roads would be safer. I got wracked by a side view mirror, and the old fart didn't even know he hit me and kept on driving. Over the next couple of years of near misses and stuff. I decided it was not safe to ride alone. So after a couple of group rides, I thought driving to the start of a ride defeated the purpose of the connivance of out the door riding and decided to do only trails. So I sold my road bike. Every once and a while,I see people riding and wish I still had a road bike. But riding my mountain bike on the road , I still feel unsafe

battles2a5 wrote on 07/30/13 at 3:49pm:


totally agree

You need to come out this way for your longer road rides. There is a lot of good roads and traffic is minimal. I'll be riding my roadie tomorrow if this weather breaks.

Been a rough summer for MTB rides.