Carry a shovel?

Get yourself a vintage Norco dirtmaster... you'll have no problems...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1206504598.jpg


:D:D:D:D:D:D

Joel, meet Glenn. Glenn, Joel...SmileWavy

Fall down fake a back injury, get news coverage and invite the mayor.

Hate to say it, but that wouldn't work. Cyclists get neither sympathy nor attention from the public.

I have a friend of mine who is a VERY competitive cyclist. While out training a couple of years ago, an inattentive moron driving a BMW happened to just cut the wheel without thinking and had 6 or 7 of their team slam into the side of her car (they were doing intervals down a long, open road early in the morning - this lady was the only other person there, passed about 20 or 30 of them on the left and then just decided, "gee, I think I'll just turn here" and cut the wheel without warning directly in front of the pace-setters). The team "detained" the lady & called the cops. They showed up and basically said (rudely) that there was no serious injury so not to waste their time, and that the team was on thin ice for detaining the woman at the scene. Lady actually threatened to sue the cycling team for the damage to her car - don't know whether she ever did. A bunch of bikes were damaged, lots of bruises and scrapes, etc. I'm fairly certain it was either Santa Monica or Marina Del Rey (forget which). Several phone calls "up the ladder" with the department/city got nowhere.

That's what you're up against.

Hey dd,

That area is pretty straight that you could ride out into the road a bit and the traffic will go around you. It isn't too bad at all. You see the dirt ahead of you a mile ahead. I logged in miles of road in the park. It was my training ground for more then 15 years. This is crazy, try riding through the tunnel section under the runway on Sepulveda or ride to Santa Monica on San Monica Blvd from LA at 4PM. Fun.

Mtb? That's like saying get a jeep or a 4X instead of driving the 911.

put slicks and a big chainring on a Moots ybbeat. You have a Rothman's rally 911 :p

I would say you are safer to move into the lane and maintain speed and hopefully the drivers see you and give you room. Hard to say with a 55mph limit though, that can be sketchy. I would at least call department of trans and report the road for clean up.

I commute nearly every day, and am lucky that 95% is dedicated bike lane and I live in a very bike friendly part of the country. Boulder CO

The one section that has a terrible shoulder is only 25mph, and I can maintain that, so I use the entire lane. It's rush hour and I'm much safer in the middle of the road with the flow, than on a potholed shoulder getting pinched between cars and the curb.

FergSmileWavy

Yep. Either get on the shoulder if there's a striped one or hog the lane. Guys that try to "be nice" and share the road are the ones that end up getting squeezed off/hit. At least by "hogging the lane" the drivers passing you are well aware of you and can swing wide into the other lane to pass - like they should. At least they tend to be aware you're there. If you just "ride to the right", they try to "squeeze by" you and that's where you're likely to get hit.

I've been clipped twice, FWIW. Once I got a facefull of turf and the other time I got thrown off the bike when the guy's side view mirror hit me and I got pretty banged up. Thankfully there wasn't anyone else following behind or I'd likely have been run over. These were both years ago, but the danger is still there. I either ride on dedicated bike paths, in the striped shoulder or in the middle of the lane now.

In those early years of mtb, I think late 80s, there were a couple of guys that did the park ride on wed with their mtbs. One time we were in a break, with this guy on his mtb. We tried like hell to dropped him on every hill and took short but huge pull up front to try to get rid of this guy. He never took his turn up front but sucked wheel and hung on to dear life. Strong rider. I know what you mean.


Jeff

I highly suggest not hogging the lane. It's not the bicyclist but the inattentive driver that will run you over. If cagers can run over motorcyclist because they didn't see them, what chance does a bicyclist have?

I'm all for exercising and getting into shape. Being laid up in ICU because a car ran up your a55 is not obtaining this goal. Here in the SF bay area, cars have declared war against cyclists.

Best thing to do is to find another route since it seems nothing is going to be done w/ this road.

Safety first!

dd, I have issues like that all the time here in jersey. Actually my biggest issue is the all the dead meat we have here. Deer, raccoons. oppossum, mafioso all OVER the shoulders. No one gives a *****, we just have to deal with it. It's just sooo much fun to come over a rise at 14/16 mph and see a carcass across the hard shoulder. No support from the police, the town or the citzenry. I finally found a class of citizen that is even lower on the human scale than motorcyclists!

That's a fairly popular bike route, so you're probably not the only person to encounter that hazard.

I'd suggest calling Tom LaBonge, city councilman in the area. He hangs out in Griffith Park all the time (as a hiker, that is) and might be a responsive ear for road hazards in his district.

Sherwood

Excellent! Thanks, Sherwood. I knew there was a simple answer of to whom I should complain. I just couldn't think of it.

your puny legs won't allow you to manage this move?

California Highway Dept, if it is not a main road/highway, call whatever city/county it is in and talk to them. They are responsible for maintaining it..

Contact the city council or county board of supervisors, they won't do anything, but that is who you complain to...

I have a road bike and a mountain bike. No way do I want to go for a long distance on pavement with the mountain bike, no matter what tires I put on it.

As a general rule, I have more fun on the mountain bike. But that's because if I'm on the road bike, I'm headed to work, and if I'm on the mountain bike, I'm just goofing off in the woods.

Yep to that.

Although in grad school I rode (and still have) my early peugeot mountain frame bike that was converted to a commuter bike/hybrid with slicks (albeit wide ones, not skinny road tires), higher (road) type gearing and an aero bar. Also I put rock shocks on the front just to make the riding more enjoyable on Chicago's terrible streets (potholes, cracks, poorly-filled patches everywhere, etc.) Worked fine. That bike was the ideal commuter bike - it was a friggin' tank. Probably weighs 40 pounds but never broke even with me whealing the crap out of it every day for two years. Got me in damn good shape too. One of my "rainy day" projects is to rebuild it and freshen it up with new paint & a few new components.

For training and actual "cycling" I'd say yea - get a true road bike (although they're delicate). For commuting, build one. Don't try to use an off-the-shelf mountain bike for anything other than short-distance cruising or ripping up some single track.

Rode this stretch Wednesday. The dirt's been cleaned up. I give it about a week before more appears. :rolleyes:

Your right about that. When I started riding a few months ago I learned that lesson real quick. People will crowd you even when there isn't a car in the lane next to them or coming toward them. When I take the lane, they don't even attempt it and will go wide around me when it's safe to go around.

Double post