[Yak] Re: Taking the lane with or without reflective sidewalls.

[Frank Krygowski]

Lee Lloyd <lee at lmlloyd.com> wrote
> 
> Once again, I fear I have to question your definition of
> what you consider
> "urban" cycling, since even if I wanted to, riding "in the
> gutter" would be
> a physical impossibility due to all the parked cars along
> the side of every
> road. I don't know what image you have in your mind of what
> constitutes "in
> the gutter" or for that matter what in your mind
> constitutes a 'big city,'
> but in all the places I have ridden ( LA, SF, Tokyo,
> London) you don't have
> any choice but to be a certain distance out into the road
> no matter what you
> do, because after the width of the parked cars, and the
> berth you have to
> give the 'door zone' you are already a good eight or nine
> feet out in the
> street even if you are hugging as close as you dare.

Lee, I've ridden in LA, San Francisco, Portland, DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Toronto, and too many other North American cities to list.  Plus Dublin, Vienna, Krakow, Zurich, and many more in Europe.  

You prefer to believe that your riding cannot be improved, and that it's normal to have a couple near misses per month, plus an occasional car crash.  But there are many of us who do ride big cities without frequent close calls, and without getting hit by cars.  To me, that's a clear indication that improvements are possible.  

So far, you've chosen not to respond to my request:  "You could describe what part of the lane you usually ride in.  If you normally ride at least as far out as most cars' right tire track, we can look for other reasons for your unusually frequent near misses."  Obviously, you want no real discussion and no advice, so I'll drop the matter.  

But for others:  If you have frequent near-misses, consider that there _may_ be a better way to ride!

- Frank Krygowski