I’ve been commuting to work the last 3 weeks or so, and I’ve discovered I’m not sure what to do on some of our roads, there are plenty or roads that are single lane both directions with speed limits that are 60-70km/h, as well as a main road through both the suburbs I ride in with dual lanes 70km/h and lots of climbs as well as twists and turns. All of these roads have footpaths adjacent, the single lane roads don’t have shoulders, where the road ends there is dirt.
Currently for the main roads I’ve just been riding the footpath, even on a descent I don’t ride anywhere near the speed of traffic and on a climb its 10x worse. For the single lane roads, I’ve been riding to the side of the lane at night when there is very little traffic and just riding on the footpath during the day.
My issue is twofold, firstly I do not feel safe at all with cars passing me going that fast in the dual lane road, even if I take the lane they pass very close. Secondly, it shits people off that I’m going roughly 50km/h slower than they can so I just don’t deal with the hassle. These roads are about 4km of my 10km commute.
What should I do? Personally I’m fine with just riding on the footpath, before I got my fixed gear I rode bmx and we always rode on the footpath so I’m used to it, but I know a lot of cyclists look down on it… Not sure if it’s legal either.
tl;dr commuting to work on high speedlimit roads with limited shoulders/sharp turns/climbs and footpaths adjacent, dunno how to ride to feel safe.
Cheers
Footpath riding is legal in Brisbane iirc. There’s no shame in it, I do it in suburban Sydney when the choices are the same as yours listed above.
But mostly I’ve found better roads and streets. I’ve actually made my commute longer cos I found better roads/bike paths where I’m not gonna get killed.
If you have strava it’s worth getting on there and seeing where people ride, there are quite often much better roads just out of your usual route.
+1 on finding better roads, even if it means making the ride longer. #commutescount
The most direct route from the station to my workplace is on a 3 lane road, 60-80km/h speed limit, so I go the back way which adds another 5k’s to the trip.
^Plus one for this - I’ve found routes through others that even wind up faster (despite being longer) cause of traffic flow/intersection avoidance issues.
I change my route daily depending on the time of day, whether it’s school holidays, how fatigued I am and the direction/strength of the wind as it all affects how much traffic is on the road, the likely mix of driver types together with my ability to match the flow of traffic in the worst spots
Personally I just ride the roads but avoid the busiest ones. I am out Ipswich way though, so traffic is a little less extreme. Some of my weekend ride roads west of Ippy are single lane each direction and 80-100kph limits, but I have never had a drama with riding them as far as traffic goes
Yeah, instead of Logan Rd, then Southbank, Kurilpa, Roma St Parklands, Toxic Path, Toombul SC, then via roads past Nundah and Northgate train stations to get to Virginia.
Direct would be Logan Rd, Kangaroo Pt, Albion, Sandgate Rd.
So the addresses are Kertes rd, Camira, to Tewantin way in forest lake, not the longest ride but I’m back in the saddle after being unfit for a long ass time, its getting easier with each ride but. Some days when I’m lazy I catch the train, so that would be kertes road to springfield station, then richlands station to tewantin way, thats a pretty easy ride, the only iffy part of that is from richlands to tewantin way is either, dual lane main roads, or backstreets with the craziest suburban hills you’ve ever seen.
Thanks geoff, the first one looks the best out of those, johnson road is very dangerous, even for cars, if you check it on google maps roadview you will see why.
Forest lk boulevard is one of the duallane high speed roads, but its got a footpath I’m fine to ride on. And damn, only 100m climb? feels a lot worse than that
And bigadz, perhaps, but it wont be in a fiery hellstorm from russia at least, besides id take a buffoon over someone funded by the same people who fund global terror, shitty personality be damned.
My wife used to work at Grand Avenue SS, we would drive up Waterford Rd. I have ridden up there a few times, and would be happy to again so Id probs go this way - Google Route