I can choose many different routes when bicycling to work, some are better than others and some are just plain turkey turds. I was trying to determine which way was fastest while taking advantage of my mountain bike design.
Maryland is a land of rolling hills, some roll and some just slowly dispirit you with a long incline. The streets of the town of Columbia was laid out by someone who was staggering drunk or had a neurological twitch condition that prevented them from drawing a straight line. It makes a beautiful city and a pleasurable place to meander around aimlessness, (aimlessly is the qualifying word since you can't go in a straight line anywhere). It is hard to find the most direct bicycle route anywhere in town. Many of the roads are four lane highways and dangerous.
Today, I picked a route that cut through the college campus. My thought was to be speedy and direct, but going through the college campus was tricky since they do not have bike paths and the roads are narrow. I felt the angry bumpers of impatient drivers breathing down my neck as I cut across parking lots and turned up the drives that were designed for custodial staff in golf carts but are driven by angry youth made deaf by loud music. I would have run the many stop signs but the traffic was heavier than LA. The school security was everywhere in their golf carts and they have a reputation of such severity that even foreign terrorist will not risk an encounter with them. Just as I was getting in a fast gear and starting to pick up speed I had to slow down to a crawl and climb over a speed bump, these are every few hundred yards and not only threatens to tear out the chassis of any car going over the two point five mile an hour speed limit but prevents the passage of armored vehicles.
The campus exited on a busy street that had no signal. If I was driving a car I would have had to wait until the Mayan calendar to reset to get to the front of the line to cross but on my bicycle, I crept between cars and the curb to get to the front of the pack. I darted out into the thick of street traffic in the vacuum caused by a speeding teenager.
It turned out the campus was shorter but not quicker I could have just circled the buildings on the street faster than the many turns and stops I encountered on its speed bump pocked alleyways.
The traffic was OK after the campus and the frontage road was mostly good. I finally got to use one of the strengths of the mountain bike by jumping a curb and cutting across the lawn at the local shopping center avoiding a longer car filled turn further up the street.
I think I will try different ways to bike to work and after a while settle on what is right for me. A lot of it has to do with safety and bike type. I am using a cheap mountain bike that does not give the option for speed but handles hills, curbs and dirt paths just fine.
Maryland is a land of rolling hills, some roll and some just slowly dispirit you with a long incline. The streets of the town of Columbia was laid out by someone who was staggering drunk or had a neurological twitch condition that prevented them from drawing a straight line. It makes a beautiful city and a pleasurable place to meander around aimlessness, (aimlessly is the qualifying word since you can't go in a straight line anywhere). It is hard to find the most direct bicycle route anywhere in town. Many of the roads are four lane highways and dangerous.
Today, I picked a route that cut through the college campus. My thought was to be speedy and direct, but going through the college campus was tricky since they do not have bike paths and the roads are narrow. I felt the angry bumpers of impatient drivers breathing down my neck as I cut across parking lots and turned up the drives that were designed for custodial staff in golf carts but are driven by angry youth made deaf by loud music. I would have run the many stop signs but the traffic was heavier than LA. The school security was everywhere in their golf carts and they have a reputation of such severity that even foreign terrorist will not risk an encounter with them. Just as I was getting in a fast gear and starting to pick up speed I had to slow down to a crawl and climb over a speed bump, these are every few hundred yards and not only threatens to tear out the chassis of any car going over the two point five mile an hour speed limit but prevents the passage of armored vehicles.
The campus exited on a busy street that had no signal. If I was driving a car I would have had to wait until the Mayan calendar to reset to get to the front of the line to cross but on my bicycle, I crept between cars and the curb to get to the front of the pack. I darted out into the thick of street traffic in the vacuum caused by a speeding teenager.
It turned out the campus was shorter but not quicker I could have just circled the buildings on the street faster than the many turns and stops I encountered on its speed bump pocked alleyways.
The traffic was OK after the campus and the frontage road was mostly good. I finally got to use one of the strengths of the mountain bike by jumping a curb and cutting across the lawn at the local shopping center avoiding a longer car filled turn further up the street.
I think I will try different ways to bike to work and after a while settle on what is right for me. A lot of it has to do with safety and bike type. I am using a cheap mountain bike that does not give the option for speed but handles hills, curbs and dirt paths just fine.
