“The roads are filled with mile after mile of big heavy trucks that make cyclists feel very unsafe.”
The Billings Gazette reports:
Touring bicyclists wanting to retrace the path of explorers Lewis and Clark or pedal through the northern tier of the U.S. are being warned to steer clear of northwest North Dakota because of heavy oil traffic.
Missoula-based Adventure Cycling Association said it’s remapping the popular bike routes due to “alarming reports” about risky riding conditions through North Dakota’s booming oil patch.
New maps are due in May to reflect the change, the biggest such amendment to U.S. routes in the nonprofit’s 39-year history, cartographer Jennifer Milyko said.
Based on reports from scores of cyclists, Milyko said roads through North Dakota’s oil patch are among the most dangerous of the group’s 40,000-mile route network in the U.S…
“I’ve never seen a cyclist in the middle of a lane.”
I have many times on a road with many blind curves and hills. Sometimes you almost have to “nudge” their rear tire to get them even to acknowledge there is a car behind them. Honking isn’t enough. Even the marginally polite ones ride up to three feet from the edge of the road making it nearly impossible to pass them without crossing the double line. Many of them appear resentful that you actually want to pass them and go the speed limit.
I am willing to share the road but not by going 5 mph behind several cyclists riding side by side too busy taking to notice their environment. I say either ride at the speed limit or pay attention to that 2 tons of steel that is coming up on your rear tire and get out of its way!
The point is that while a cyclist has a right to use the road, the auto driver also has the right to use it. The cyclist does not have the right to hinder the flow of traffic, Ride single file close to the edge of the road and you might stay alive.
The helmets are functional, or we wouldn’t wear them.
I’ve never seen a cyclist in the middle of a lane.
Paying taxes has nothing to do with using the roads.
Your hate is showing.
The cyclists probably suffered severe head trauma before they started wearing those stupid helmets. They tend to ride in the middle of the lane even where blind spots could result in injury. Yet they think they are doing the environment a great service by converting bean power to work. They need to pay taxes to use the highways just like motor vehicles.
bugs on the bumper… bicycles on the bumper… meh
I’d have to really work hard to ratchet my concern high enough to actually give a darn considering these bicycle bozos are constantly causing near wrecks and jam-ups during rush hour in the city. Let the semis thin the herd. works for me.
I had no idea that bicycle touring in northern North Dakota was so big. Then again, something tells me it would be an enormous waste of money to construct bike lanes across the Dakotas for the 3 or 4 cycists per day each section might see.
I also didn’t know that the main reason for building those roads was to promote bicycle safety in northern North Dakota. Sounds pretty luxurious and in need of an economic boom to pay for it.
“Both itineraries through North Dakota are now rerouted up to 100 miles south.”
“Remapping the routes will hurt his business and others such as cafes, stores and campgrounds in cities throughout northern North Dakota, he said.”
So cyclists won’t get hungry 100 miles further
south?
I spect the Billings Gazette, a Lee Enterprizes
fishwrap, just hates the energy development.
This is just another way for them to gripe
about it.
I’m sorry, where’s the news? Bicyclists fear getting hit by semis?
However, I don’t see where this involves junk science either.
Why don’t they just bike on Route 66? Much more scenic
The Keystone Pipeline is designed to transport crude from the Bakken oil fields. Biker should unite to get the tanker trucks off the highways in N DA.
One of the first rules of the road I learned as a child in Southern California in the 50’s was “Always yield the right-of-way to anything that can kill you.”
I am elated that SD is going through an oil patch boom.
I have no sympathy for the complaints of the cyclists who are so emotionally committed to their 19th century technology.