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The hair dryer weather that is known as Chinook certainly has done a great job of clearing my route. How’s your ride?
After a couple months of verify pleasant riding I had a strange encounter this morning. A Pedestrian was standing in the middle of the pathway and wouldn’t let let me ride past. I was riding on the MUP Just west of the Repsol Centre. He waved his arm and told me I wasn’t allowed to be there! He claimed that I “shouldn’t be on the sidewalk”. I was riding the portion of MUP adjacent to the bridge connecting to 22 Ave SW. It’s a short stretch of MUP installed behind the condominiums. He was around 30 with a young aggressive pit bull in tow. I tried to explain the difference between Sidewalks and Multi-use pathways but he would have none of it. When I did go by his pit bull was aggressive and had to be restrained.
This character is going to be a hazard if he’s going to try and police the MUPs with his muscular companion.
Hair dryer or worse! I got hit by a gusty downdraft off the Sun Life building yesterday that was so strong it almost blew me into a parked car…..
But I agree, the paths are in great shape – I’ve been riding my summer bike since the middle of December.
I had the opposite experience of 2wheeler. A couple of months ago a lady on a bike with a kid in the back seat insisted she could ride on the sidewalk in front of the Dominion building 901 12 Ave SW even though she was immediately adjacent to the bike lane along 12th Ave. She said she paid her taxes and could ride anywhere, despite the objections of pedestrians who informed her otherwise.
Thanks @2wheeler and @mm721 for sharing your stories of cycling infrastructure misunderstandings. Bike Calgary has some connections in the City and these sorts of anecdotes are helpful to inform the City as to where some public education may be required. We can also try to include this sort of information when we are interviewed by media (several newspapers and radio or TV stations contact us for interviews when there is relevant cycling topics arising). Please do continue to raise these matters in our forums!
And I have also been enjoying the warm dry commuting weather. The XC skiing hasn’t been so good this year, but I’ve been happy with the cycling!
I don’t think it helps when the City actively encourages cyclists into pedestrian space as a common solution to facilitate cycling. This includes “retrofitting” bike infrastructure into established areas by painting yellow lines on pedestrian sidewalks (there’s a great example up along Country Hills Boulevard I keep meaning to grab a pic of) as well as as purpose building new infrastructure to encourage sidewalk riding (i.e. the planned new bridge into Inglewood was shown with cyclists riding on the sidewalk, 17th Ave SE International Avenue has cycling accommodated on pedestrian sidewalks). I think for many people it really muddies the waters in terms of where cycling is allowed and not allowed, not to mention pedestrian and cyclist safety suffers as much of this infrastructure is not designed for cycling or regulated in a way that promotes operational clarity.
I think the City needs to really up their game in building *real* cycling accommodations or Complete Transportation networks that work well for all travel modes. Unfortunately, it seems that even when they propose them, there’s a lot of opposition that prevents building them. Then many of the complaints default back to how unpredictable and hazardous cyclists are.
Bit of a rant, but I’m glad Bike Calgary continues to work respectfully with various orders of government towards achieving balanced solutions.
This has been the earliest in the calendar I have been able to ride my summer bike from home with my normal route completely free of snow and ice. I hope it stays that way!
BTW, anyone notice that the Lime bikes have bar mitts on them now ? Good for them!
Could it be true? Has the City finally figured out cycling closures and pathway notices?!?
The Bow River northside pathway around Crowchild will have nightly closures for a few days – starting January 15th, from 10pm to 5am (I’m so happy they have realized that a major cycling route should have just nightly closures, not for weeks at a time!).
And the signs! Electronic lighted text with just the basics – two screens of brief info that can be read at cycling speeds, and posted in two locations in either direction!
Kudos to the City’s Parks Department for putting up the best closure signage I have seen to date in Calgary! Keep it up, City!
I am truly expressed with the electronic signage announcing the pathway closure. Clearly displayed and no need for cyclists to stop to read it. And bonus points for only closing the pathway during nighttime hours. Finally, the City got it right! Well done.
I captured and posted the signs on my Strava feed
Ron… nice capture of that rider in SHORTS in January. made me smile… truly an indication of our mild winter. And yes, the NIGHT time closures are very stealth and appreciated. Plus I have yet to notice any debris as the paths are reasonably clean/clear (except for the obvious snow).
My “surprising” gear grinder… I’m still seeing cyclists with ZERO lights. Seriously. and all black gear, no reflecty anything. “But I can see just fine, I don’t need no lights”. Yeah ok tell that to the car/cyclist/runner that hit you that you saw them coming at you just fine even though you were the black hole. sigh… At least most of the ninja-runners wear clothing with something reflective plus move a lot slower so there’s a bit more hope there. sheeesh…
That said gotta admit its quite nice riding the paths with relatively few people compared to a few years back. That said there are more winter commuters now than when $120 oil had all the additional 1000’s of downtown workers. And with only the hardcores riding now at least most people move at a decent pace, hold their lines, and know to stick more to the right of their lanes.
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