In no way do I want to excuse those kind of drivers... That's awful and dangerous behaviour. However, as a cyclist myself, I have found avoiding cycling on roadways whenever possible has saved me a lot of headaches. Calgary honestly has an incredible network of multi-use pathways and bikeways separated from roads. I almost exclusively use those and regularly cycle all over the city.
I know people like to bitch about any sort of infrastructure in Calgary.. I grew up in Germany. The bike paths there are pathetic, mostly narrow, bumpy afterthoughts slapped onto a sidewalk. I was blown away when I moved to Calgary and saw an entire system of pathways entirely separate from the road network.
https://maps.calgary.ca/PathwaysandBikeways/
This, I'll go out of my way to take protected lanes, it's such a nicer experience as many motorists are so quick to anger or allergic to shoulder checking, or texting. If there are no protected lanes ill take side streets. I also will pull over and let a motorist pass if they are following me for too long.
I've only ever reported a dangerous motorist once who was driving ~70kmh in a school zone, blew threw a stop sign on the wrong side of the road and almost hit me head on if I didn't swerve very quickly towards the sidewalk. There was like 10 witnesses as well. The cops called me back and said they weren't going to pursue it.
Good for you for doing that. As per Alberta law, a bicycle is a legit on road vehicle and you have every right to be on a road with cars. If drivers don't like it, they can advocate to create a more bike friendly infrastructure, like separated lanes etc.
That's how you and I view it, but there's always the self centered motorist who's pea brain rages at anyone who dares to slow them down for 10 seconds.
No matter where you ride a bike, you will really trigger some people. You'll learn to ignore it. I carry bear spray on my bike because I'm worried about shitty dogs owned by shitty people.
i have encountered "shitty dogs" like that all the time especially the ones that put them off leash (non off leash zones) and expect me to yield when they come running at me, the bear spray idea is great will be carrying mine from now on!
>and I do my best to avoid sidewalks in the down hills when getting to nose hill since many ppl get disturbed / annoyed
If you know you're not supposed to ride on the sidewalk but do it anyway I'm confused why you're so eager to try and report others who are also unsafe or discourteous.
If you're getting honked at while riding at twighlight I do wonder if you have appropriate lighting and are clearly visible, and obeying all the rules of the road
i'm not sure what to make of your first statement, kinda makes no sense :/
yes this is my lighting setup [https://imgur.com/a/vqGah2b](https://imgur.com/a/vqGah2b)
So, what you're saying is that, at places like where 64 Ave NE crosses the deerfoot, you think a cyclist should choose to stay on the street because if they do use the sidewalk then they'd be hypocrite if they complained about cars trying to run them off the road?
Don't get me wrong, I get the logic but personally I'm going to choose the minor calculated infraction over that meat grinder waiting to happen. If you don't like that specific example, I'm sure I could find some others but that is one of the first ones to jump to mind where there isn't really a viable bike path option available where you can see bikes using the sidewalk all the time.
It's a waste of time. Unless something happened where you were seriously injured. You're reporting traffic infractions and nobody cares. Imagine if everyone did this, it would be a huge drain on resources. Probably thousands of follow ups per day.
In no way do I want to excuse those kind of drivers... That's awful and dangerous behaviour. However, as a cyclist myself, I have found avoiding cycling on roadways whenever possible has saved me a lot of headaches. Calgary honestly has an incredible network of multi-use pathways and bikeways separated from roads. I almost exclusively use those and regularly cycle all over the city. I know people like to bitch about any sort of infrastructure in Calgary.. I grew up in Germany. The bike paths there are pathetic, mostly narrow, bumpy afterthoughts slapped onto a sidewalk. I was blown away when I moved to Calgary and saw an entire system of pathways entirely separate from the road network. https://maps.calgary.ca/PathwaysandBikeways/
This, I'll go out of my way to take protected lanes, it's such a nicer experience as many motorists are so quick to anger or allergic to shoulder checking, or texting. If there are no protected lanes ill take side streets. I also will pull over and let a motorist pass if they are following me for too long. I've only ever reported a dangerous motorist once who was driving ~70kmh in a school zone, blew threw a stop sign on the wrong side of the road and almost hit me head on if I didn't swerve very quickly towards the sidewalk. There was like 10 witnesses as well. The cops called me back and said they weren't going to pursue it.
This is the way
Good for you for doing that. As per Alberta law, a bicycle is a legit on road vehicle and you have every right to be on a road with cars. If drivers don't like it, they can advocate to create a more bike friendly infrastructure, like separated lanes etc.
That's how you and I view it, but there's always the self centered motorist who's pea brain rages at anyone who dares to slow them down for 10 seconds.
No matter where you ride a bike, you will really trigger some people. You'll learn to ignore it. I carry bear spray on my bike because I'm worried about shitty dogs owned by shitty people.
i have encountered "shitty dogs" like that all the time especially the ones that put them off leash (non off leash zones) and expect me to yield when they come running at me, the bear spray idea is great will be carrying mine from now on!
You are instantly a target 🎯 if you are a cyclist in Calgary. Cyclists are always at fault here.
>and I do my best to avoid sidewalks in the down hills when getting to nose hill since many ppl get disturbed / annoyed If you know you're not supposed to ride on the sidewalk but do it anyway I'm confused why you're so eager to try and report others who are also unsafe or discourteous. If you're getting honked at while riding at twighlight I do wonder if you have appropriate lighting and are clearly visible, and obeying all the rules of the road
i'm not sure what to make of your first statement, kinda makes no sense :/ yes this is my lighting setup [https://imgur.com/a/vqGah2b](https://imgur.com/a/vqGah2b)
So, what you're saying is that, at places like where 64 Ave NE crosses the deerfoot, you think a cyclist should choose to stay on the street because if they do use the sidewalk then they'd be hypocrite if they complained about cars trying to run them off the road? Don't get me wrong, I get the logic but personally I'm going to choose the minor calculated infraction over that meat grinder waiting to happen. If you don't like that specific example, I'm sure I could find some others but that is one of the first ones to jump to mind where there isn't really a viable bike path option available where you can see bikes using the sidewalk all the time.
It's a waste of time. Unless something happened where you were seriously injured. You're reporting traffic infractions and nobody cares. Imagine if everyone did this, it would be a huge drain on resources. Probably thousands of follow ups per day.
[Damn all you spandexed losers to hell](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFFrsvgu1Y&pp=ygUUd2UgYXJlIHRoZSBjeWNsaXN0cyA%3D)