Monday, April 18

Suburbs Really AREN'T Quite Urban for Cyclists

Suburbia - Northbound Bedford Euless Road in Bedford. My Motorists Line Up.
Lately, it seems I've been noticing some bad PR about cycling in suburban areas. Well, perhaps, some simply haven't turned around and stopped to notice that the suburbs offer some beauty for those that stop and take the time to look.

As a case in point, I wrote here about the suburban choices of filtering or permeating. The traffic looked like that shown above. However, I didn't mention at that time what might be seen by turning to the RIGHT instead of focusing on the traffic. THAT is what is seen below.

Creek, Shot from Bedford Euless Road in Bedford. Looking Roughly East
Despite the suburban nature of my v3 commute, this morning I saw what was either a fox or a coyote. It was hard to tell for sure and it didn't stick around for a closer examination. 
My Motorists Never See THIS Scene. They Travel Down the Road, Never Sensing What is There for Those that Simply Stop for a Look.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If people in cars only knew what they were missing!!

Pondero said...

That's the cool thing about a bike. You NOTICE stuff.

Velouria said...

I love looking at nature as I ride my bike and have nothing inherently against suburbs. Some roads, however, are more or less un-cycleable, at least for someone with my skill level.

John Romeo Alpha said...

I look at your photo of Northbound Bedford Euless Road and think, cool, some hand signals and standard merging, done, let's go. No additional paint, special signs, or extra stuff needed. But I do also understand that current Popular Thought on bicycling in that setting would fall somewhere between "NO WAY" and "THAT'S CRAZY". Perhaps you could set up your self-timer so we could see you waiting in line on your bike in civil concert with your motorists, to demonstrate...

Steve A said...

JRA, I shall have to figure out how to do what you suggest. The traffic is quite easy to deal with at the intersection, except sometimes you sit through multiple cycles and occasionally a motorist will go straight ahead from the RT Only lane. The first problem requires patience and the second an extra head check.

GreenComotion said...

I didn't know you ran on 3 cylinders :)

Peace :)

Michael said...

I'm in a first tier suburb, most of it's really quite bikeable and I have everything I need (work, library, stores, coffee, shops, movie theater) within a 5 mile radius of my house. I see great blue herons and bald eagles on a regular basis, raccoons a deer on occasion.

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