Alliance Gateway Bicycle Traffic

In a previous post, seen here, I related about a guy on a bicycle, cycling east of Old Denton Highway, on Hwy 170, the Alliance Gateway Freeway. I can now confirm it first-hand, and I even got a picture this morning. Sadly, some of the information I previously gave out was incorrect. On the other hand, note how visible that "high vis" vest he's wearing is. I may have to stop pooh-pooing those things when I hear y'all swear by them. Can you stuff those vests into a pocket for the trip home? I get hot enough this time of year without extra stuff keeping heat in.

Anyway, going back to the subject at hand, one error in my previous post is that the bicycle guy did NOT ride "near the edge of the right lane." In fact, he rode in the 12 inches between the fog line and the curb. In effect, using it as a one-foot bike lane. Orlando ain't got nuttin on us! There's a fair amount of debris in that location, but he's got big tires and seemed to be doing OK. At least there isn't crossing traffic on that route other than a very few roads. A second error was my statement that cars moved over a long way back. Well, most of the time they did. Sometimes they didn't change course at all. I would not be comfortable with a car, 50mph faster than me, whizzing by my left elbow. I can't say it fills me with joy even when they're a full lane over. The guy has nerves of steel, I'll say that for him.

One other observation: You'll note that there does not appear to be any lighting equipment on the bike in the photo. That may not be significant, since it was about 7:20AM when the photo was taken. I wasn't about to cross back over 170 and attempt an overtake just to get a closer look.