The Monday Roundup: The gravel boom, biking while high and more

Biking while high – more research is needed

There’s a risk in dubiously using some study’s conclusion to make the kind of declarative sentence such as the following used in today’s bikeportland Monday Roundup:

“Helmet psychology: People tend to take more risks while wearing them.”

Jump to the chase: did the study’s facilitators find that ‘all people’ that wear bike helmets, tend to take more risks while wearing them?

Or, did they find that people that do relatively higher risk types of biking, such as bike racing or maybe intermediate and advanced recreational mountain biking…that tend to succumb to the psychological bearing use of bike helmets may have on their concluding that because they’re wearing a bike helmet, they can ride in a riskier manner?

It’s a human failing, I suppose, that many people often will not read beyond declarative statements, to find out what more to the story there may be. Sometimes, it seems that people that either generally don’t like bike helmets, or laws obliging some people to use them, will use declarative statements like the one in today’s roundup, to discourage people from wearing bike helmets when riding.

Completely unrelated to the roundup, but thinking I should have mentioned it in past: that’s a rockin’ solar panel ad bikeportland’s been using lately. Definitely the kind of ad that’s likely to get people interested in buying themselves some solar panels.

Citylab’s story: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/01/drivers-negative-attitude-cyclists-bike-riders/423921/#disqus_thread

…on finding of the study conducted by “…researcher Tara Goddard and colleagues at Portland State University…”, is worth reading. There’s considerably more information in that story, about the study’s findings than to what extent people that drive but never bike, feel that people that bike “are able to follow the rules of the road”.

A two sentence paragraph made about midway in the story:

“…But when it came to cyclists, neither drivers nor non-drivers thought people on bikes followed the rules or rode predictably, with only about a third agreeing that was the case. So in these five cities—among those generally considered progressive when it comes to street life—bicyclists have a universal perception problem. It’s not just that drivers don’t think much of how people ride bikes; no one really does. …” citylab

The writer closes his story with a conclusion that the study has found that people that drive but never bike, do not support building more protected bike lanes. I think I’d need to read the study myself, maybe closely, rather than take the writer’s conclusion at face value.

Generally a decently written story, though it seems that citylab tends to like using certain names of an antagonistic nature to refer to people that drive, and people that bike. I personally think resorting to that kind of name calling, works against better conditions for biking.

Perhaps people who never drive are less likely to understand how many cyclists behave erratically?

There’s a book bike here in Oregon, too! Corvallis-Benton County Public Library got one last fall. http://cbcpubliclibrary.net/bookbike/

For the first time, the famous phrase coined to describe would-be bikers in Portland has been shown to apply nationwide.

I have no problem with the label “interested but concerned” or even “enthused and confident” but “strong and fearless” is demeaning and inaccurate. I am, in general, somewhat comfortable riding on every arterial road in inner Portland but I am not fearless. A close pass frightens me. Aggressive behavior scares me.

I also object to the label “strong”. Someone who is “interested but concerned” can be strong. I have known people who compete at high levels who are not comfortable riding where I ride. And people who are somewhat comfortable riding in urban traffic are, by no means, necessarily “strong”.

Dirty Kanza!! Forever will I miss my ol’ bud Joel Dyke.

Correction: The Gifford Gravel 50 is firmly in the state of Warshington, not Oregon.

q`Tzal
I’m willing to bet there are higher health risks from cardiovascular exercise (riding a bicycle) in urban traffic exhaust than smoking even the nastiest ditch weed.Recommended 6

Ha! Haven’t heard the phrase “ditch weed” in a couple of decades!

Robert Burchett
The two greatest hazards for mv operators on rural roads in Missouri, in no particular order: deer and stray cattle. No doubt those critters will also be flagged!Recommended 5

And the deer should be arrested if they don’t use deer crossings. 😉

How many people who never bike actually know the rules of the road? Seems like half think you have to ride on the sidewalk and the other half think you’re supposed to pull over if you’re not moving 10mph above the posted speed.

B. Carfree
I much prefer Jan Heine’s term for it: competent and confident. We know what we’re doing and how to do it, but we do experience our share of fear and other emotions.Recommended 4

I prefer that, too. “Strong and fearless” is cartoon-character language.

“Lettered country roads in Missouri” should read “lettered county roads.” In MO, county roads have one or two letter route designations, and they’re prominently signposted there. The guy who proposed this “flag the bikes” law also proposed, last year, a law banning all cyclists from Sfate highways. In other words, a statewide cycling ban..in a Sfate that is actively working to create a bike route along the old Hwy. 66 corridor with all the other states along that alignment. Talk about being out of touch with reality!

Thank you, Hello Kitty… I appreciate your help.
I may offer up Charlie Parker vs. Storm Large, as my next comparison….
I could do this for hours, but no one in Portland would care to try to understand. Sadly.