I was in Texas for about a week and a half this month, and for good measure, I brought my road bike with me. The irony was that it didn’t even occur to me that the roads might be unsafe to ride on. I’ve lived in Albuquerque and Boulder, and both places have plentiful bike lanes and bike paths. Most of the places I visit for work are bike friendly towns as well.
So… when I got to my cousin’s house in the Dallas area and thought, “ok, where will I go ride?” I realized that there were no shoulders or bike lanes anywhere! There wasn’t even a white line on the side of the road. I thought that maybe it was just in her area, but after many bike shop visits all over the metroplex, I discovered the lack of white lines and bike lanes were very common. Yet, I discovered from the bike shops that there is a very avid cycling community. I decided there must be certain areas where people ride. I discovered one of them – WhiteRock Lake area, but for the size of the DFW metroplex, it seemed like there had to be more. I had heard that there was good riding at Joe Pool Lake, so I drove there only to find no shoulder and 40-50 mph speeds and concluded there had to be a particular loop that the locals know around that area the weaves in and out of residential areas to avoid the busy roads.
I can see how it’d be intimidating to move to that area and start cycling because you really need to know where you are going in order to have a safe ride. Also, the Texas truck mentality scares me a little bit on the county roads, and I did hear the horror stories. I’m sure it’s not nearly as bad as I’m making it out to be, but it was definitely shocking!
When I got to Austin on stop 2 of my trip, I was relieved and ecstatic to find white lines and bike lanes everywhere. I realized how lucky I am and how lucky I have been to ride in bike friendly places. I was on a work trip in South Carolina last month as well, and noticed that there weren’t a lot of bike lanes or shoulders there either.
Here is to appreciating bike lanes!!!!!
Thanks to all the communities who have worked hard making them bike and pedestrian friendly places!
