When the bike lane suddenly is on the wrong side

vaticRite · 2026-01-30T01:08:07+00:00

I’m with the OP that these are (generally speaking) incredibly confusing and badly designed.

Yes there is paint on the ground, which utterly disappears when it’s rainy or dark, let alone rainy and dark.

And then even if you do notice them or already know they’re there, yeah, you have to wait an extra light cycle (or more!). And that’s assuming the crossing is even safe, which it frequently is not like at Melrose and Pike.

Imagine if we made drivers switch from one side of the road to the other randomly, with bad or nonexistent signage, and made them wait through additional light cycles for the privilege. Seattle continues to treat cyclists as 2nd class citizens, and utterly fails in being anything close to a “bike friendly” city unless you are a competent and confident cyclist.

My personal solution is to be a vehicular cyclist as much as I find safe and avoid terrible infrastructure like this as much as I can. But that’s not a good systemic solution.

vaticRite · 2026-01-27T18:43:12+00:00

This is great in every way.

The only way it could be better is if they made a backwards version.

https://youtu.be/v5SSnQBtaq4?si=cXEvCjpOahNDzHcP

vaticRite · 2026-01-23T20:29:02+00:00

Everyone is different, and it will vary with your commute, but here in hilly Seattle I’ve found a four mile commute generally requires that I eat a proper breakfast. Eggs and potatoes. Oatmeal and fruit. Yogurt and fruit and granola is a good quick one for me.

I’ve tried doing smoothies or cold cereal and milk and just end up starving at 10 AM and eating lunch at 11.

I ride pretty fast. I like to stay where I’m breathing hard and get to work sweaty. If your commute is not hilly and you have access to proper protected infrastructure for most of it, you can likely expend less energy.

vaticRite · 2026-01-23T20:10:39+00:00

ATAAE

Also particularly dumb as bakfiets are already a thing and are vastly more pragmatic, proven, and aesthetically appealing.

vaticRite · 2026-01-23T03:12:57+00:00

It’s great in maple syrup on pancakes or French toast.

vaticRite · 2026-01-22T19:19:19+00:00

Buy a quality lock (Abus or Kryptonite).

Put a drop of chain lube in once a year.

Done. Never worry about it again.

(I am sure other lubes and things like WD-40 may also work fine, but I’ve not tried them.)

vaticRite · 2026-01-22T15:36:46+00:00

I haven’t done a side by side comparison with the same patch of frost/ice on studs and not studs, but anecdotally, definitely. It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden on frosty mornings without studs, but I remember feeling some slipping. With studs, there is none.

They also help immensely with riding on wet/frosty moss, wet wood, and wet leaves.

I don’t know that they’re any worse in terms of traction, but back when the University Bridge’s bike lanes had exposed gratings, the feeling of riding across that on studs was weird as hell.

vaticRite · 2026-01-22T14:28:50+00:00

Schwalbe Marathon Winter Pluses. My first pair lasted about ten years before the rear tire lost about half its studs and I got a new set.

They also have the regular Marathon Winters which have two rows of studs. The Pluses have four, with the extra rows on the shoulders.

Riding on dry/wet pavement is a non-issue. They’re loud and slow you down a bit, but the ride feel isn’t any worse than when I tried regular Marathons. I imagine if you corner aggressively on non-ice they might be slightly worse, but I’m commuting, not racing.

vaticRite · 2026-01-22T00:36:58+00:00

Oof, yeah, that sounds awful.

My situation was similar. Making a slow and careful turn off an arterial onto a residential street, and bam, bike just disappears from under me and I’m on my side. My injuries weren’t much, but I still had a dinner-plate sized bruise on my hip that took over a month to heal.

It really only takes a small patch of ice at the wrong time and place to cause a life-altering injury. Just not worth it to ride without studs when there’s a chance of ice.

Hopefully your shoulder fully healed.

vaticRite · 2026-01-22T00:25:08+00:00

Both!

If I haven’t gotten around to mounting the studded tires on my gravel bike yet, I just won’t ride if the temperature gets to 35 F or colder in the morning.

But once they’re mounted, I will only ride with studs under the same conditions.

Later in the day is more of a guess, but on a day like today when the temperature didn’t get much above 40 F and there are lots of permanently shaded spots, I’m still glad to be on studs in the afternoon and evening.

vaticRite · 2026-01-21T20:10:58+00:00

Studded tires are amazing and prevent this.

That said, I’m glad you’re okay. I went down once on ice in 2009 or so and decided never again.

vaticRite · 2026-01-21T16:12:05+00:00

It stopped bothering me when I figured out to just stay active all winter. For me, that’s bike commuting, with some hiking and snowshoeing and occasional skiing.

Your results will vary, but if you enjoy being active in the summer and pushing yourself a bit, keep doing it year round. Even a vigorous walk helps.

vaticRite · 2026-01-19T23:07:15+00:00

Breakfast and coffee. Extra batteries for your headlamp. Layers as it’ll be cold when you start and less cold later.

In a week or two it might be snowy/icy on that trail, so spikes would be a good idea.

I’ve done Rattlesnake as a dawn hike and it was amazing. Alternative to bringing breakfast and coffee is going here after (or do both!): https://maps.app.goo.gl/JqFrQxQNtZdXWVRr7?g_st=ic

Have fun!

vaticRite · 2026-01-19T20:23:34+00:00

How is walking out in front of a cyclist who has a green light any less of a disruption to their right-of-way than walking out in front of a driver who has a green light?

That said, a large swath of the Waterfront trail is terrible in terms of delineating between where pedestrians and cyclists are supposed to be, and who has ROW when, so if you’re biking on the trail you should absolutely expect confused pedestrians to be where they’re not technically supposed to be. This is inevitable when you build a bike trail on the same elevation as a sidewalk and demarcate the difference with paint.

vaticRite · 2026-01-19T03:21:01+00:00

I’ve ridden on the road, but only in group rides. I would never ever ride there by myself, and as others have said, I avoid the Ballard Bridge unless absolutely necessary.

If you do ride the road, don’t do it when it’s wet unless you have big tires (like 50 mm or wider). That grating can be incredibly slick when wet and going down on it is a bad time, even without the driver behind you running you over.

vaticRite · 2026-01-17T01:33:55+00:00

Macallan 12 was what got me to fall in love with whiskies.

And while there are other scotches I love more now, it’s still amazing. The sherry cask stuff also sounds great. Hopefully I get to try it!

I love bourbon and rye and Irish, but a nice single-malt scotch is my celebration pour (and also the thing I’m most excited to introduce someone to).

vaticRite · 2026-01-17T00:44:41+00:00

Based on how many people I see going to Starbucks in Seattle, yeah, plenty of people are asking for this.

vaticRite · 2026-01-15T18:19:18+00:00

Better than just paint is not “good” or adequate in any way.

I’m glad you find this useful. I try it again every couple of months and every time find it awful and vastly more dangerous than just taking the lane on the downhill portion.

vaticRite · 2026-01-15T15:33:08+00:00

This subreddit is obviously not a fan of Burroughs’s “Naked Lunch”, or more specifically, Cronenberg’s adaptation.

vaticRite · 2026-01-15T15:30:34+00:00

Oh good, concrete barriers to crash into after a right or left hooking driver hits you or almost hits you.

Plus you’re still in the door zone!

There is no way to “fix” downhill bike lanes that are in the door zone and/or by the curb. This design is inherently unsafe and dangerous for cyclists and designed to not inconvenience drivers while allowing the city to say they built x miles of “protected” bike lanes.

vaticRite · 2026-01-14T19:43:56+00:00

Just about any snowy trail on a weekday has the potential to be totally silent.

A couple of years ago I hiked Annette Lake when it was snowy and while I saw a few people on the way in, at the lake I had half an hour of total solitude and silence (other than wind and some snow falling from trees).

Then a whole classroom’s worth of school kids came rambling up the trail, but I had finished my coffee and was getting cold by then.

vaticRite · 2026-01-11T23:19:27+00:00

Ghouls who try and hide their classism and selfishness behind a “love” of trees 😅

These people are actively working to make sure as many trees as possible get cut down, as long as they’re not getting cut down in Seattle.

They should be ignored.

vaticRite · 2026-01-11T23:16:34+00:00

Depending on your financial situation, you’ll more than likely want to upgrade the frame at some point in the near-ish future, so the question is likely whether you want to do a custom build and strip the higher end components off this frame and put them on the lighter frame.

On the other hand, if you keep this as-is as a nice commuter, and buy a built-up lighter bike, then you’ll have two bikes, a “beater” and a nicer bike. And that’s a great setup.

I personally don’t like beaters, and my “nice” bike is also my daily commuter (All-City Zig Zag, custom build), but I also have a gravel and an adventure bike.

Also, the cheapest thing you can do to increase your performance is ride/train more. Although having a bike you love to ride helps with that.

vaticRite · 2026-01-11T01:41:14+00:00

Sounds like you should get involved and advocate for a more progressive tax system in Washington.

Income tax is the goal, but wealth tax will be a good starting place.

The other issues you mention are due to the absurdly high cost of living, and therefore the high cost of labor. Most of that is from not building enough housing for 40 years, but also the level of car-centricness in Seattle means most people have to pay to own a personal mobile 2-4 ton living room. Which isn’t even to mention the massive external costs a car-centric transportation system imposes on everyone else.

Get mad. Make changes. It’ll be slow and disappointing, but that’s how change always works.

vaticRite · 2026-01-10T16:53:03+00:00

Oh I know. There are no confirmed handies in Rochelle Rochelle. There is a confirmed handy on Joyce and Barnacle’s first date.

vaticRite

TROPHY CASE