It seems I am taking a chance riding my bike on the roads in Riverside.
According to a report released by Transportation for America, the Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario area is ranked 5th in the top 10 most dangerous areas in the US to ride a bike, or walk.
That doesn't make me feel too good.
I am hoping things change in my city.
I would love to be able to ride my bike all over the place in Riverside.
But, I've known for a while that it's not safe.
I don't ride my bike down Central Avenue toward the Riverside Plaza area unless it is before 7 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday. Any other time it would be just an invitation to get creamed by a car.
I asked our past mayor about getting bike lanes put in on Central and he told me to ride my bike on the sidewalk. Not that I am EVER going to do that, but even if I did, the sidewalk is only on one side of the street and people walk on it.
Our NEW Mayor touts himself as being bicycle friendly.
I haven't seen any changes, except he gets out once every couple of months and rides his mountain bike 10 miles on the Santa Ana River Trail with a bunch of people.
You don't have to deal with cars on the SART.
So I am not impressed Mayor Bailey.
What will impress me is when they clean the glass out of the bike lane at the intersection of Central and Victoria avenues.
It's been there 3 weeks. I have called 3 times and it has not been cleaned up. During my past weekend "alone" ride, I stopped and took a picture of the debris in the bike lane. I sent an email and attached the picture of all the debris in the bike lane. I thought for sure that crap would be cleared up by our ride on Tuesday.
Nope.
Still nothing.
I know it's hard to see, but there is lots of glass still in the bike lane...even after 3 weeks of cars driving over it.
My fingers are crossed that the glass is ALL gone for tomorrow night's ride.
Tomorrow's ride is along Victoria Avenue in Riverside.
Victoria Avenue is listed on the Register of National Historic Places.
Oh yes, it looks pretty and it is pretty.
EXCEPT for the bike lane.
Most times we don't even ride in the bike lane. I am sure passing vehicles don't understand why we are riding out in the road and not in the bike lane.
WHY?
We don't ride in the bike lane on Victoria Avenue for the most part because it is rutty, full of tree branches - on the ground and hanging down to smack us in the face, and full of debris. It is safer for us to ride in the road and take our chances with cars.
And this is the bike lane that the city officials tout as being an asset.
I want to take Mayor Rusty Bailey on a bike ride around town. Maybe if he had to ride in my pedals for a day he would get to work on making our city a better place to ride and we wouldn't be number 5 on the DANGER list.
I'd love for Mayor Bailey to join us on one of Triathlon Connection Riverside's Tuesday or Thursday night rides.
And any other city official who keeps saying they want the city to be bike friendly.
We have bikes and we want to show you and tell you how to make our city bike SAFE!!!!
Come out and ride with us!
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