Take the Lane

Drunken lucidity about bicycle lanes

I was having one of those moments of inebriated lucidity (without having had even a whiff of alcohol, mind you) as I was contemplating the state of our roads.

In the midst of our pavement, we have potholes the size of meteor craters. Never mind that a bicycle rim might be turned into useless scrap metal on falling into one of these canyons, imported cars could disappear into them.

On the other hand, the bike lanes in our fair cities are full of post-winter/pre-spring crap: enough gravel for an Olympic jogging track, car parts that were squashed before they could crawl to the safety of the curb, enough broken glass to begin your very own recycling depot.

My plan: put the bike lane crap into the potholes. Seal with crazy glue. Ride safe.

Next, I'll work on peace in our time.

Rough road alert #2

Cambridge rider Frank Edwards writes about "potholes and severe depression."

"In Cambridge, on Fountain Street heading north just by the old Knotty Pine, there is an old road cut repair 3 feet wide by 6 feet long that has sunken at least 6-8 inches and forces a cyclist into the middle of the road to avoid it.

"Between the Shantz Hill light on Fountain Street and the above depression, several of the catch basins have become severely depressed once again, forcing a rider into the middle of the road to avoid them. This situation worsened dramatically from last year to this year.

"On Fountain street heading south towards the Grand River, there are numerous broken patches and depressions between Shantz Hill and the beginning of the bicycle lane which force a cyclist into the middle of the road, all need substantial repair. This particular section of Fountain has heavy traffic and is narrower than the northbound lane..because cars are allowed to park on the Northbound side making the road problems even more dangerous. Most cyclist ride on the sidewalk in this area...I do not.

"I believe Fountain Street is a regional road."

Something for Regional Chair Ken Seiling to think about, perhaps?

An insanely potholed road

Regular contributor Frank Xavier asked if I would launch a new category for damaged sections of road or potholes that are a hazard to cyclists, to warn us and to have a list of roads needing repairs that we can show to our local politicians.

I'm all for it. Of course, it depends on you. Send me the details on the rough roads that you encounter. And let me know when they've been fixed. I'll post them under the category Rough road alert.

And I'd like to contribute the first alert:

Stauffer Drive in south Kitchener is cool, tree-lined and insanely potholed. The yellow "rough road" sign doesn't do this roadway justice. It would be a great country ride if you weren't worried about destroying your rims.