Marine Drive

Hey, im not a road rider my self, and i got no beef at all with road riders, but today I watched a road rider get absolutley nailed on marine drive cuase he thought the middle of the road was better than the side. I know your road bikes are designed for the road and not grass or any thing beside the road but i think getting a little bit of dirt on your road tires is better than getting nailed by a car going 50 k. Im not pointing fingers and im sure most of you dont ride marine but this applies to any roads with no shoulder, stick as near as you can to the side of he road blind corners.

Have fun just remind other friends and riders to stick to the side of the road.

Spencer.

im not looking for any replies im just kind of freaked out and I hate to see a road riders get hauled away by ambulance.

When you feel it's unsafe to ride on the side of the road (eg. shoulder)… You're supposed to take the lane… It's sometimes more unsafe trying to stay out of the way of vehicles…

exactly if you stay too close they will try to pass and if they see a oncoming car there gonna smoke you to get out of the way
cyclists are alowed to bike anywhere on the road that is safe

Riding on the edge of the lane is an invitation for cars to sideswipe you or pass too damn close. Happens every goddamn time. Clearly you're not a road rider, otherwise you'd know that.

Sucks for the guy that got hit. Nothing in your post indicates that his riding in the middle of the road was the cause of getting hit by a car. It's not like he hit the car, right?

My advice to newbie roadies: Whenever practical, do not stick to the very side of the road because it will just invite cars to sideswipe you.

the reason he got hit was because he was in the middle of the road around a blind corner.

Have you ridden on the side of Marine Dr. before?

It was a hellhole for my 2.5/7 Nevagals, I imagine a road tire wouldn't survive all that debris.

the reason he got hit was because he was in the middle of the road around a blind corner.

So if he had been riding at the edge of the lane, he would have just been mashed by his headlights instead of going over the hood? Are you saying that the motorist is completely not at fault for the accident?

Don't get me wrong, if there are extenuating circumstances then perhaps the cyclist was at fault, but nothing in your post indicates that the cyclist was responsible for the car running over him.

So if he had been riding at the edge of the lane, he would have just been mashed by his headlights instead of going over the hood? Are you saying that the motorist is completely not at fault for the accident?

Don't get me wrong, if there are extenuating circumstances then perhaps the cyclist was at fault, but nothing in your post indicates that the cyclist was responsible for the car running over him.

wouldent it have been a better chance of him not getting hit if he was on the side of the road?

Have you ridden on the side of Marine Dr. before?

It was a hellhole for my 2.5/7 Nevagals, I imagine a road tire wouldn't survive all that debris.

i dont know who you were pointing this out to keneth but i live on marine drive so yeah i've riddn it plenty of times.

I can't believe the sheer number of faux-kitted up squids on Marine. It seems that in West Vancouver, riding skill is inversely proportional to the amount of money blown at La Bicicletta.

from my riding in streets.. if u keep up with the cars your better off.. but that street is just CRAZY!

So was this a head on collision? If so, logic would dictate that the vehicle in the wrong lane was the problem here.

wouldent it have been a better chance of him not getting hit if he was on the side of the road?

If there was a bike lane, he should have been in that. Otherwise, if there is as much debris as others have indicated, then he was wise not to ride in the crap to avoid going down. It doesn't take much gravel to bring down a bike when you're on skinny 23-28c tires.

Was he hit from behind going around a blind corner? If he's at the edge of the road there's less chance that the car coming up behind will see him. Think of the angles. Even if he was at the edge of the lane, it's not like most riders are gonna have the reflexes to hop the curb, when suddenly faced with a car coming up from behind.

All of this is just so much speculation unless you have more info about the circumstances surrounding the accident. If you don't have that info, you have no basis from which to blame the cyclist for the accident.

According to your logic, riding in the middle of the line around a blind corner is justification for getting hit by a car.

Regardless, I hope everyone stays safe out there.

I think he was just trying to give a sincere heads up to road bikers and let them know to be careful, not necassarily blame the biker (but I don't want to put words in his mouth). Having done no road biking myself, at first I thought his post made a lot of sense, but now after listening to you roadies, I see that he probably already was in the safest part of the lane, or at least I can see why being way over to the right isn't necassarilly the safest place. It's good for you guys to post on topics like this, cause without that point of view, it's easy to quickly agree with the original post.