Yikes! Bridges!

I was on a century ride over the week-end where I had to cross the Columbia River twice. I have never liked bridges, but this was terrifying to me. The first bridge (The Cable Bridge in Tri Cities, WA) had no shoulder/bike lane, but we were told we could use the sidewalk, which was separated from the traffic by a fence. OK, it was sorta narrow, and I sweated across it.

The second bridge (The Blue Bridge) had a separate bike/pedestrian lane. However, this bridge went up way higher over the water. The lane was wider than the sidewalk on the other bridge, but I was whimpering and really talking out loud to myself to get across. When we were at the highest point I was afraid I'd hyperventilate. All the way over it I would think--look out, you're going to go over the edge! And then the saner part would say, no way--the railings are too high. Then I'd think--oh, lordy, my wheel is going under the railing and I'm going with it. So how do you do it? Is there some secret? ( My hands are sweating just recalling the episode.)

Maybe it's in my family. Several years ago my sister and her husband rented bikes and rode over the Golden Gate. My sister told her husband she'd throw the rental bike in the bay before she'd cross it again. I'm not too sure how they got back.

Any help from my friends at TE??? Please???

I don't like bridges either. and I really don't like the GGB. When I say that around here, I feel like I'm dissing the beloved landmark. I really just have to grit my way through it...focusing on the road in front of me but not *right* in front of me. I don't bother to enjoy the view...I can do that from a bus if I want to.
Bridges are hard, but for some I really have to just not think about it and keep riding.

The view! I can never enjoy a view from a bridge unless I'm in the back seat with a martini in my hand. (Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration!) But I cannot look to the side whether I'm driving my car or on a bicycle. Wonder what the word is for fear of crossing bridges.

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Originally Posted by Aint Doody

Wonder what the word is for fear of crossing bridges.

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That would be gephyrophobia. :D

I don't like crossing bridges on my bike, but it's mainly because of the grating we have here in Chicago.

I have a fear of riding on rutted dirt surfaces. Or any rut-like surfaces (bridge grating, for example, or railroad tracks). I landed face-first when my skinny bike wheel caught a rut on a dirt path when I was 18, and it was bad. I can get fairly panicky. I just focus on a loose, yet secure grip on my handle bars. I say to myself, "you'll be fine", slowly, and repeatedly, until it's over.

Someday I'll go mtbiking, and get over it.

L.

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Originally Posted by shadon

I don't like bridges either. and I really don't like the GGB. When I say that around here, I feel like I'm dissing the beloved landmark. I really just have to grit my way through it...focusing on the road in front of me but not *right* in front of me. I don't bother to enjoy the view...I can do that from a bus if I want to.
Bridges are hard, but for some I really have to just not think about it and keep riding.

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I've only taken two round trips across the Golden Gate Bridge and I absolutely agree with you. It's windy and crowded and going around the towers is so nerve-wracking to me I pretty much walk them while I straddle the bike.

Yep, and they are scary when it's really windy, too! You blow all over the place--not comforting that close to traffic with no place to go.:eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shadon

I don't like bridges either. and I really don't like the GGB. When I say that around here, I feel like I'm dissing the beloved landmark. I really just have to grit my way through it...focusing on the road in front of me but not *right* in front of me. I don't bother to enjoy the view...I can do that from a bus if I want to.
Bridges are hard, but for some I really have to just not think about it and keep riding.

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AH! I don't like the GGB either!! Too windy, too high, too many other bikes, walkers, etc. and the cars are "just" over there on the other side of that fence and you're higher than that fence to what's to keep you blowing over it - or blowing out to sea???

The only time I liked the GGB was when it was the last mile of my 600k and I was coming home. I was too tired to be freaked out and once I went over the curve of the bridge I could stand and coast!

Frankly, just reading about it makes me feel pukey. :eek: I <3 the flatlands! Bridge over Chicago river? No problem. Come on out here, CA girls! Wind, yes. Scary, OMG, I'm going to be blown out into the bay? NO!

I don't have a problem with bridges. But the blue bridge bike trail is terrifying. I often walk my bike across.
It's made worse by being on a recumbent, I think. The problem with the lane is twofold - it's VERY narrow - so if you run into someone coming the other way or going another speed you are trapped. And, there is a double strobe-like effect from the posts. On one side the water is strobing by, on the other the traffic is strobing by.
The blue bridge is why I didn't even do that ride, even though it's in my hometown. I do the "river loop" all the time, though - just not with a whole bunch of other cyclists accross the blue bridge.
Glad you made it, hope you liked the rest of the ride.

I don't like going over either of those bridges in my car! Much less on a bike! Hope the wind wasn't blowing that day. Good for you, pushing on through! :D bikerHen

Gosh, and I thought our narrow, blind overpass bridges to get across interstates were bad! At least you don't feel like you're going over the edge (into water, trucks, whatever...)

I ride across this bridge to work every day:

http://www.portlandbridges.com/00,35...nd-oregon.html

Here's a better view of the path one rides across on a bike. They have since painted bike/pedestrian stripes on it:

http://www.deuceofclubs.com/w/great_.../hawthorne.htm

It is nothing like the GGB or the big ones on the Columbia, but there are some windy days that make going across it kind of unpleasant.

I don't like bridges in a car and not much better on a bike. High bridges that are snow covered and slippery like we have in WI are the worst. (Not very fond of big drop offs). Rails help but if there were a lot of wind if I were on my bike, I'd want to be smack dab in the middle, not on the side in a bike lane!

Lise, I'm not sure mtn biking helps. I went out the other day on a technical trail and there are these wood planks (no rails or sides) about 3 ft wide over canals in the trail and I waled each one!! Yes, I'm a chicken but I have not mastered "look to where you WANT your bike to go" -- I know I will look at the water and PLOOOOOOSH!!! in I will go. It's not like they are deep but they can be very mucky ugly dirty.....