Urban vs Rural

Salt Lake is a funny little city in a mainly rural state. We live basically downtown, but if we ride 10 miles north and a little west we are out in the country.

The 'country' section of one of our regular rides takes us up a stretch of 2 lane road past homes with horses and farm-y land, goats, cattle, and stuff like that. The road is good, but not great, and the shoulders are narrow. When cars or more likely pickup trucks pass us, they move way over, and give us the whole lane.

In SLC proper, the roads may be 3 lanes each direction, with a bike lane and an ambiguous strip in the center. Drivers crowd us, and honk and shout at us.

Okay, it isn't a perfectly fair comparison because not all the city drivers are like that, because there are so many more cars closer in. But Brewer & I were wondering if the drivers on that road are accustomed to going around kids on horses and tractors and meandering cattle and whatever else that passing the odd tandem is really not seen as such an inconvenience.

I've heard nasty stories about bad stuff that happens on country highways, so I know it isn't universal...
Anyone else notice any trends like this?

Around the DC area - I get harassed a lot more by drivers when I'm closer in towards the city than when I'm out in the country.

Probably every ride that I'm out in a more populated area, someone honks or yells get on the sidewalk or something like that. It's probably every 10 or 20 rides that it happens to me when I'm biking in the countryside.

Now, if you actually tally up how many people pass me - it's probably about the same percentage of cars in either environment that hassles me - say 1% of drivers, and I just happen to pass 100 cars when I'm riding in towards the city, and I might pass 10 cars on a ride in the country.

Personally, urban cycling is scarier than rural. I live rural.. I mostly ride on "one lane" county roads - not even a center line, and very little in the way of a shoulder (in fact, most of the time the side of the road drops off sharply 4+ feet down to a ditch from the edge of the pavement)... that is my "normal". I don't like traffic, I especially don't like sidewalks and driveways and anything else that presents itself as "gaps" in the pavement :o - clearly most of my issues are not necessarily related to other drivers, but to typical urban obstacles - I'm just not used to those any more.

I've certainly encountered a few asshat drivers where I usually ride, but I would say on average, much fewer than someone who rides in the city because I simply don't pass as many cars. I've had many 10+ mile rides where I can count on one hand the number of moving vehicles I encounter.

Because almost ALL of the "local" cycling clubs routinely hold group rides where I live, most of the drivers around me are fairly cyclist friendly.. and they give you plenty of space. I wish I could speak as well of other cyclists here as I can about drivers :rolleyes:

I do not ride in urban areas. Period. Too many lights, too narrow lanes, too many drivers paying far too much attention to their phones/whatever. That, mixed with the fact I only have about 1,600 miles under my belt is not a combination for me.

I love my rural roads. I have yet to have a real problem with a driver, they typically give me plenty of room. Sometimes a car full of young males have chosen to shout something at me but since I can't really hear what they are saying I choose to believe it complimentary :)

I have ridden in one of the smaller towns outside of Indianapolis, and it was fine, but I just prefer to avoid urban areas as much as I can. That may change someday...but not yet.

Around here, drivers are much more polite in Amish country, because as you say, they're used to going around kids and horses and buggies. Outside of areas with a large Amish (or horse-and-buggy Mennonite) population, forget about it.

I haven't ridden in the city in a long time, so my experience is small towns and rural areas. Between those two there's no discernible difference other than volume. You have rude, and you have clueless, and you have outright vicious. Precious few actually know how to ride around bicycles and exercise that knowledge.

Interesting discussion. I haven't ridden at all in rural areas, but the thought of doing so makes me completely terrified.

Seems there would be more road rage, more people who hate cyclists because they are different, and no one to help you if you had an accident. Plus in some parts of the country they are likely to have guns.

Maybe it's not as bad as I think.

Most of my riding is done on semi-rural/suburban 2 lane roads with no or little shoulder. I do ride through town centers, with shopping, train tracks, parked cars, lights, etc. Those are fine with me. I have only been told to "get off the road" once, and that was 2 weeks ago, in west Acton center, while waiting in the lane for the light to go green. As someone else said, clubs all bring their rides out by me and most drivers are OK.
I am much better with cycling in traffic (like suburban traffic) than a few years ago, but I don't ride in the city. I don't even drive in the city. When I go to class in Cambridge, just watching the cyclists scares me. There's no room at all, cars going everywhere, and no one here uses signals. In fact, we decided not to move to another suburb, that is decidly more urban, because of this. DH doesn't mind any type of urban riding, but I have a ver healthy fear.

I pretty much only ride in very rural areas. We live on an acreage outside of town so I just head out my driveway and off I go. I've only been seriously riding for about 4 months, but I've never had a problem with anyone saying or doing anything rude or scary. There are roads that I ride on that I've never seen a car on. I love it. Most of the roads that I ride on are two lane country roads with no shoulder. When we are on the wider highways there are shoulders and people are generally good about giving us plenty of room.

I'd love to ride in the more urban areas too, but just don't have a reason to. I've only ridden in the city late at night during a night group ride and there were few cars around at that late hour.

Here, the traffic is somewhere between urban and suburban. (I live in an older suburb of Cleveland that's a stone's throw away from downtown, is near two large hospitals and a university, but has large residential as well commercial areas. It's fun.) Most drivers are relatively courteous, largely because they're used to seeing cyclists. (Because of my neighborhood's proximity to the university, there are a lot of students who think a mile is too far to walk.)

I don't like riding in it, because of the planning (or lack thereof) of street parking around here. There are often parked cars on all the streets I ride on, so traffic patterns get crazy. I hate dodging pedestrians and parked cars.

My rural riding has been largely on trails, but most people have let me across the street out in rural areas. I'll never forget the rusty old Ford (stereotypical redneck vehicle) whose driver was the only one of a long string of cars to stop for me on one crossing.

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Originally Posted by PamNY

Seems there would be more road rage, more people who hate cyclists because they are different, and no one to help you if you had an accident. Plus in some parts of the country they are likely to have guns.

Maybe it's not as bad as I think.

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It doesn't sound like it could possibly be as bad as you think! Yeesh, guns (which are common in most of the country, both urban and rural)?!

Road rage implies traffic. And two participants. Sure, I get buzzed on occasion (although the more I run, the more I wonder whether this is more target fixation than intentional harrassment), but doesn't that happen everywhere?? Same with idiots throwing things - it's rare, but it does happen, and again, doesn't it happen everywhere?

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Originally Posted by MCAP

We live on an acreage outside of town so I just head out my driveway and off I go.

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That is wonderful, isn't it? I think it's one of the best things about living where I do :p

I've lived mostly in a rural area for my adult cycling years. The drivers range from very respectful and polite to occasionally rude, but we had a lot more problems with loose dogs. Here in the rural south, there are a LOT of loose dogs. This led to my accident in '05 where I fractured my pelvis in three places and had to have surgery to pin myself back together again. Two loose dogs.

Now that we live in Chapel Hill and ride in the 'burbs and the smaller cities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, we haven't seen so much as a single loose dog. There are a lot more cars, but this is a very bicycling friendly area, so we haven't had any run-ins or jerks or yelling incidents. Most motorists have been just fine.

I like both types of cycling. They're just very different.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

I like both types of cycling. They're just very different.

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Yes. They are different. Urban has more traffic and more harassment. But rural has higher speeds. I wonder if the zone where urban turns into rural is possibly the most dangerous. That is the zone my driveway is in, where my daughter's wreck happened!

I have to wonder too, Melalvai, about those sorts of areas that are recent victims of suburban sprawl. You know, the ones where traffic control measures haven't been adjusted to the new heavier traffic load. Speed limits that are too high, intersections that should have a traffic light instead of a stop sign, that sort of thing. There's an area like that about three miles from my house. There's a road with multiple strip malls where the speed limit is 45+, but the traffic density is fairly high. In the older suburbs, those kind of areas have a speed limit that's 35 or less. I'd be terrified to ride there.

Parts of Mesa, AZ are like that too, but they had the sense to put bike lanes on some of the roads.

I get it everywhere, rural and urban, in SLC, Malkin. My sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and I were out at Saltair, stopped on the side of the road, making an adjustment on MILs bike. A driver went past with his middle finger saluting us for absolutely no reason at all. I think there are jerks everywhere.

I ride in urban areas, because that is where I live, and it takes about 30 min (in a car) to get to the country so I would have to take a day trip to ride there. :D
I think a lot of the difference is what Cataboo said. Where you have a higher density of people, you will get more harassment just because there are more of that type of people in a crowd.
I live in a rough part of Buffalo, NY, and some of the people are respectful, and some are rude. The responses also vary depending on where in the city I ride. The places where more bikes are ridden are more tolerant, and bike-friendly (generally where the young progressive people live) than the poorer, ghetto areas.(where there is no funding for anything :mad: so we have rotten sidewalks, and rough streets)
My brother has had a car try to run him off the road, but I have had cars wait for me to go at 4-way stop signs, so there are both extremes. :)
I am comfortable riding in the city....I don't like high speeds, or high density of cars, but I rarely ride on those kind of roads.

I ride in Seattle most of the time. I actually like city bicycling more than riding in the suburbs. Drivers here for the most part have gotten used to bikes being around. We sure have the occasional jerk, but you know, when traffic is stop and go, you are doing about the same speed they are. Now suburbia is a different thing. All the housewives with their huge SUV's (that they can't see around) and aggressive angry men... UGH, there are some towns i do not like to ride in.
Finally out in the country, it's nicer than suburbia at least.. The areas of countryside where I ride are scenic areas so again they are accustomed to seeing cyclists and I feel pretty comfortable there too.

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

Now suburbia is a different thing. All the housewives with their huge SUV's (that they can't see around) and aggressive angry men... UGH, there are some towns i do not like to ride in.
Finally out in the country, it's nicer than suburbia at least.. The areas of countryside where I ride are scenic areas so again they are accustomed to seeing cyclists and I feel pretty comfortable there too.

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At least 80% of all the cycling I do regularily over the past 18 yrs. in Toronto, Vancouver and now, in Calgary is in the city. For longer trips and vacation I'm cycling out in countryside/ rural.

I prefer to cycle in the city which people need to realize that "city" does not always mean downtown cores, etc. and constant heavy, stop and go traffic. I go through a mix of traffic areas which includes routes with quiet residential streets. What I dislike are sprawling suburban areas where there is less traffic speed control and wider roads which gives drivers psychological license to speed beyond the limits. Since cyclists are less there, the drivers don't seem to be as accustomed to cyclists.

Calgary downtown here is quite different from vancouver and Toronto: I don't care for it because of more wide, 3-4 lane wide one-way streets with streaming fast traffic. I mean geez, take out a lane for a bike lane...for pete's sake. There is far less traffic calming circles in this town so far. Most cyclists stick to river shoreline routes in the downtown core because of the present situation.

I actually do not mind cycling in downtown congested traffic areas..the traffic is slower and hence, drivers generally, are required to be more alert.