Yikes! Bridges!

[Lise]

Frankly, just reading about it makes me feel pukey. 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!

[TsPoet]

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.

[bikerHen]

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! bikerHen

[Geonz]

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...)

[donnambr]

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.

[VenusdeVelo]

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.....