With gas prices reaching $4 a gallon and filling the tank costing me ~$42 weekly now, I’ve been thinking of how to lower my costs and still be able to get to work to make money. I would certainly consider riding my bike to work, regardless of the 18 mile distance, but the lack of protection for riders on most streets through Tucson makes it quite hard to justify. I’ve met too many people who’ve been hit or know someone that’s been hit here to feel comfortable regularly riding the city streets.

Tucson does have plans to add “bike lanes” (read: widen existing roads to have a larger shoulder area) to many roads throughout the city, but the drivers here don’t respect the lanes and will often drive in them for long distances to illegally avoid traffic or make turns. Drivers here also have the bad habit of not looking out for riders that are in the lane and will cut them off and stop in front of them almost daily. On many main streets, city buses are allowed to drive the lanes as well, which null-and-voids the intent of a bike lane in the first place. Another boondoggle that I’ve witnessed is that, though the city intends to build many miles of new lanes, there have been very few actually put in since I moved here almost three years ago.

I’ve frequently though that Tucson could benefit from protected bike lanes and, with any luck, this experiment in NYC may make other cities play copy cat. I’d bet adding protected bike lanes through the city for bikers would, on top of enabling people to bike throughout the city, also cut down on car traffic.

For more information about Tucson’s bike programs, check out the TDOT’s website. There is lots of useful information about biking there, including maps and Tucson-specific biking laws.

[Washington Post Article found via Bike Hugger]

ZenHabits.net article: “A Beginners Guide to Cycling”

Those are decent tips for starting riders; bike maintenance, technical riding skills, and higher cost bikes are among topics not mentioned, but can come with time and experience. I’ll have to make sure Lauren reads this set of tips since she and I have started riding together today. It was her second time using her new bike in the last 2 years! A few laps around Reid Park went much better than the last trip with her at Saguaro East…. now just to get her up to some of the harder rides without giving up again.

[via Sam Devore’s Website (a buddy from the Tucson Web Standards Group)]

Here’s a non-harmful “warning” label bikers can toss onto cars that get too close and hog the road…

Well, I whiffed this years tour and didn’t train enough to feel confident to ride in it. My goal for next year, however, is to train to do either the 80 or 110 mile rides for fun. You can call that my “Pre-New Year’s Resolution.”

Aaron and I have been biking a few times recently and it feels damn good to be back in the saddle riding again. We’ve been doing roughly 14 to 15 miles and will be adding more on each time we ride. Somehow, I got the crazy idea that I want to do the Tour de Tucson (a 111 mile ride around the perimeter of Tucson); yeah, I’m crazy, but training for it will get me in much better shape even if I don’t do the whole race. As we bike more and I get used to riding again, I’ll decide if I’m going to do all 111 or if I want to drop down to 60 or 80 mile rides.