Recumbency - or - How I ended up with eight bikes

Now that I have relinquished my angst about traffic my commute is a much happier experience. My ride home consists of cruising along in a state of inner peace - ignoring the horn blasts of frustrated motorists, brushing off the sophomoric antics of poorly educated drivers and finding myself in no hurry to make the next light.

It was in this Zen-like state that I pulled up to the light near the Novotel on 312th Rd. Normally I would have been angling to jump the light so I could get a break from the traffic, but I decided I didn’t really care and I would just wait with the rest of traffic (which I find gives you some wasta with the motoring public). The next thing I knew I heard a voice from my left, it was an Emirate in a red BMW SUV. He had rolled down his window and started asking me why I wasn’t jumping the light, since I was on a bike and all. I replied that I just felt like obeying the law that day and was in no rush. Then we proceeded to have a short conversation about me riding to work each day.

The quick street-side conversation highlighted what I really enjoy about cycling. It puts you out there as a person, rather than a motorist stuck in your anonymous bubble. It creates random interactions with people, it basically ‘humanizes’ travelling. I had a similar thought a few weeks back as I was riding in the back of a friend’s convertible. I mused that if everyone drove a convertible, there would be fewer accidents and less road rage because you are faced with a person rather than sheets of glass and steel. If you ever really need to change lanes and no one will let you in, just roll down the window and stick your arm out – it’s like magic.

Now that I no longer have enormous bundles of angst about my commute, it leaves me free to worry about all sorts of other things. With the state of the economy such as it is, many people are rightfully worried about the security of their jobs. The fear of being made redundant is a powerful one, but I feel my job is fairly secure at the moment. I am honestly more afraid of being made recumbent!

This man has been made recumbent

For those of you who aren’t aware, recumbency is a horrible disease. Once one catches it, you become not only a pariah of your community, but also a tireless supporter of an unpopular cause. I am not sure any bike that I must attach a flag to is the bike for me.

Aerodynamic, AND has mag wheels, bitchin'

It’s a genuine fear for me, you see I have so many bikes already I am fast running out of different types to buy. Therefore, I am at a great risk of falling prey to recumbency.

It all started in college with a run of the mill Mongoose mountain bike I bought for commuting around campus. It was the 90’s and mountain bikes which would never see a dirt trail were all the rage, just like SUVs which were never taken off road became the ‘in’ thing in the aughts.

My Mongoose served me well, and of course came along with me to NYC when I moved. I was rather paranoid about it getting stolen (I had 2 bikes stolen 3 times when I was in high school, that isn’t a typo), but the worst that ever happened was someone stole my seat! That was an uncomfortable ride home.

In NY I fell in with an adventure racing crowd and my poor Mongoose quickly became obsolete for the task (having been basically designed to ride around town), so I went out and bought myself a nice new Rocky Mountain hardtail. Ahhh, nice bike. We spent countless days together flying around the country, riding for hours through seemingly endless bike stages.

One of my teammates had been riding for quite some time and had managed to amass an arsenal of bicycles. His first road bike, a Yokota, hadn’t been ridden in years and was in a sorry state hiding in his attic. Since I was road bike-less, he took pity on me and let me have it. After a bit of a tune up and some new tires it was good to go. The derailleur was already pretty shot, but I managed to put several hundred miles on it. This new (old) bike did nothing to assuage my growing thirst for new bicycles. I was like a junky, always looking for and looking forward to my next hit.

My biggest problem at that point was that I didn’t have a bike I felt comfortable leaving outside in NYC. I felt I would be more mobile if I could keep a utility bike on the street and just hop on and go whenever, instead of having to lug one downstairs and locate gear and such. Therefore, I headed out looking for a 3 speed! I found the bike of my dreams at a small shop in E Williamsburg (aka Bushwick) Brooklyn. They scoured the country buying up old schwinns and the like which they then repaired and sold. My dreams of utility cycling died when I laid eyes on a mint condition Schwinn Metrocycle circa 1970. Apparently it had been ridden twice and left in a garage for 30 years. They had put on some new tires and oiled the chain, but everything else was out of the box new! I loved it, but I loved it too much to leave it locked up outside.

Meanwhile, the Yokota had got me all hot and bothered about road cycling, but at the same time frustrated me with its ancient and worn down componantry. I started to lust after a shiny new road bike, but my finances were such that I couldn’t easily drop several thousand dollars on a new ride. I waited and waited and saved, and finally the day came. I walked out of the shop with a brand spanking new Cannondale R1000 with Ksyrium elite wheels and an Ultegra groupset. I know its not uber top of the line, but it rode oh so smooth compared to my Yokota. I could have gone carbon fibre with a cheaper groupo, but I like the Aluminum just fine.

mmmmm, speedy

Once the Cannondale arrived on the scene, my Yokota was of course sidelined. Down, but not out. As this was 2004, the fixed gear revolution was just getting into full swing. My ancient steel frame with it’s horizontal drop outs was just crying out for conversion! And so convert I did, self consciously walking into TrackStar in the E Village and buying some new handbuilt wheels and a fixed cog. The ride home was a comedic experience, as I was sporting some really annoying toe clips which were hard to get into even with a freewheel set up. I am surprised I didn’t end up on the pavement, but somehow I managed to make it home in one piece.

After a bit of practice I really took to the fixed gear, they are incredibly fun to ride and then there is all that jazz about ‘feeling connected’ to the bike and such which I found to be quite true. The best part really is how it forces you to be a bit more aware since stopping can be slightly more time consuming. In the end, I ended up spending much more time with my Yokota than my lovely Cannondale. Part of this can be contributed to the fact that I can’t lock up the Cannondale outside, too risky. But I think I actually like riding the fixie better.

One might think that having four bicycles would be adequate, but that person more than likely doesn’t ride very often. There were all sorts of bikes still on my list, I really wanted to turn my Mongoose into an XtraCycle (still haven’t done that), I figured I could do with a cyclocross bike, and a touring bike, perhaps a tandem...

One day I was reading through the Craigslist ads trying to find a decent 3-speed for a friend and I came across a posting for a vintage Schwinn tandem! I was so psyched, it was only $200, I was totally going to buy this bike! The only problem being I was in London at this point, and the bike was in NY. I quickly phoned a friend to enlist them as my buying agent, but they were headed out of town. However, they suggested another co-worker who was also on the look out for a tandem. I rather wanted full ownership, but decided since I was in London anyway that we go in halvsies for it. It was in the bike room at work the next day. I finally got to ride it when I went home for a break, seat posts are a bit on the short side and there is only one gear, but it is great fun to ride!

I only managed to bring the fixie on my trip to London with me, which it turned out was an ideal bike for the city (unless you were headed up to Hampstead). Unfortunately on a ride to work one morning my frame broke, literally cracked clean through the head tube. As fate (or bike geometry) would have it, the head tube also houses your stem, so I managed to not come crashing to a halt in a heap on the asphalt. The bike was a total write off though.

I searched in vain for a replacement frame (as the components were all fine), but this was the frenzied peak of the fixed gear revolution and old steel frames with horizontal dropouts were hard to come by or incredibly pricy. I finally managed (with some difficulty) to get my hands on an old Peugeot 10 speed. It was the perfect frame, huge head tube, great old yellow finish, only one problem… It was built just before the cycle industry switched over to 700c wheels and thus sported incredibly odd 28 x 1 ¼” wheels. This meant I couldn’t switch my Yokota components over, or even easily find new tires for the bike!

I was at a bit of a crossroads since I had hoped to ride the bike to Burning Man from Reno airport in a manner of weeks. I had already planned on getting a new rear wheel with an 8 speed internal hub that I could switch out with the fixed gear wheel for longer trips (Reno to BM was about 135 miles), so I ended up having two new wheels built to fit the Peugeot – thus leaving my Yokota components in a lurch.

Shortly thereafter it was time to pack up and head out to Dubai. Everything was going by sea, so we decided to take some holiday between London and Dubai so we would arrive at the same time as our worldly possessions. I’d never been professionally moved before, it was rather strange to leave your flat in the morning – with everything where you normally kept it, and then come home to find a completely empty place. Off we headed, spending some time in Australia and HK, everything was going swimmingly until 4 days before we were due to arrive in Dubai when both of our companies decided our visas wouldn’t be ready on time, in fact they would take another 8 weeks!

Dejected, we headed back to London with only our luggage, and into a temporary flat. I was soon chafing at not having a bike. It felt alien to have to take the tube to work every day, I longed for the freedom of two wheels! Noting our small living quarters and my current roster of velocipedes I quickly honed in on a gap in my arsenal – a folding bike!! Within days I was in possession of a shiny new Brompton with 6 speeds, dynamo lights and a brooks saddle. It wasn’t my idea of a sweet ride, but I soon grew to love my Brompton, even if I didn’t often use it as intended (i.e. actually folding it and getting on a train).

Two weeks earlier we were riding around Melbourne (on borrowed bikes), and managed to get a flat. Checking the city’s excellent bike map we found a nearby bike shop and headed over to get a patch kit. I was astounded as I walked in, this was no ordinary bike shop, more of a bike hospital where bikes were being operated on and also being born. I was surrounded by lathes, presses and all manner of metal working machinery, it was bike heaven! My attention quickly shifted from patch kit to bike frames, and before I knew it I was purchasing a vintage steel frame, having the superfluous pieces ground off and the whole thing powder coated. My Yokota would be reborn as a bright orange demon.

So there you go, the story about how I ended up with eight bicycles. When you say you have eight bicycles people look at you a little funny, but I don’t think I have really gone too far overboard yet. Each of my bikes has its place, each different trip has different requirements, I’m just making sure I have all my bases covered. That being said, hopefully I’ll be able to resist being made recumbent!

The five stages of grief – commuting in Dubai edition

As one might expect, cycling in Dubai is an acquired taste. Many dismiss it out of hand as being too dangerous; when in reality the barriers to cycling here (and to some extent in any dense urban environment) lie less in the realm of danger and more so in the kingdom of personal fortitude.

Luckily for myself I happen to possess an abundance of cycle related personal fortitude (owing largely to my own rampant sense of self righteousness combined with a curious lack of thanatophobia). Thus, before moving here I figured cycling in Dubai wouldn’t be such a big deal for me, and I was largely correct.

What I didn’t count on however was the progression of feelings that would wash over me during my first few months on the road. Previously, cycling had been a fairly straightforward activity for me. I would mount my steed, head off into the mean streets, battle for space and sometimes get in a huff with motorists, but I largely enjoyed my time in the saddle.

Here in Dubai it was a slightly different story. To begin with there was the ominous foreshadowing. Never before had I encountered so much negative energy around cycling, or travelling by any means for that matter. It seemed from my research that the streets and byways of Dubai were a battleground strewn with the bodies of cyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike. This lead to my first stage of DCCG - Dubai Commuter Cyclist Grief:

Denial

As I mentioned above, I possess copious quantities of cycling related personal fortitude. In fact I excrete it from my pores and it is scraped up by industrious Swedes and sold by Bike Nashbar as a fortitudinal supplement called ‘TudeMAX’. Its from this well of fortitude that I drew the strength to ride my bike from Reno to Burning Man last summer in one go despite the hysterical objections of fellow burners warning of reckless opiate-laden motorists at the helm of giant rented RVs on narrow dark winding roads. With so much fortitude actually seeping out of my body on a regular basis, I denied to myself and others that I would have any trouble riding in Dubai. “Not a problem!” I shouted from the rooftops to no one in particular. Then I arrived in Dubai.

Anger

My first forays onto the road were cautious. We were staying down at the Marina, and I was equipped only with my newfangled Brompton in its glorious cream finish (extra) and Brooks brown leather saddle (also extra). I had just purchased the bike in London a couple of months previous since all my other bikes were hanging out in a shipping container in Jebal Ali and I was rather suddenly visa-less and back in the UK (I can only go so long without a bike). The Brompton is a lovely bike, but is best for short distances and it isn’t very imposing, I look a bit tame on it to be fair.

Curiously how I look on a bike relates to how I ride it. When I ride my vintage Schwinn MetroCycle 3-speed I tend to ride slower (even though I can cruise), and less aggressively. Conversely, when I am on my sleek Cannondale R1000 with its zippy Ksyrium Wheels I tend to ride like a bat out of hell. Perhaps it is related to my body position; my set up on the Cannondale is more bent over and sporty (go figure), and the Schwinn is more of a sit-up-and-beg dutch bike style. Thus, getting back to the Brompton - which is not quite begging, but definitely not bat out of hell, I felt a bit cautious riding around town. I did end up riding home from work in Bur Dubai to the Marina one night, but I looked for back streets through Jumeriah and (GASP!) road on the footpath along Al Soufah Rd.

Once my other bikes were released from Jebal Ali prison and we moved into our place in Downtown Burj Dubai I set about my regular routine of riding to work every day. This is when the second stage of DCCG set in, ANGER! What were all these motorists doing? Accelerating like mad from lights only to get to the adjacent red light and wait for 2 minutes, honking like deranged madmen, passing too close when there was plenty of space in the adjacent lanes, basically behaving like a pack of self important well armed baboons. I had seen all of this behaviour before on the streets of NY, LA and London, but here it is incredibly pervasive and dare I say personally vindictive. Generally motorists infuriate cyclists by disregarding them completely, but here its that feeling combined with a rage that you even exist and a not so veiled desire for you to cease to exist.

This made me quite angry. I would arrive at work or home in quite a foul mood at times. I must note at this point that not every motorist in this city is a deranged psychopath, but they seem to live here in greater numbers than other cities. Some days I was quite happy while riding in fact, mainly because no psychopaths happened along that day.

Anger isn’t very healthy, in fact its quite oppressive, taking over from ones otherwise sparkling lovely personality and making one bitter and perhaps even close to becoming like the very people who enraged one in the first place. I believe this is how civil wars generally begin. I needed to curb my anger and change tactics fast, that’s when I hit stage 3:

Bargaining

Anger obviously wasn’t getting me anywhere. Whenever I would caustically approach offending motorists I would get nothing but vitriol in return. Everyone believes they are right and when attacked will tend to fight rather than roll over; especially self important motorists who recently nearly ran you down.

My tactics then turned to education, I would bargain with motorists for better behaviour! I started carrying around printed leaflets containing the RTA’s guidelines for motorist behaviour in regards to cyclists and proffering them to unsuspecting motorists. The key was sympathy, no one will be sympathetic to you when you come on like an attack dog. Therefore, despite feeling like I wanted to strangle said motorist, I would with a smile proffer the leaflet and point out that according to the relevant governing body in this particular Emirate, they were breaking the rules and it didn’t make it very safe for me to boot.

This was psychologically rewarding to me for a time. I actually had more sympathetic than angry responses to my leafleting antics. I came away happier that I had pointed out to someone that they were wrong, and they agreed. After a while though, the exercise became less useful. I started to revert to angry tirades, proffering my leaflet with an air of self importance, only to get angry replies. It takes quite a bit of effort to be civil to someone who shows no regard for your personal well being. More effort in the end than I was apparently willing to make for the given return. This triggered the fourth stage of DCCG:

Depression

It was clear that my bargaining ploy was a short term gain. It made me feel more empowered for a while, but after a while the crushing realization that even if I pulled over 100 cars a day I wouldn’t be able to have any effect on driver behaviour. Motorists would continue to annoy and endanger me and I really had no control over it. Depression set in.

I found myself not wanting to ride to work in the morning, or home in the evening. I didn’t feel like dealing with the constant stream of people who were so focused on their destination that they couldn’t be bothered to slow down for 5 seconds or so and merge slightly left whilst passing me. I felt defeated. I didn’t want to give up cycling, but I also no longer really felt like living in Dubai. The weight, the burden of the depression ended up colouring my views on the city in general, I developed a very jaded view of life here.

I plugged along like this for some time; trying to figure out what I could do to change the state of affairs. I would fall back into my former stages at times – defiant and bold, caustic and aggressive, leaflet man, but nothing really seemed to help. What kept me going was the little moments, the flickers of enjoyment that cropped up here and there. Slicing through a traffic jam, gliding along an empty lane, spotting a wayward peacock, things that wouldn’t have happened had I been in a bus or a car.

Then one day recently it happened, the last stage:

Acceptance

As I recall I was sitting at my desk contemplating the ride home. I had been meaning to print off some more RTA flyers since I had run out, but hadn’t gotten around to it. All of the sudden I had a thought. “What if I just rode home?” I know it sounds simple, but it was the product of an enormous amount of pressure and stress, sort of like a diamond - a gem of an idea. I would just ride home; I would ride and not let the buffoonish behaviour of others get to me. They would honk, I would shrug. They would drive recklessly, I would stay vigilant and resolute, but calm.

Why was I playing their game? Why was I getting sucked into their world of puss and vinegar, a world of stress and tension and a burning desire to get to one’s destination marginally ‘quicker’. I was like a born again Christian who is distraught by the hedonism surrounding them, frantically proselytizing to an indifferent public. I had been such a fool! The answer was there all along, Acceptance!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t accept that it is anyone’s right to drive recklessly and endanger me. No one has the right to honk and wish me off the road, no one has the right to cut me off, but I also have a right not to internalize all of the hatred that I feel towards those people. They do not have the right to make me angry or depressed; they don’t have the right to pull me down into their swirling cauldron of joylessness! I will no longer let those things that are beyond my control get me down – acceptance.

Of course! It all makes sense! I got out of the car to avoid all of those feelings – the frustration of being stuck in traffic, mad at the world, self righteous. All I really did was switch from petrol to leg power, but I never left the traffic. With acceptance came a renewed sense of joy, I am in traffic, but above it!

That night I rode home; it was the same route as usual, but something had changed. I got cut off, bummer, but no harm done - people honked, sucks to be you motorists - didn’t make a light, oh well, what I am rushing home for anyhow? You have no idea how light I felt, all of that rage lifted from my shoulders! It does wonders for the gray matter.

I am not so naïve to think that this is the end of my journey. There will be times that I am outraged, angry, full of vitriol, insistent that others know, realize, nay, admit that they are wrong. That is life. But the outlook has changed my dear readers. Sunny days are here again (metaphorically, realistically it hasn’t rained since March), I’ve put on a happy face. I faced down Dubai... and I won.

Another Day in Paradise

So it looks as though I can call off my Tour de Phase One (of the bicycle master plan). All that work, training, blood doping, hiding blood doping from the ICU, turning Amish, all down the drain!

OK, so I hadn’t trained that hard, or actually done any planning, but I had thought about going on a reconnaissance ride to determine the current state of the projects outlined in the BMP phase one. However, it seems the work has been done for me by our good friends at the National, as they reported yesterday the Phase One Works (POW!) are due to be completed by mid 2010, i.e. they haven’t started yet. BTW, not sure why they changed the headline in the online version, but the print version was titled: "Dubai paradise for cyclists... one day". BAM! I should have thought of that one.

As I reported earlier, the POW! were supposed to be completed last December, with phase two coming in soon after and slated for completion in September of this year to coincide with the Metro opening. Ironically, they didn’t include the phase two works in POW! Because they wanted to get it done quickly and the phase two bits are basically feeders to the metro which could wait until the metro opened. But now, POW! won’t even be done until nearly a year after the metro opens, and who knows when phase two is coming down the pipeline.

Perhaps the RTA will decide that attracting cyclists to the metro stations will be priority number one and they will leapfrog phase two projects into the phase one box. I would imagine this would require some tricky acronym-ing, so may I suggest: Keep Usable Nearby Guideways Phase One Works, or KUNG POW! I know I love tasty chicken, so this would definitely make me want to ride to the metro stations.

On a slightly more serious note, there was a quote from the one and only Wolfi in the article that rankled my hide (and my hide is not keen on rankling). It seems Mr. Hohlmann believes cycling in Dubai may very well be illegal!

“As well as providing infrastructure there is a need to establish the rights of cyclists. Currently it can be dangerous to cycle in the city, especially when crossing junctions. Dubai’s code of conduct even states that cyclists can be find for using the roads. These factors need to be addressed if cycling culture is to be established"

First let me say I agree with quite a few things in that statement; we do need to establish the rights of cyclists – in the minds of motorists! It is at times dangerous to cycle in the city, and the junctions I believe he is referring to are large roundabouts as well as entry and exit roads from highways (which can be two lanes wide and contain high speed traffic). But I completely and totally disagree that cyclists can be fined for “using the roads” in Dubai. Completely 100% false. The only place a cyclist can be fined is where they are not allowed to ride, which is on limited access highways (the great wall of SZR and others), and footpaths. I know this because I have read the BMP and the Pedestrian and Cyclist Design Manual, both of which clearly state the relevant laws. Here is an excerpt from the BMP concerning the current laws with regard to cyclists:

Dubai law concerning cyclists

I have contacted the National in regards to getting a retraction printed concerning Wolfi's statement. Telling people it is illegal to ride is not a great way to get people to go out and try cycling.

In other exciting news, I am not the only white man cycling to work in Dubai! In fact, there is another person who lives in my very development who rides as well! I noticed him (not so hard to do) as I was heading out for a run after work. So here’s a shout out to my cycling neighbour, good on ya!

Also, a quick thank you to the motorists of Dubai for their rather non-Dubai-like driving these past two days. Perhaps someone is bugging my apartment and heard the tirade I unleashed last week after a particularly horrific ride home (I handed out 3 'proper driving behaviour around cyclist' fliers, and pretty much lost my top with a whack job in a white porsche. Oh well, I guess things balance out in the end.

Where for art thou bike lane?

Big news loyal readers (reader? Anyone out there?). I have finally got my hands on the full version of the Dubai Bicycle Master Plan (BMP)! I knew that sooner or later my crack team of super spies would come up with the goods.

I have had a copy of the BMP executive summary for quite some time now, so I knew basically what was in store – i.e. where the bike routes were planned to go, and whether they were on street lanes or separated paths – but that was about it. I was curious to see further details as to how they planned on threading these paths through the existing street network as well as finding reasons why what went where and checking out how in-depth their research was.

On the in-depth front, they pretty much have it covered. The BMP clocks in at a backbreaking 347 pages! Needless to say I won’t be toting it around in my panniers to use as reference material when verbally chiding motorists. They take a look at existing infrastructure, collision history data, existing legislation, current user counts, trip demand estimation, and existing constraints. Out of this they produced a network of cycle tracks and lanes and then decided on a schedule to roll out the system in phases (a total of 5 phases between 2008 and 2020).

I can’t say I completely agree with all of the decisions they made in locating cycling infrastructure, but overall it looks like a decent plan and will greatly enhance the cycle-ability of Dubai if it is built. I say if it is built, because the first phase of the work was due to be completed in December 2008, and as far as I can tell, none of the work has even yet commenced (despite numerous newspaper articles touting its forthcoming-ness). I have been meaning to go out and do a proper field survey to see if there are any ‘shovels in the ground’, but I have been in a faffing mood lately. I suppose now that I have the details, I can go check properly!

As the newsies have reported, the phase one projects were: an extension of existing Jumeirah Beach Rd path to Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Dhiyafa St, a path along Dhiyafa St from JB Road to the Great wall of SZR, A path along Mankool Rd from Dhiyafa St to computer St, a bike path around the creek and some random bike lanes in Deira. These routes would enable a less than intrepid cyclist to safely ride halfway across town, which is a pretty good start.

The JB Road path is supposed to be partially on the beach itself, and partially along the western footpath of the road (where beach access is restricted due to private use). The current JB Road path is labelled ‘substandard’, as it is only 1.5m wide and can only accommodate one way traffic. Where they are building new paths the width will be 2.5m wide, but there are no plans to expand the width of the current path. I can’t really see this route being of much use for the commuter cyclist as it is planned to zig-zag in and out of the beach and surrounding roadways as well as play dodgem with traffic turning off of JB Road. Never the less, it will be nice for a leisurely ride.

JB path on the beach

JB Path on the road (2.5m)

The Dhiyafa Rd path is also slated to be a separated path running along the south side of the street from JB Road to Al Wasl Road, and then one way paths on each side of the road from there to the Trade Center round about. They don’t really say what form it will take when heading through the Al Satwa Road round about, which conceivably could cause some conflicts. Curiously, there is also no mention of what happens when you dump a bunch of cyclists into the largest round about in town (trade center) without providing any specific access or infrastructure. Seems like a big oversight. In the second phase there is slated to be a path under the metro, but this is on the opposite side of the round about. This may cause some problems for the less experienced cyclist.

The Mankool Road path starts at Dhiyafa St and heads over into Bur Dubai, ending at Computer St. This path will run in a striped lane in the service road for half the route, and then a separated path on each side of the road for the remainder of the distance. The route will continue from Computer street to the Creek, but due to space constraints will only be marked with sharrows.

Mankhool Path

The route around the creek will basically stripe a lane where it is convenient, and leave large unfinished portions for later phases. In locations where development makes it impossible to complete the route they suggest creating floating walkways. I don’t really see this as being a plausible solution, I think they should have just bit the bullet and created inland pathway detours as they have done in NY. Even if they could get approvals for the floating walkway, the path would be so over-run with pedestrians as to make cycling near impossible.

Creekside path - Bur Dubai side

The Deira routes are bicycle facilities in name only. They would create a small network of sharrow routes rather than bike lanes or segregated pathways. Basically they don’t want to give up any parking to make way for cyclists, and the streets and footpaths are already narrow, so there is no room to give up there. Traffic in the area is a complete nightmare, barely moving as it is. Fewer parking spaces could mean fewer people driving into the area looking for parking. I think its time for Dubai to sack up and start pushing people forcibly out of their cars instead of coddling them. This area of town has more cyclists than anywhere else in town, you would think they would want to encourage even more people to ride – which would further reduce congestion – but I seriously doubt sharrows are going to help much on that front.

Deira Sharrow routes

In theory I like the idea of a physically separated bike path, it keeps cars out physically (which seems to be the only way they will comply), and thus speeds one along in safety. The only problem is intersections; once you separate yourself from traffic you have to enter and exit the flow at intersections (unless you provide a bridge or tunnel). This causes turning conflicts, which happen to be one of the largest sources of bicycle accidents. It also generally requires the cyclist to slow down and wait for vehicular traffic to pass. This seems completely at odds with the idea of a bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation. I don’t ride in the road because I enjoy it, I ride there because it is the fastest way to get from A to B. I rode the JB Road path once, it took ages going up and down curbs, weaving around obstacles, avoiding errant pedestrians and parked cars. That isn’t utility cycling, its leisurely cruising. Dubai needs to promote cycling as a form of transport, not just a whimsical activity on a Friday afternoon.

What, exactly, would be wrong with deducting 0.5m from each lane and handing it over to a curbside bike lane? Narrower lanes have been proven to reduce vehicle speeds (which can only be a good thing in Dubai), and no special infrastructure works are required, just sandblast the old lane markings off and paint some new ones, put up some signs and WHAMMO! I have a semi-safe place to ride. It would be perfect here since most main roads lack curbside parking – therefore there would be no threat of dooring. I can think of quite a few routes which could easily be converted quickly and cheaply.

I suppose my biggest complaint about the BMP is that it sacrifices truly great cycling infrastructure in the name of the status quo – i.e. the car. It threads its way in and out of available space, doing its best not to disturb the motorists rather than providing a facility that will create a leg up for cyclists. Where there is no more free space, well, bummer, guess you will have to make do with sharrows. We can’t possibly ask people not to leave their giant personal possessions sitting on public space for pennies an hour. Why, it is their God given right to park!

Its just another instance of Dubai talking out of both sides of it’s proverbial mouth. We’ll build the best metro ever! (and at the same time expand the roadway network to encourage more driving). We’ll have a world class bike network (as long as it doesn’t infringe on the ‘rights’ of motorists). No lewdness in public (but gobs of hookers in bars).

There is of course much more to the plan than just the first phase. As to whether it will just remain a plan, or actually get built, who knows? I have some very strong opinions about phase two of the plan, but that will have to wait for my next post, as this is turning into a novella. As always, write to me if you want more details. I am more than happy to send through the info I have.