Bike Culture in Car-land

Recently whilst trawling the blogosphere for interesting liveable streets news I came across a link to an interesting article in LA Magazine, Postscript: Bike Culture. It’s a rather in-depth piece on cycling culture in LA; from the established bike coalitions to the newer hipster infused Midnight Ridazz. The article examines the rise of the nascent bike culture in LA, which until recently couldn’t boast much in the way of cyclists, much less a movement, especially when compared to cities like San Francisco and Portland.

It really has to be one of the first pieces I have read which both accurately depicts the constituent parts of cycling culture and cycling advocacy, without devolving into trite stereotypes. Not once is the word spandex mentioned, which is something of a milestone in itself for an article covering cycling. The closest they come is, “type-A roadies”, which I would say is not an unfair description of roadies and avoids the ever present clichés.

LA is apparently a huge melting pot of bike culture (which must be quite recent since I was quite lonely when riding around several years ago). The older guard is represented by the LA County Bicycle Coalition, a traditional advocacy group. In the middle are dedicated bicycle advocates working alone or in groups to lobby / harass those in charge to make changes to the streetscape and ingrained anti-bike attitude of some city agencies (namely the police). On the very left you have a whole array of newer riders, some drawn in by advocacy, but many purely for the alternative culture. Whereas many cities have one critical mass ride per month, LA can sometimes reach double digits.

Critical mass, Midnight Ridazz, C.R.A.N.K MOB, Crimanimalz; each has a different M.O. Midnight Ridazz are more critical mass-ish, but the C.R.A.N.K. MOB appears to be more of a roving bicycle rave, and Crimanimalz like to ride on the freeways during bumper to bumper traffic to illustrate the futility of the automobile. How is it that so many different groups popped up in a city like LA? Is it a backlash to the reigning car culture? A sudden mass migration from San Francisco? The article posits that perhaps these groups will provide the necessary “sip of Kool-Aid” that will sell people on joining the larger bike culture (commuting, running errands, regular advocacy, etc).

Midnight Ridazz, who perhaps should be called Midnight Standazz, as I could find very few photos of them actually riding (perhaps they can't cycle and shoot at the same time)

One of the advocates who straddles the line between the ‘anarchist’ mass rides and the more mainstream advocacy groups has a great website about ‘vehicular cycling’ called cyclistview.com. A topic I believe I covered earlier, but warrants another mention here. The basic concept is ‘taking a lane’, that is, taking the space that the law gives you. If you ride in the gutter, you just make it easier for cars to pass you without giving you enough space. If you ride out into the lane, they will firstly SEE you, and second, need to change lanes to go around you. Some might call it being obstructionist, but I (and many others) see it as being safe, and riding within the law. I believe it is THE best way to ride in Dubai given the shenanigans of some motorists here. People may honk, but they will not run you down. Stand your ground!

Be the little green man!

The thing that intrigues me about the article is that this is all taking place in LA! LA, a place that is not all that dissimilar to Dubai in terms of physical layout and near universal allegiance to the motor car. LA faces many of the same physical obstacles as Dubai in becoming a slightly less hostile place to ride. LA DOT’s bike coordinator is interviewed for the piece and basically cops to being unable to help out much at all. To take away parking or a lane of traffic is beyond her remit and for others – political suicide. I would imagine a similar fate for bicycle infrastructure here.
LA is in the midst of drafting a bicycle master plan (coincidentally authored by the same planning firm which wrote Dubai’s BMP). From what I have read it is not going very well, with some activists advocating for torching the current plan and starting over. Apparently the plan bows a little to far towards status quo and auto / traffic interests and doesn’t do much to relieve the plight of cyclists. After looking at the Dubai BMP and speaking with those involved, I am quite sure something similar happened here. Not that the RTA is actually implementing the plan anyhow, but what they have approved is basically window dressing and not much help at all for anyone who actually wants to get around town on a bike in an efficient manner.

I seriously doubt that Dubai will ever spontaneously sprout a ‘bike culture’ like those in LA or Portland. Everyone sites the weather, but its not really much of a factor most of the year. As I have said before it is much more a psychological block. On top of that, I don’t really think Dubai has the right ethnographic mix of people to support a diverse bike culture. They’ve got the roadie bit down, and a few mountain bikers sprinkled around, but where are the young, just out of college, idealistic, artsy people who make up the bulk of most cities thriving cultural scene. I don’t think this is really the place they would choose to move – and I don’t blame them really.

Almost Famous

I debated about posting about this, but in the end decided I am not quite as famous as I had hoped I would be, so anonimity seems less useful (and I am leaving town soon).

YES, it was me in the National last week. That blockbuster below the fold article about a hapless young(ish) man who does not own a car in Dubai, but rather gets 'sticky' when he rides to work on his bicycle. Now the young(ish) man has a new alternative; the metro! Along with his trusty sidekick - Senior Brompton, he flies effortlessly to the metro station (easily beating the trailing auto-bound photographer (OK, so I ran a couple of lights)).

As far as I know, its the only non-roadsters, non-it will be here someday bicycle master plan, article I have seen in Dubai. Only in Dubai would I make the paper for riding my bike to work. Hopefully a couple of people read it and hopefully a couple of those people might think, hey, maybe I'll try that! Wolfi should stock up now, them babies gunna be flying off the shelf!


They must have taken about 500 photos, suppose they picked this one since it has the metro station in the background. Thank God they picked one where I wasn't wearing my helmet! Would have been dork-ville central.

Just for the record:

1. It is still quicker to ride the whole way than to ride and fold and take the metro (even when you take into account changing)
2. I never said 'sticky', I prefer, 'icky gross', or 'sweaty beast'
3. I do hope that more people start cycling, but not just when it gets cooler. Come on peeps, learn to love your sweat!

State of the pedal update

It’s been a while since I have posted about cycling – one might think I had given up on it or something. As my loyal reader will note, I NEVER give up on cycling! I guess I have just been preoccupied with other topics lately. I suppose it’s time we had an update, so welcome to my ‘State of Cycling’ post.

The biggest news on the cycling front is the arrival (FINALLY) of my new (old) frame for my fixed gear bike. If you read my post about the multitudes of bikes in my proverbial stable you may remember I had a fixed gear bike converted from an old Yokota road bike my friend John had given me. I ended up riding it into the ground (figuratively, not literally), and fracturing the head tube – rendering it rather useless for riding. Subsequently I went on a fruitless odyssey looking for a replacement frame, only to find one when I wasn’t looking for it (who knew my replacement frame was in Australia?).

I originally bought the replacement frame last November, but due to a many factors, I didn’t actually receive it until I was in London on my re-secondment (I’ve never been seconded from a secondment before! Very meta). It was a looooong wait, but totally worth it. I love my new (old) bike, and ride it to work every day now here in Dubai (when I don't wuss out and ride the Brompton to the metro).

I am fairly certain I am the only person in Dubai rockin’ a fixed gear bike, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong on that point. I’m not exactly your standard fixed gear freestylin’ hipster (I even have trouble doing track stands), but I do really enjoy the ride and agree with all the other platitudes people use about fixies (you feel connected to the bike, feel the road, etc). Plus, the minimalism appeals to me.

Also on the bicycle blotter, I finally went out for a cruise with the Friday Morning Fanatics (AKA. Wolfi’s wolf pack, AKA the Roadsters). A friend from work caught the cycling bug (unfortunately not the commuter cycling strain) a couple of months back and had been nagging me to come along for a Friday ride. I’ve never had anything against the ride, I just never really wanted to get up that early (unless it was to run 20 miles into the dessert).

I think what finally changed my mind was a recent ride I did in Massachusetts while I was on holiday. The trip was planned around attending my friend John’s wedding (the same guy that gave me the Yokota which turned into my first fixie, the only man with more bikes than me). John is an incredible athlete (we used to Adventure race and hash together), and his new wife is also an adventure racer and all around athlete, so the days leading up to their wedding were a crazy sports carnival (and drink fest). There was yoga in the morning, then a mini adventure race, followed by a ‘grooms road ride’ on the morning of the wedding, then I went kayaking, followed by a run.

In case you are wondering, "why did you bring a bike 8000 miles to a wedding?" Well, we didn't fly them over, just rented the bikes in Boston and rode down to the wedding. Oh, and after the wedding we did a 3 day bike tour up through southern Mass and Cape Cod - sweeeeet! I must give big props to my better half, who managed to fit all of her wedding kit (including hair dryer) and clothes for a week and a half into two medium sized panniers - Boo ya ka!

The weather was horrible for the grooms road ride – sheets of rain were falling, and I hadn’t ridden in a pack for a while, but I had the best time on the ride. I’ve never been a huge roadie, but that ride made me want to come out and try one of the roadsters Friday flings.

I have a big problem with driving somewhere just to ride your bike, especially when it is just across town; so I decided to ride over and meet up with the pack as they passed Safa Park. The website said a group would usually wait there for the main group, and it was easier (and quicker) to get to than the lime tree. I arrived around 5:30 and saw a group waiting, it wasn’t long before another group rolled up and we rode off to the east.

My friend had mentioned there would be a rest stop at 40km in, so when 50km rolled by I started to wonder what was going on. I asked a guy next to me and he said this group actually leaves earlier than the regular group, only stops once rather than twice and rode about 130km. Hmmmm, seems I had joined the wrong group – no one had mentioned the earlier group, my friend or the website, honest mistake.

I figured I could easily do the distance, but I was slightly concerned about the pace. How right I was. After about 60k, and without much warning, everyone took off like rabbits. I hung on for a while, but didn’t manage to catch the pack and they slowly pulled away doing about 28mph (I was managing 26, close, but no cigar). In retrospect I should have dug a bit harder to pull back up to the back of the group as it is much easier to draft than fight it out on your own, but I was under the mistaken assumption that they were doing a relatively short sprint. Such is life.

After about 5 minutes I managed to lose sight of them completely, but was saved (or so I thought) by a lone straggler who I figured had fallen off the back as well. After 10 minutes of pushing hard I managed to catch up to the straggler, only to find out the guy was out riding solo and not with the pack at all. I was never really worried, as I have a rather keen sense of direction, but I really wanted to know where that darn gas station was (I could have used a snack). I managed to make my way back home without any problem, averaging a pretty decent pace might I add.

My only regret is I didn’t bring anything to gnaw on, only two bottles of water (as I was expecting to stop at a gas station with the group and buy something). I was rather beat by the time I got home since I didn’t make any pit stops. Even so, I made an extra lap around the neighborhood to make sure the odometer read 100k rather than 98.7k. Total time – 2 hrs 50 min, which gave me an average pace of 21 mph, not too shabby for a guy who normally only rides 10k each way to work!

I may go out for another ride with the Roadsters (in a different group of course), but I can’t say I am all that fussed about it. I thought I would like it more after I had so much fun on the ‘grooms road ride’, but perhaps that was because I was riding with friends. Riding in a pack is nice, you can cruise along without much effort in the slipstream, but in the end, I think I would rather spend my time out exploring and wandering.

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.

The indignity of Bicycle Commuting in Dubai

Indignity

In*dig"ni*ty\, n.; pl. Indignities. [L. indignitas: cf. F.
indignit['e]. See Indign.] Any action toward another which
manifests contempt for him; an offense against personal dignity; unmerited
contemptuous treatment; contumely; incivility or injury, accompanied with
insult.

How might a prince of my great hopes forget So great
indignities you laid upon me? --Shak.

First off, I’d like to make an apology to BikeSnob NYC for stealing his blog headline. It is just so apropos, I couldn’t resist. I invite him to come out to Dubai and try out the commute so we can have an indignity-off. I do believe I would win!

I’ve been commuting to work by bicycle in Dubai pretty much every day for 2 months now, which makes this a good time to sit back and reflect on how things are going. To compare my perceptions with the cruel realities and pleasant surprises, as well as to look forward and see what lies ahead.

I have enjoyed my commutation so far. It is relatively safe (I am not yet dead), quite quick (20 to 25 min depending on lights and my energy levels), and I very much enjoy feigning indifference to the people who stare at me unbelieving in the elevator as I stand there sweating with my helmet in hand.

Sure there have been times when I didn’t feel much like riding, but I don’t really have much of a choice. OK, there is the bus, but the bus isn’t anywhere near as convenient as my bicycle for my particular commute – yesterday it took an hour and 10 minutes to make the same 10k trip (only 50 min home though!), and thus it is only to be used in times of illness (like this week) or serious laziness (I am very much looking forward to being lazy on the metro). On the plus side though, you can read on the bus!

In terms of speed, Dubai has my previous commutes beat hands down. I rode approximately the same distance in London and it took at a minimum 10 minutes longer due to lights and traffic. So there apparently is a plus side to the gigantic roads and lack of rational spacing between traffic lights! The downside is that the road geometry seems to engender some sort of animalistic, brain stem originating need for some people to go as fast as mechanically possible between spaced out traffic lights with little regard for the personal safety of others. This need is prevalent everywhere, but most cities have a fairly dense grid of streets and thus traffic signals to somewhat deter the whackos.

The whole speeding from red light to red light thing never ceases to amaze me. I am sure a large majority of commuters drive the same route every day, yet they never seem to realize that no matter how fast they drive they won’t make the next light. I can actually run the length of the Boulevard at Burj Dubai faster than the cars (even stopping at the lights!), yet people constantly rev their engines and roar away from the light, only to hit the next red light. Is it done out of frustration or just pure idiocy?

I have an idea for pointing out the lunacy of peoples behaviour behind the wheel. I would make up cue cards, one or two for each light on the boulevard. The first would lay out the premise, something like, “You’re all nobs” “I will beat you” “to the end”, then at the next light, “why do you gun it?” “resistance is futile!”, then at the end “see, told you so” and “chill out mo fos”. Or something along those lines. I might need to hire a script writer for some better zingers. I figure I could easily amuse myself for an hour whilst getting a good workout.

While there are tons of nobs out there, there are also quite a few people who actually drive fairly reasonably, and quite a few are actually nice – slowing down and giving me some room when passing. Unfortunately those aren’t the people that stick in your brain; it’s the nobs you remember. The nobs not only being the ones who gun it at lights, but the ones who pass to close at high speed, cut you off at turns and honk as though you don’t belong on the road. Just a few bad apples sometimes spoil the whole bunch, cliché, but true. I have had days where I was absolutely thrilled to bits by vehicular behaviour, and then BAM, I got nobbed! Just ruins the whole ride, filling my mind with nothing but hate and vitriol for the remainder of my journey.

As a cyclist there is really very little you can do to vent your anger and get the point across that someone’s driving is at best annoyingly self centred, and at worst incredibly dangerous. I’ve done my fair share of shouting, gesticulating wildly, and my personal favourite – open palmed car slapping (makes lots of noise, but no damage), but these methods usually tend to further enrage the motorist, who most likely already thinks you shouldn’t be taking up space on ‘their’ roadway.

Curiously though (and to my advantage), the same roadway infrastructure that engenders an epidemic of nobbish speeding also tends to create massive waits at traffic lights. This long wait time normally gives me plenty of time to catch up with motorists who have just sped by me in an unsafe manner. Now, I could use this ‘face time’ with the nobs to mount a confrontational attach by launching into a tirade about their inherent lack of driving skills and the danger they have brought to bear upon me (I still sometimes do this, anger is a beast), but instead, I have chosen PLAN B.

In an effort to actually make some sort of impact I have decided to ‘try’ to be as civil as I can when approaching motorists and unleash PLAN B. I ask them to roll down their windows, and I whip out a copy of the ‘Safety Tips and Rules of the Road’ from the ‘RTA Pedestrian and Cyclist Design Manual’ on which I have helpfully highlighted the salient points of motorist / cyclist behaviour that they (el nobbitos) always seem to forget. Drop me an email if you would like a more legible copy!

Official Dubai RTA Anti-nob legislation

The most salient points being:

1. When approaching a bicycle keep on the lookout and slow down. Give them plenty of room.
2. Yield to bicycle riders at intersections the same as is done for other types of vehicles.
3. Do not crowd bicycles. Wait for a clear stretch of road before passing a bicycle that is moving slower than your motor vehicle in a lane too narrow to share…the greater the speed difference between you and a bicyclist, the more room you should allow when passing.
4. Do not honk at a bicyclist… There may be good reason for a bicyclist to ride in the travel lane, such as roadway hazards not visible to motorists.

I have only had one verbal altercation when attempting to educate the motoring public with my fliers. The vast majority of drivers are apologetic when approached, and are careful to give me much more room when they pass again. I’ve even cornered bus drivers (the bendy buses tend to crowd)! All but one motorist has been quite receptive, and that one time I cracked and reverted to yelling and screaming – thus turning myself into a nob. Must be contagioius.

From my experience, I would say most nobbish behaviour tends to orbit around points 1 and 3, with point 4 coming in a close third. I am also guessing that the persistent honking I encounter is cultural, you don’t see it much from the western expats, but the sub-continental drivers seem to use it as some sort of echolocation system. As though they were half dolphin, half nob.

I realize that my quest to de-nobitize the motoring public of Dubai one by one is a rather Quixotic quest, but in the end, if I manage to perhaps sway a couple of people to drive in even a slightly safer fashion I feel I have achieved something. I have also managed to bathe myself in a calming PLAN B salve which soothes away the hate and vitriol, and that in itself is worth the effort.