Riding Culture
We are fortunate in Madison to have a huge network of roads to ride on, and folks in Dane County (and beyond) are usually quite accommodating of cyclists on the road. Whether we're riding for transportation or for fun, we rely on other road users to respect us in order to stay safe, and so we need to respect them back and share the road. Most of this will be old news to most readers, but I appreciate you giving this a read-through!
The bottom line is that if you're in the BD kit, you represent everyone else in a BD kit. And like it or not, no matter what you’re wearing, you represent all cyclists in the eyes of drivers and pedestrians. We can each do our part to represent safe and conscientious cyclists.
If you see someone getting out of line on a Row Ride or other group ride, please feel empowered to call them out and tell them what they should be doing differently. We are all trying to establish a culture of riding safely in Madison.
Riding on roads:
The law says cyclists should stay as far to the right as possible, and cyclists can ride two abreast, as long as that "does not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic". There are a lot of judgement calls here, but the rule of thumb is to make a good faith effort to help cars pass us as easily as possible.
If someone says "car back" and the car doesn't pass within a few seconds, it's generally polite to merge single file to the right so the car doesn't have to go as far into the other lane to go around us.
If everyone is single file except one person, that still forces the car to go as wide as if everyone was double file. Be aware of what the group is doing, and if people are repeatedly saying "car back" and you're still riding two across, you should probably be single file.
Some cars seem to be very hesitant to pass a group of cyclists no matter how much we try to get out of the way, in which case, there’s not much else we can do.
There can be edge cases with big groups on some roads where it’s arguably safer for a car to go all the way into the other lane for a short period of time to pass a double file line of cyclists as opposed to a little bit in the other lane for a long period of time to pass a single file line of cyclists. These are judgment calls that keep life interesting, but please remember the overall goal is to be safe, predictable, and considerate.
Sprint points are fun, but it's never worth endangering yourself or others. It's easy to get tunnel vision, but always look behind you and make sure the lane is safe before making a move around someone if you’re sprinting.
Stopping at lights/stop signs:
Stop at stop signs. It would be nice if Wisconsin could adopt a Colorado Stop style law, but that has not happened yet.
Every rider in the group should make the correct decision at stop signs for their current situation:
If you're at a two way stop and the first few people in your group get across, but there's now an approaching car that's too close, stop and wait for another window. And if you're a rider that got across in the first window, wait for everyone to cross before resuming the ride.
Avoid the capillary action thing of sneaking across behind the person in front of you and forcing the approaching car to slow down.
Wisconsin has a "45 second" rule for cyclists at a red light that won't change without a car present. You should be really sure it's been 45 seconds before you use this (e.g. look at your watch/bike computer, don't go on feel).
Multiuse Paths
We're lucky to have a great network of multiuse paths in Madison. To some extent, fast riders and big groups are the "car" of the bike paths. It's on us to be polite, safe, and to slow down when necessary.
Give people a few feet when you pass them; the higher your speed differential, the more space you should give them. If you can't give them enough space, slow down until you can.
Similar to stop signs, just because the person in front of you went around someone, that doesn't mean you can safely do it too. Always evaluate the situation for yourself.
Call out "on your left", and if you're at the front of a big group, say something like "on your left with a big group". Some path users will not hear you or do the thing where they look left over their shoulder and drift left, so always be prepared for that.
Don't scare oncoming traffic. Some common issues:
You go around someone in front of you and cut it close with an oncoming cyclist/pedestrian
You're riding two abreast and on the yellow line and you think they'll be okay passing you with a few inches of room
It's okay to go slow on the paths. If our group gets split up, rest assured that the front will wait and regroup.
You can't please everyone
Some drivers will close pass us just because they can. Some drivers will yell at us because they don't know the law. Some pedestrians will get mad at us for passing them even though we're all the way on the other side of the path. Some cyclists are maniacs who give all cyclists as bad name (let’s not be those). The most we can do is give our best effort to share the road, follow the law, and be polite and predictable.
This is by no means a necessity, but a radar unit (e.g. from Garmin or Trek) can really help you know what traffic is coming behind you and help you make sure you move over out of the way.
I'm proud to put on the BD kit and represent the kind of riding we want to see in our community, and I hope you are too. I know I sometimes have lapses in my own decision making out there, so please tell me if I'm not following my own rules!
If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and feel free to get in touch with any comments or feedback!