The bike lane dilemma part 2

I got an excellent comment from John (he has a Sacramento blog) regarding "The bike lane dilemma":

Because the law states that bicycles must ride with the flow of traffic, and because I imagine most cyclists where you are do, you are actually doing cyclists a grave disservice by violating the law and riding contrary to traffic.

In the eyes of drivers, you have suddenly become unpredictable, and traffic safety depends in large part on the idea that traffic follows predictable patterns, defined by the rules of the road.

(You also become a poor ambassador for cyclists generally, who already have reputations for lawlessness when it comes to road rules.)

If you don't feel safe riding with traffic on a particular street, then chose an alternate route. For busy streets without adequate bicycle facilities, this is a far, far better option than riding against traffic.

And you mention iPods, I think it's illegal in most places (certainly here in CA) to wear headphones in both ears while riding.

John makes sense with every point he makes; I can't disagree, which is why the situation here in Franklin is indeed a dilemma. The most sensible solution to the deadly "back to traffic" situations I illustrate is, indeed, to choose an alternate route as John suggests.

This is where things get interesting in my city. Sacramento, where John lives, is blessed with a gridwork of streets and roads that offers many alternative travel strategies (not to mention a variety of public transit solutions and a progressive attitude toward a walkable/bikable city). It's a different world here in Franklin. The combination of subdivisions with non-connected roadwork (a common sin in sprawled suburbs) and a giant quarry in the vicinity (one of Franklin's unique geographical challenges) means that in many cases, there is but a single route available! That's the main reason for my rant - - the situations you see in "The bike dilemma" posting occur on portions of roadway that are actually designated part of the Oak Leaf Trail (click map below to expand), and these conditions exist because little thought was expended on pedestrians and bicyclists when this community was being built.

I've added an oval to indicate the portion of the trail in my vicinity. The RED parts of the trail are the roads where I took the pictures for "The bike dilemma" posting.  The GREEN squiggly line indicates where a trail extension is being built that will eliminate at least one dangerous portion of the route. However, anyone who wants to use their bike rather than their car to travel to, for instance, a new local coffee shop that opened 1.75 mile northwest of the subdivisions along Drexel, will have to brave almost half the distance to their destination on dangerous connector roads.

Which, unfortunately, returns me to the dilemma of riding with my back to traffic on a road like this, where rear-view mirrors brush your elbow: