got a question that i havent found on the the internet and on the forums. im new to riding and enjoy riding outside san antonio. i decided that i would try commuting to work on saturday, its only five miles away and figured that it wouldnt be so bad since it was a weekend. by the way i live on blanco and church hill estates and work at north central baptist hospital. well the ride up there wasnt bad at all since i left at 7:30 in the mourning. but on the way back at 5 it was horrible. stone oak has horrible traffic and no bike lane. anyways, to my question. when i was trying to get from 1604 to blanco there is a bike lane, but i was turning left. in this situation do i turn from the bike lane or do i get on the outer car lane, turn and then get in the bike lane. i hope im saying this correctly, i ended up taking a right, ride about a mile or two up and then turning around so i could take the overpass directly. or maybe someone could tell me an easier way to get home. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thank you

I am in S.A. also, but not commuting. I do ride some of the same roads and have typically found it's best to take the same lane you would use if you were driving a car. Obey the laws and don't expect cars to see you or yield; however, you need to make eye contact and communcate your intentions. Hope this helps a little. You may also want to post this in the Commuter section to get more input from folks with more experience than me.

The "correct" way is to get into the left turn lane--- however it might not be the most practical or safest way, depending on the traffic you would have to cross to find your way into the turn lane. And safety trumps the theoretical "correct" every time. Sometimes it makes more sense to stay to the right, cross the street, stop, turn your bike, and wait for the light to change. But if you have such a short commute, there is no harm lengthening your ride if it gives you a more practical route.

The "best" route by bike often is not the most direct. One reason for riding to work is to avoid some of the rat race and headaches of traffic as much as possible.


got a question that i havent found on the the internet and on the forums. im new to riding and enjoy riding outside san antonio. i decided that i would try commuting to work on saturday, its only five miles away and figured that it wouldnt be so bad since it was a weekend. by the way i live on blanco and church hill estates and work at north central baptist hospital. well the ride up there wasnt bad at all since i left at 7:30 in the mourning. but on the way back at 5 it was horrible. stone oak has horrible traffic and no bike lane. anyways, to my question. when i was trying to get from 1604 to blanco there is a bike lane, but i was turning left. in this situation do i turn from the bike lane or do i get on the outer car lane, turn and then get in the bike lane. i hope im saying this correctly, i ended up taking a right, ride about a mile or two up and then turning around so i could take the overpass directly. or maybe someone could tell me an easier way to get home. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thank you

Exactly right. I was trying to explain this to someone the other day. They couldn't understand why I went from my house south of Downtown Fort Worth, up to downtown, eastward on the north side of I-30 then cut through all these back roads to get to South Arlington. It turned a 10 mile trip by car into an almost 25 mile trip by bike.

I tried to explain to them that the most direct route by car, and the most direct route by bike are not the same thing. That was the safest route to get to where I was going. Plus it was a nice way to get a few extra miles in.

However, sometimes you'll find the bike route quicker as well. You can cut through areas that a car can't easily traverse. Downtown is a perfect example. I can almost always beat a car cutting through downtown, especially if you factor in parking!

i agree with people saying take a longer more pleasant route.

like going to the east of the canyon creek cc area, through the neighborhood, right up to 1604underpass at Voight / Stone Oak Parkway.

Do a search for "gmaps pedometer" and click in routes there to figure out possibilities and mileage.