Cycling is No Longer Enjoyable
Over the past couple of years cycling has become less and less enjoyable. I perceive that drivers are more aggressive than they used to be, and now I regularly get yelled at by drivers that are unhappy I exist on the road. I am told to "get off the road" or "ride on the sidewalk". If there is some kind of bike lane that exists (regardless of whether it is convenient or safe) I can expect to be yelled at about that as well. Of course the brave drivers only yell at me while driving by; none will talk to me within punching distance.
The majority of drivers continue to put up with me, but I can expect one to three will yell at me, and that makes me unreasonably angry. I am a mostly-predictable and mostly-conscientious cyclist. I do not take up more space on the roads than I used to. But people now feel entitled to hurl verbal abuse at me as I ride, and it ruins the experience for me. I am avoiding southbound trips because I know any journey through Cambridge is going to result in harassment.
I think part of this can be blamed on Doug Ford's war on bike lanes. Part of this can also be blamed on the Region of Waterloo for putting dumb unsafe bicycle infrastructure in place. Part of this probably has some other explanation. Whatever the reasons, I am sick of them.
I am still cycling, but this winter I cycled a lot less than usual. Part of that was because this winter was awful, but another part was because I get hassled less while walking than while riding. It is posssible that sooner or later somebody will take out their road rage on me. That will not be a pretty sight.
As usual, painted bike lanes come out better than no bike lanes, which often come out better than the Jim Crow segregated bike infrastructure that is trendy these days. In a painted bike lane I usually avoid harassment. When the Jim Crow infrastructure comes to a sudden halt or is filled with ice, I have to take the main roads, and then comes trouble.
(Seriously: I was cycling up the bridge on Weber between Albert and Parkside Drive. There is a multi-use trail on the bridge and painted bike lanes on either side of the bridge, so instead of riding on the sidewalk I chose to ride the bridge on the side of the road. Big mistake. Even though there was plenty of space for cars to pass some truck driver felt entitled to yell at me.)
I feel the least safe in Cambridge and the most safe on quiet rural roads. Too bad getting to those rural roads means riding through hostile urban landscapes.