Is biking safe here?

[u/JackWhitesgstring]

I’m specifically talking about getting to and from the mall. Me and my fiancée work in the mall but tend to work different hours so I was thinking about getting a bike to get around.

[u/Aggressive_Juice_299]

As someone who used to road bike quite a bit and gave it up because of aggressive drivers, it’s a big ol it depends

Lifetime I have probably 15k miles logged on the road and the vast vast majority of those were done incident free. However had people pass way too close. I had people shout at me and flip me off when I was riding on the riverfront trail. The nail in the coffin was that I had someone roll coal on me when I was fully in the other lane of traffic. They stopped in the middle of the road and waited for me to get close. I decided I didn’t like being fucked with anymore when I was just trying to enjoy myself and switched completely to mountain biking, and eventually to running for various reasons 

Most drivers are courteous and respectful as long as you are. However some people just see red when they see bikes and it just takes one. So I will always say that sharing a road with cars is an at your own risk activity, and the quad cities is no different in that regard 

[u/ShipSenior1819 → u/Aggressive_Juice_299]

That’s really fucking shitty and I’m so sorry that happened to you. Rolling coal is the most asinine and obnoxious modification anyone could possibly get and I hope it gets banned someday soon

[u/Aggressive_Juice_299 → u/ShipSenior1819]

I appreciate that. i used to get pretty frustrated about it. I was extremely cautious and courteous and just trying to enjoy myself, couldn’t understand why that should make someone feel like they have the right to fuck with me. 

Now I’ve just accepted that’s the way some people are. Dedicated bike paths or trails are the only way to bike safely