New Mexico The Bicycle Friendly State

[NoGaBiker]

I don't remember mentioning any other roadway at all except an interstate going E to W  and W to E. I am sure any sensible person would already know NM has roads for cycling other than I-10.

Funny, I am equally sure any sensible person wouldn't ride an interstate for any appreciable amount of time, and if they did so, wouldn't expect anything in the way of accomodations for cyclists.

[Westinghouse]

The interstate going into California was quite nice where it could be used. The shoulders were smooth and maintanied. There was a world of difference between the interstate in CA and NM. The I in NM reminded me of roads in Louisiana. The I in TX was pretty good too.

The next time I do the ST I am going to use CA's route across NM.

[mucknort]

Funny how people can have such a different impression of a place and its people.

On a recent cross-country trip, we met a couple in NY that had come from Oregon. They "warned" us of the grumpy people and awful drivers of Minnesota. We ended up enjoying the friendly people and nice drivers of Minnesota when we passed through. However, we found the large majority of folks in the section of Michigan we rode through to range from dis-interested to grumpy (possibily due to the rotten economy of the state) and by far the rudest drivers we encountered were in the state of Washington, especially the Western half. I'm sure others have had the opposite experience in those 2 states as we did.

[Westinghouse]

That's normal. However, I-10 going W through NM sucks for cycling. That's no impression. That's a tangible fact. It might not be that bad every inch of the way, but it really sucks. AZ is no great shakes for cycling I-8 and 10 going W either. By contrast, I-8 in CA is much better for cycling, much smoother and better maintained. 90 in N FL is nice and smooth with plenty of extra room for cycling most of the way. I know these routes. I have cycled across the USA quite a few times. I have cycled these routes, some severally.

As for impressions about people, it depends on your experiences. If I go through some area and people keep honking their horns at me and some jerk throws a sixeen ounce beer at me at 70 mph, I am going to come away from that place with a different impression from someone who gets invited in for the night, etc. This is not a perfect world, and cycling through it is not going to make it one. I get the impression some people need to believe cycling is perfection itself and nothing bad happens. Bad things happen to large numbers of people every day and every minute of every day. Cycling does not make anyone immune from the bad that can befall any one of us. It is often largely a matter of chance, if you believe in chance. The fact is I have seen some really seriously criminally offensive stuff out there on the road, but have rarely mentioned it at all. I mentioned it once here and somebody wants the information concealed, and what I saw is directly related to cycling certain roads on the ST. That's not an impression. That is a tangible, real-world fact, and these crimes were committed serially over a long period of time.

[mucknort]

The fact is I have seen some really seriously criminally offensive stuff out there on the road, but have rarely mentioned it at all. I mentioned it once here and somebody wants the information concealed, and what I saw is directly related to cycling certain roads on the ST. That's not an impression. That is a tangible, real-world fact, and these crimes were committed serially over a long period of time.

Yes, you mentioned this "seriously criminally stuff in another posters thread". I don't think he/she wanted anything "concealed", they just didn't want their thread hijacked by what seemed a different subject. Since this is Your thread, why don't you go ahead and tell us what the heck you are talking about since I'm clueless.

This is from the other thread:

Yes. I have bicycle toured about 37,000 miles (59,000 kilometers) through nineteen countries, including crossing the USA several times N, S, E, and W. I have noticed some very unusual and very obviously deliberately coordinated traffic patterns on the ST. These traffic patterns were criminal and offensive in nature. But you have to know what to look for to recognize it, and no casual passerby who witnesses any of it would have the least bit of a suspicion that anything offensive or illegal was going on. I have cycled around the world, and I have never seen anything like it anywhere. Not anywhere no matter how dense the population and the motorized traffic have I seen anything even remotely like it anywhere else in the world. And that includes in China or anywhere.

[Westinghouse]

The OP on the other thread did ask about which roads NOT to cycle on, and what to watch out for. My answer related directly and specifically to his inquiry. The incidents to which I referred but did not explicate were directly related to cycling and traffic on roads on the ST, not necessarily all on ACA's mapped route, but definitely through the ST. these many many incidents were absolutely and unquestionably deliberate, coordinated, timed, and designed to cause maximum stress and discomfort.

I started keeping a journal on these incidents after a while. It was criminal as hell, and of course these incidents caused me to come away with an impression quite difherent from what others might have from cycling that or a similar route. I am not sure I should detail these incidents on a public forum. I doubt it would get fair recognition.

I have done a great deal of long-distance bicycle touring, and I know the difference between normal traffic patterns and traffic that is organized, coordinated, timed, and deliberate. Nothing happens in exactly the same places, at exactly the same times, in exactly the same ways with that degree of regularity across four or five states to the degree it becomes easily predictable every time. There is no point in infinity you can reach where those incidents could have been merely happenstance. You have a better chance of winning the state lottery 10 times consecutively buying only one ticket each time than the chances that the incidents I refer to just happened to take place when I was there. I am talking about long-term, stalking on the road involving more than 100 incidents, many different vehicles, and I don't know how many different people. No matter how impossible it sounds, it was all very real and it happened. I am just hesitant to detail it all.