Safety at Intersections

By Bill Sellin

Tustin Ranch Road in the City of Tustin is on several of our routes, and gives us many good examples - in quick succession - of when a Class II bikeway (bike lanes) has to deal with multi-lane traffic intersections.
If you are not aware of the reason experienced cyclists know to take a primary lane position and stay out of the gutter, see this explainer about why riding to the far right was changed for cycists back in 1963.

Riding north on Tustin Ranch there is a signal for the SB 5 freeway entrance and exit:
”Stop Bar” limit line and improperly painted bike lane across intersection.

With up to 5 red lights and a clear “Stop Bar” limit line, club members still routinely roll through the red light and continue. Motorists exiting the freeway turning left into the NB lanes often swing wide. Running the red light when vehicles are swinging left works most of the time until it doesn’t. It doesn’t help that Caltrans and Tustin incorrectly painted the bike lane across the intersection as if it was a shoulder. The existence of the bike lane does not override the mandatory stop on red. Unless you are on the sidewalk…
Just obey the red light and stop in the bike lane.

The next intersection is the same, for the NB 5 freeway entrance and exit:
”Stop Bar” limit line and improperly painted bike lane across intersection.

Just obey the 4 or 5 red lights and stop in the bike lane.

The next intersection is at Auto Center Drive:
The bike lane is shared for turning motorists to turn from:

The “Detail 39a” standard is 4 foot dashes and 8 foot gaps, and can be painted from 200 to 50 feet before the intersection depending on speed and length of the block. This portion of the bike lane is SHARED with turning traffic. Motorist are legally REQUIRED to merge into ‘our’ bike lane to turn right from the right most lane. It is illegal to turn from the travel lane - because we cyclists may be there & can easily get right hooked, being in their blind spot. Motorists are supposed to merge in BEHIND us and if we ‘cork up’ the lane, must wait for us to move when the signal turns green.

Legally we MAY cork up the bike lane but for courtesy, traffic flow, and SAFETY, experts recommend leaving the bike lane clear for turning traffic.
If we signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust or mirror) and merge out of the bike lane into the travel lane we do several things: We become much more ‘consequentially visible’ to traffic, and sooner, if we control the lane when clear; we dissuade motoris speeding passed us to make ‘right-hook’ turns across our path and incentivize them to do the proper thing and merge into the bike lane to turn right from. We also free up the bike lane for fellow cyclist who may want to turn right.
We frequently see motorists who do not know they are supposed to merge into the Bike Lane, who turn from the travel lane - often without even using a blinker. If we ride past on their right, especially at speed, we are taking a huge risk. “Filtering Up” on the right, in the blind spot of turning traffic that may suddenly ‘right-hook’ us, has killed many cyclists and can be completely avoided by US as cyclists: Never filter up on the right of traffic that may be turning across your path. At a red light, merge over early and take the travel lane with traffic to stay out of the shared portion of the bike lane. It is legal pass in the bike lane and to ‘cork up’ the bike lane but can be deadly. It is legal for cyclists to leave a “mandatory use” bike lane anywhere a vehicle may make a right turn for mitigation of this very hazard.
The City of Tustin has ‘dashed’ the bike lane marking it as SHARED for drivers to turn from. This is correct, but motorists do not know they are REQUIRED to merge in behind us, and frequently turn right from the travel lane. Cyclists do not know this and stay in the the bike lane, frustrating motorists and inviting them to pass and right hook us.

The next intersection is with El Camino Real:
The bike lane ends, has a weave-zone gap, and is extended left of the RTOL pocket

The City of Tustin has incorrectly ‘dashed’ the bike lane instead of keeping it solid up to the hip of the turn pocket as the MUTCD requires. We should have priority to the hip and not be sharing with vehicles before the pocket.
Tustin HAS painted the bike lane left of the RTOL (Right Turn Only Lane) pocket, but given the posted speed limit, it SHOULD be wider.
This should help make it clear to turning traffic that they should cross our path of travel and use the RTOL to turn from, and not turn right across our path from the #3 travel lane.
Tustin starts the RTOL less than the 100 feet from the end of the bike lane, as recommended by the MUTCD to give motorists a reasonable gap to merge across our path. That means some motorists will merge into our bike lane too early (because it is dashed) before the RTOL pocket, and others will cut across the extended Bike Lane to their RTOL pocket to late (because the gap is less than 100 feet). Expect both.
Tustin should do better, and could add the Complete Streets treatments to mark the conflict / weave zone for our safety, but has chosen not to. In Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Riverside, and many places that are implementing the current DOT Complete Streets standards, you will see the weave / conflict zone has been marked with green blocks to make it safer for us.
We should again signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust our mirror) and merge out of the bike lane into the travel lane to reach the extension left of the RTOL pocket unless we are turning right. If we do it sooner rather than later, we are less likely to surprise traffic coming up fast… If we are a long group, and the extension is getting full, stop at the end of the bike lane to keep the weave zone clear and let turning traffic get to their RTOL pocket.
Again, It is a NARROW (sub standard) extension, so we tighten up so that we do not impede either the RTOL on our right or the through lane on our left.
Just stay in your lane.
When the light turns green, we can proceed with an assumption that the vehicles in the RTOL will turn turn and NOT come up on our right. Even so - look back on your right as you merge back over to the gutter-position bike lane across the intersection.

We may ignore a Right Turn Only Lane arrow ONLY IF there is
a Sharrow marking on the pavement and/or an EXCEPT Bicycle sign is posted

The next intersection is at Bryan:
The bike lane ends and there is a RTOL

Along the block after El Camino Real, the bike lane is dashed for the shopping center drive ways - and on approach to the RTOL at Bryan. (BTW: Irvine no longer breaks the bike lane stripe for driveways, only at intersections). The bike lane ends as a shared lane and we are REQUIRED to merge into the travel lane to proceed straight across Bryan, or REQUIRED to use the RTOL to turn east on Bryan. It is illegal to proceed straight from a RTOL UNLESS there is a EXCEPT BICYCLE sign posted or a sharrow marking added in the RTOL by each Right Turn arrow marking. The City of Tustin ignores Caltrans DOT standards and dashed our bike lane before ending it here. It should be solid up to the end and not shared.

We may ignore a Right Turn Only Lane arrow ONLY IF there is
a Sharrow marking on the pavement and/or an EXCEPT Bicycle sign is posted

Some try to squeeze along the stripe between the RTOL and through lane, but that invites unsafe passing on the left, and may succeed in ‘corking up’ the overly cautious traffic trying to turn right from their their RTOL. We SHOULD merge over and control our right-most through lane. Especially as a group. We should again signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust our mirror) and merge out of the Bike Lane into the travel lane as soon as possible. If we can control the travel lane all the way from the signal at El Camino Real, we will not have to weave in and out of the shared bike lane at all, just hold our lane. Motorists will be able to choose the #1 or #2 travel lanes lanes to proceed straight past us up Tustin Ranch, or slow down and follow us in the #3 lane, or merge into the shared bike lane to turn into the shopping center or McDonalds, or to get to their RTOL for Bryan.

When BCI rides we see the riders all over the place - in all 3 arrows at the same time.
We look like a herd of cats and motorists, many who already don’t want us ‘in THEIR way’ get another example of cyclist being unpredictable. Add a kid on a moped driving on the sidewalk as we pass by and we really look bad to other road users and pedestrians.
Call out your fellow riders when you see them edge riding, filtering up along potential turning traffic, ‘corking up’ bike lanes or illegally blocking RTOLs.
BCI expects all of our riders to follow the CVC - and to know them as they pertain to cycling. See CVC Laws for Cyclists - 2021 update (review of California Vehicle Code)
If you think cycling is what you see on the Tour de France or racing, you do not belong on open roads with real life traffic.

If you have comments, please post them below - or reach out to Bill@BikeIrvine.org
Please learn as much as you can - you won’t know how much you DON’T KNOW until you start to learn more. Great Starts: See Cycling Savvy’s “You Lead The Dance” as copied by Orlando

Take the free online Essential short course to understand the many basic ways to be a safer cyclist: https://cyclingsavvy.org/courses/essentials-short-course/

Here is an excellent on-line tutorial explaining Lane Position & why we don't edge ride the gutter, especially in narrow lanes: Understanding Cyclists Position on the Roadway

See this great article on how increasing speed increases our risks and how to mitigate them, including why to take the lane & stay out of the gutter: High Speed Bicycling

Moab Trip - September 2023

BCI Member #3063 Maria Perkins invites you to join her excursion to Moab Utah on September 15-23.

This 6 day plan includes the sagged two day Moab Century that will cost each person $195. It is put on by Skinny Tires Events. Hotel and food (aside from what the Century provides) is on your own. Ten rooms are currently reserved at the Aarchways Inn for our group. Rooms with 2 queen beds start at *$189 per night for a total of $1134 (excl tax & fees) for 6 nights.*The Moab Century rate.

Register for the Moab Centugg: *To join this group, you will need to register for the Moab Century by 7/1/2023 or earlier. The price is not refundable. skinnytireevents.com/moab-century-tour

Stay: The Aarchway Inn is located at the start for each of these out and back rides. Each room has a microwave, refrig.,coffee pot. Included: internet & cell service, a free breakfast buffet, & a pool + Jacuzzi.

*Schedu|e: *Celebrate & compare plans for the next day at a 5 p.m. happy hour each night. BYOB....and any snacks to share. We'll meet before the October trip & Zoom too.

1) Friday Night: 9/15/2023 Arrive in Moab: Join the group at 5 p.m. for dinner.

2) Saturday, 9/16 Moab Century Day 1 - *63 miles, 3800 ft of climbing *(shorter or longer routes available two weeks before the event) ridewithgps.com/routes/30884120

3) Sunday, 9/17 Moab Metric Century Day 2 - 64 miles, 5K ft of climbing ridewithgps.com/routes/30884266

4) Monday: 9/18 Off (Hike or mountain bike, or?? Jacuzzi??- It's your choice.)

5) Tuesday: 9/19/2022: *Arches National Park Ride: 42 miles, 3870 ft of climbing. Sagged. ridewithgps.com/routes/26983435 *Maybe hike afterwards or hike instead?

6) Wednesday, 9/20, River Portal Loop, Potash Rd: 38 miles, 1380 ft of climbing: See cliff walls that run along the Colorado River — Not sagged. ridewithgps.com/routes/29683436

7) Thursday: 9/21 Leave for home.

Ride Insurance for Tuesday & Wednesday Rides:
Sponsored by BOBies Cycling Club: (ButtsOnBikesInlandEmpire)
Join to receive insurance coverage for Tues. & Wed. rides only. Cost is $25 annually.

CONTACT: Maria Perkins — 909-319-2400 bper816@aol.com
for details and to get on the list.
You will receive a survey and we will zoom soon. Please provide your email address & phone number so we can add you to the MOAB 2023 WhatsApp group. *You will also be asked to sign Disclaimers and provide a Medical information Form.

CYCLING FRIENDS of MOAB 2023
”Ride and Eat” on April 2nd - Learn about the September Moab Trip - 3 ride option on Santiago Canyon rolling at 8, 8:30 and 9. Potluck (optional) & BYOB
RSVP with Maria by March 19 to get details.

BCI is now on Meetup

In an attempt to find more members, BCI has stated a pilot Meetup Group.
We will run it for 6 months and see how well it gets word out about our club; If you see more guests show up, take the time to welcome them, and as needed - explain why we ride the way we do…
Some may have some inexperience or bad habits we collectively can help improve!
If you are in Meetup, please join the group. If you are not involved in meetup, check it out - there are some very interesting groups hosting all kinds of activities near you that you might enjoy!
meetup.com/bicycle-club-of-irvine/

After a year of offering BCI as a Meetup Group, we have cancelled our subscription effective Dec 27 2023. We got about 100 prospective members but only a few showed up for any rides so it was not worth keeping the MeetUp Group going. Most find us from a simple search or word of mouth from friends or shops.

Venta Spur Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge Ribbon Cutting

The City of Irvine has completed a bicycle - pedestrian bridge over the 133 toll road to connect the Great Park to Northwood. Please join us as the community celebrates with a ribbon cutting program. This new link will create a vehicle free connection across the 133 Toll Road between Trabuco/Great Park Blvd. and Irvine Blvd.

We would expect most BCI members to ride in on a bicycle...

Location: Corner of Sable & Emberglow https://goo.gl/maps/bKbQxZsdfLAEYm988

Climb Factors

So on yesterday’s ride Rick asked Bill if there was a hilly-ness rating we might use to rank routes… intrigued, as “flat” “rolly” and “hilly” was always subject to the interpretation of the ride coordinator, and what Norm called “flat” was not what everyone else experienced as flat.
Now that RWGPS gives us a +/- elevation change on every route we design, we can calculate the factor of elevation divided by the miles of the ride to come up with a “feet per mile” number we’ll call the “Climb Factor”.
Bill ran the numbers on the Tuesday Routes and found a range from less than 20 feet per mile to over 50 feet per mile: Tues14 & 18 are less than 20’/m; (Climb Factor 1)
01 & 13 25 are in the 20’s. (Climb Factor 2)
Most routes are 30’/m to 40’/m. (Climb Factor 3 & 4)
06 & 17 30 are over 50’/m. (Climb Factor 5)

Our Weekend Routes range from CF 0 (less than 10 ft per mile on DCP01 S with 109 feet in 18.2 miles) to CF 7 (over 70 feet per mile on DCP21 L+ at 4,594 feet in 59.7 miles!)
So when a Climb Factor is on a route, it can give you an idea of how much elevation you can expect, relative to the distance. (Probably TMI but maybe it will catch on!)

Since most rides start & end at the same location, the climb and descent are the same. Some rides - like Riverside down stream to Anaheim may have a Climb Factor in a negative number.
You can do your own calculation: If the route is 38.3 miles & elevation is shown as +/- 1,234 ft just do the math: 1,234 / 38.3 = 32.2’/m (feet per mile) so that would be a “Climb Factor 3”

Team BCI and the UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge 2022

Thanks to you all for your support of BCI’s participation in UCI’s Anti-Cancer Challenge on October 8th 2022 !

A special thanks to you, VP Dave Murphy, for your generosity in providing TEAM BCI’s jerseys!

For the first time, TEAM BCI exceeded its goal and raised $1,044 contributing to the nearly $1 million ($921,00 and still incoming) grand total. TEAM BCI also surpassed its greatest number of participants to date - 15!

Yesterday's culminating event was awesome! Amazing to be among such a diversity of participants ~ babies, families, friends, survivors ~ gathering, honoring, running, walking, riding with a common purpose, to end cancer.
The positivity and enthusiasm was inspiring!

Big KUDOS to you all.

Thank you, Deby Six

Daniel Stetson & Tony Abatjolou

Summer Weekend Ride Start Schedule Reversal

Given concerns of many members, a survey was conducted of member sto se ehow the membership felt about the weekend start time shift to 8am on July 2nd.

Over 60 members responded to the survey and the results were discussed at the board meeting to decide on if the schedule change should be reversed or amended.

The decisions were made to go back to 9:00 starts on Weekends, and to add an 8:30 start time for long rides on Sundays.
The rides have been adjusted and this weekend we will start at 9. As always, individuals are free to ride early or later and miss out on the group start, but we’ll see each other along the road and at the regroup points.

Here are the survey results, used to help inform the decision:

Annual Meeting / Elections Change Proposal

At the March 3rd Board Meeting, a motion passed to revise the BCI Bylaws to allow shifting the Annual Meeting away from January. The proposal is to hold our Annual Meeting on October 15th, rather than in January. The reasons include: we have had a hard time having an outdoor event if a Covid-19 spike occurs and have inclement weather. The busy holiday season is always a stressful time to pull together a ‘banquet’ dinner and gather members. The generous sponsors who traditionally provided raffle prizes are swamped with year end business and may be able to contribute more easily in any other time of year. The Annual recognition of Strava Riders and the Annual Member of the Year “Spirit Award” would still be recognized at the January General Membership Meeting.
The biggest impact would be stepping up the election of officers and seating of the Board. The current Board would be up for re-election or replacement in October and the next Board would be identified as the 2022-23 Board to serve until the Annual Meeting in 2023.
In order to do this, the Bylaws would need to be amended.
The amendment will be formally presented at the March 10th General Meeting and after 3 months of consideration, will be voted on by the membership at the June 9th General Meeting.
You can see the details of the proposed revised text, as well as our current and several prior Bylaws on this web site under the “INFO” tab.

Bylaws

Benevolence Committee

With such a large club we are like an extended family, and have care about each other. When members suffer a loss, challenge or injury, we sometimes don’t hear about it, but the outreach of a friend can really help uplift us in challenging times. Given the ‘new normal’ of endemic Covid-19 we gather less often and can easily miss hearing news.
Director @ Large Kathy Shapiro has stepped forward to chair a benevolence committee to help collect news and offer support. If you are interested in joining her ‘team’ please let her know.
We have set up a separate blog to allow comments & updates.

Full Board Seated

The 9 officers were formally elected in the run up to our Annual Meeting in January,
and at the February Board meeting 2 Directors at Large have been appointed
to complete the 11 member Board of Directors.
Paul Haussler has been followed by Marsha Murphy as Ride Coordinator
Jane Schrenzel has handed over her job to Kim Gerrard as Secretary
Dev Sellin and Marsha Murphy have been replaced
by Chris Norton and Kathy Shapiro as Directors @ Large

The other 7 incumbent officers were re-elected to continue their work.
The entire Board is listed here.

Please congratulate and thank the current and outgoing board members!

"News Alerts" delivery issues

We send out a “News Alert” email every couple of weeks to highlight upcoming events and announce news. Several members have not gotten them for various reasons. Most obvious is if you change your email address and don’t update your membership record. There may be a simple typo in your address. If you accidentally clicked our email as ‘junk’ it may remember that for future emails. Look in your junk/spam inbox. Less obvious; some mail servers like Yahoo & iCloud scrub our email as spam, as it is sent to over 300 members and may not have all the certifications the receiver’s server requires. It may help to add our address bci@mail.tidyhq.com to your address book, but not always.
Plan B: If you still are not getting News Alerts - you might want to create a free Google account & give BCI that gmail address. You can set up the gmail address to forward the BCI mail to your preferred ‘real’ address.
If you are added to our ‘Rejection Blacklist’ we can try to remove you.
Why do email addresses get put on this list?
The email bounced and cannot be delivered, or the recipient marked the email as spam.
If you are not getting the News Alerts,
1: Check if your membership has expired (only sent to current BCI members),
2: Check if we have your correct email address,
3: Contact us to see if you are on our Rejection Blacklist,
4: Add bci@mail.tidyhq.com to your “known senders” and/or add it to your address book / contact list.
We are not sure, but it may be that you CAN receive emails only sent to you - like renewal notices, but the News Alerts going to 300 people triggers a ‘spam’ concern on your end…
Let us know if you don’t get Alerts but do get renewal and membership updates.

2021 Strava Challenge Awards

At the Annual Meeting, the top 3 men and women across 4 categories were recognized by Statistician Ed Trainor. Miles recorded, Distance recorded, Rides recorded and Moving “Time in the saddle” have all been tracked and tabulated for the calendar year. 12 Certificates ‘suitable for framing’ were prepared and sent to recipients. Congratulations to all !

John Condia recorded an amazing 15,446 miles in 2021,
followed in 3rd & 4th by Mike Hollinden (9,983 miles), Bruce Campbell (9,615 miles)

Dori Lewis was 1st among women, and second over all with 10,041 miles,
Gloria Nafel recorded 6,175 miles for 2nd among women,
& Karen Cook recorded 5,019 miles for 3rd

Men: Top 3 Elevation:
John Condia (905,892 feet), Bruce Campbell (552, 425 feet), Joe Elwood (537,234)
Most Rides (Activities) recorded:
John Condia (378), Larry Fletcher (259), Vince Wilhelm (258)
Most Saddle Time:
John Condia (1036 hours), Mike Hollinden (757 hours), Richard Henley (756 hours)

Women: Top 3 Elevation:
Gloria Nafel (292,999 feet), Dori Lewis (278,360 feet), Virginia Frazer (177,733 feet)
Most Rides (Activities) recorded:
Dori Lewis (210), Gloria Nafel (202), Beverly Franks (144)
Most Saddle Time:
Dori Lewis (636 hours), Gloria Nafel (476 hours), Karen Cook (373 hours).

All of the final results are posted, and the 2022 Strava Challenge is already a month old but jump on ! More…

2021 Spirit Award recipient

At our 2022 Annual Meeting, Jane Schrenzel, BCI# 3815, outgoing Secretary, was awarded our Member of the Year “Spirit Award by Membership Director Deby Six. Jane joined BCI in May of 2006 and has served in the past as our Director of Hospitality.
The engraved glass award was physically presented to her on Tuesday’s club ride ride by President Marc Urias.

Photo: Peter Gerrard