Cycling The Las Vegas Strip

In mid-April, I was invited to stay with some friends on the Las Vegas strip. The hotel was pretty much free as part of a timeshare sales program so I figured why not see what it is like for a cyclist in Las Vegas. While my hosts sat through a sales presentation for a condo, I took off on my bike down the Las Vegas strip.


Flying with Bicycle
Of course, before I could do that I had to get myself and my bike to Vegas. I could rent a bike like I did in Australia but finding a place to rent a really nice road bike is even more difficult than finding a place that rents a really nice car. Also, my height makes it even more difficult to find something my size.

Given that, I'm starting to regularly bring my bike with me on planes. Southwest Airlines is the most reasonable at $50 each way. For some, this is outrageous. For me, my bike fits like a great pair of shoes and it is totally worth it. If you factor in the money you save on a rental car, it works out.

No Bike Lanes, Not Even a Shoulder
One of the first things I saw on the strip was this type of thing: a classic American roadway completely dominated by cars. No bike lanes or sharrows here. There's not even a shoulder for cars. That must create all kinds of fun when a car breaks down.

Lots of Cops on Bikes
The second thing I saw were bicycle police. Seeing them made me feel better about the total lack of any other protection for bikes. With the cops on bikes, the drivers on the strip will be thinking twice before antagonizing a cyclist. Even better, I just happened to be wearing a yellow jacket like the cops were.

I asked one policeman how he liked using a bike on his beat. He said, "Don't tell anyone but I'd do this for free". I can see it. It is loads of fun whizzing down one of the most colorful streets on the planet.

Refreshingly Flat
With that, I took off from the very north end of the strip (the Sahara).  I was pleasantly surprised by the flatness. The Hayward and San Andreas faults back home ensure you are never really off of an incline. There's always a subtle, or not so subtle, grade you are pedaling against. Here, there was no resistance. Woohoo!

With that I was easily able to sustain 25 MPH and could even sustain 28 MPH for a couple of blocks. This turned out to be plenty of speed to keep up with traffic. Because of the incessant stop lights, even the lead foots couldn't get going too much faster than I did. I even passed cars in some of the congested parts. This calmed my nerves. I figured no car could be too upset with a cyclist that was meeting or exceeding the flow of traffic. Now I could enjoy the scenery.

Since I was enjoying the speeds I could reach, I decided to cruise all the way to the south end of the strip (beyond MGM) and then work my way back more slowly: focusing on some of the new architecture and sidewalk infrastructure that are unique to Vegas and hint at what could be possible for bikes there and elsewhere.

The New City Center: Disco Berlin
One of the amazing new sites in Vegas is the new City Center. This should not be missed because it is unlike anything else in town. First of all, it is absolutely massive compared to anywhere else on the strip. It takes up many city blocks and the base goes up 5 stories before the tall buildings even start.

The style is also uniquely understated for Vegas. It looks like someone from Vegas decided the strip could use a hint of Berlin or Geneva along with all the other cities represented. Of course, the new buildings still have a Vegas flair: some of them are leaning (by design) at a dramatic angle. Regardless, the development is something to see both from an aesthetic point of you and from a transport design point of view (perhaps poor design but fascinating, nonetheless).

Yet Another Monorail
Included in this new development, is a new monorail. It turns out, Las Vegas has two monorail systems. Why they need two disconnected systems and why neither goes to the airport, is a mystery. One has been around for a while and it spans the whole strip. It is quite effective in quickly and safely getting pedestrians or cyclists to key parts of the strip. The new City Center monorail looks really cool and gets you around the City Center but that's about it.

The line of cabs waiting at the new City Center nicely illustrates what it still takes to get around Vegas. Obviously, these monorails are not a complete transport alternative. Nevertheless, this is still a better alternative transport infrastructure than you find in a lot of other American cities.

What the strip lacks in real bike and train solutions it makes up for with the pedestrian solutions. The Vegas strip pedestrian infrastructure is awesome in its scale, enginuity, and even its beauty at times.

Vegas has always had wide sidewalks along the strip which are always a welcome site for pedestrians. Those are still in full effect with some rather nice landscaping to obscure the whoosh of cabs that are inches away. These can obviously be found in lots of cities as well.

Pedestrian Intersection Bridges for Days
What most other cities don't have is a comprehensive set of pedestrian bridges over all the road intersections. Nor, do you frequently see such pedestrian bridges with escalators.  With this infrastructure in place, it is possible for a sucker (I mean guest) to stroll the entire strip without encountering cars. That alone is a fabulous achievement and more than you see in anywhere cities in the U.S. Granted, it stops at the strip but I'm betting the pedestrian fatality and injury statistics are excellent compared to other downtown areas of large cities.

When similar infrastructure is proposed for cyclists, cost and space constraints are always cited. Las Vegas is proof that these can be overcome.


Blocks of Elevated Sidewalks
The new City Center construction takes this pedestrian infrastructure to a new level in engineering and aesthetics. One gets the impression that Las Vegas will eventually have two strips: one for cars at ground level and one for pedestrians two stories above that. The bits of that vision that are appearing now make that look like a nice idea. If they could incorporate bikes and trains more deeply into this trend, downtown Las Vegas could be on to something.

In the meantime, dangerous though it may be, I still dig racing the cabs.

Bike vs. Car Survivor Talks Cycling, Healthcare, and Cars

Photos courtesy of causticjb on Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0

Back in March, my friend Scott Calvert introduced me to an avid cyclist (and now a new friend) who had been in a horrible bike vs. car accident in San Francisco. His story so beautifully illustrates cycling, healthcare, and insurance issues that I asked him for an interview on PlanBike.

His name is Johan Beisser (pronounced "Yawn"). He's lived all over the world and all over the country both as a cyclist and motorist. He currently lives in San Francisco. Up until 7 months ago, he was using his bicycle in the city as a major mode of transport. Then, on September 16, 2009, something bad happened to him while riding his bike.

He was moving through the intersection of Polk and Geary when a car darted right in front of him. Things happened so fast that he could not avoid collision. Instinct seems to have brought his leg up to brace himself for the impact. Unfortunately, his leg went through a side window of the car and his body kept traveling until it totaled the outside of the car. The primary injury was a shattered hip socket. Although doctors managed to put his hip socket back together, the final result will be potentially severe arthritis in a decade or so.

Johan was about done with physical therapy when we met. Amazingly, he's walking pretty well now. Still, he's facing a number of long term effects of the injury: physical, financial, and psychological.

What follows is a Q and A with Johan Beisser about cycling, his crash, and his thoughts on both now after his experience.

PlanBike: How long have you been cycling as serious transport?
Johan: Off and on since 1996. I ended up using it really seriously in 2007 after getting a job in Mill Valley while I was living in Sausalito. At that point I was even preferring to ride the bike to the exclusion of the motorcycles most of the time.

PlanBike: How far do you typically ride?
Johan: A minimum of 6 miles a day, with 40 to 50 miles on Sundays. Occasionally, I'd do a "short loop" of 17 miles to and from Ft. Point (just under the Golden Gate Bridge) in the evenings, along the waterfront (basically along Embarcadero).The objective would be to beat the sunset to the bridge, and be home before dark.

Right now, due to my injury and healing process, I can't seem to do much more than 10 miles on a stationary bike before getting frustrated and bored.

PlanBike: What motivated you to start cycling?
Johan: Honestly, I just like things that don't balance themselves until they're moving.

I've been using a phrase "Two Wheel Revolution" for a while as a motivator around personal transport being smaller and more involved. I generally like small, light, and fast modes of transit, especially those that permit me to really experience the thrill of zipping along with the wind, weather, and road ahead. Sports cars, sport motorcycles, and light bicycles all fall in to this category.

This last time, it was a combination of economics and health benefits. I turned 33 in 2007 and something about being older got me to plan for the future a little more, and take the time to invest in my body and long term health. So, the natural choice was to buy a cheap Bianchi Pista, and start riding that to and from my job site. It turns out I really like the simplicity of a fixed gear, but hate the pressure on my knees when slowing down.

In 2008 I moved to Portland, OR, and stayed carless there. By then I'd sold both my motorcycles, and pretty much lived the fixed gear lifestyle: riding it everywhere in the city. Upon moving back to the bay area, I supplemented the Pista with a geared bike, and used it for everything from grocery runs to transit to meet friends.

PlanBike: How did you find Portland for bikes?
Johan: Portland is actually very bike-friendly. It's shockingly easy to go from downtown to the outer areas of the city by bike, park and lock it up. For example, you can go from SE Portland to the airport with your bike with it being welcomed on the light rail system, and every bus.

The city has not only embraced bicycles, they've actively cultured a true cottage industry around bike building, cycling as a real urban transport alternative, and bicycles as transport first. I can't, off hand, name a single business that doesn't have bike parking of some sort nearby or on premises.

I suspect it helps that the larger portion of PDX is topologically flat (SE/SW side), with the harder grades being NE/NW. Combined with an easy grid layout.

That said, there's still the typical "road rage" aggression against people on bicycles. Mostly surprising out of just how atypical it is for the city. I can say I never encountered it myself.

When I was riding to and from my job outside of Parker, CO I had the occasional thing thrown at me, a couple encounters with drunken cowboys in trucks. But, once in the urban areas this was again atypical. From what I hear, Denver has become very bike-friendly since I lived there (over 16 years ago now) and has tried to encourage more cycling. It helps that it's the traditional home for most of the Olympic Teams to train in.

PlanBike: Given the accident, what would you do differently?
Johan: It's hard to say. Right after the accident I was wondering what I did wrong, and my conclusion has been "nothing." I could have kept my knee lower during impact, or hit the brakes earlier, or assumed the driver was going to turn well before he did.

I don't for a moment think that my accident, as traumatic as it was, has put me off of riding bicycles on San Francisco city streets. What it will have done is made me trust traffic and cars even less than before. I did let my guard down that night, and made the tragic mistake of forgetting that people in cages don't see you, and are out to hit you with their cars.

PlanBike: What would bikeways in SF look like, if you had your way?
Johan: SF has made the mistake of trying to embrace cars and the car culture without having rebuilt infrastructure to put them somewhere or let them pass through the City without having to fight with traffic.

It's kind of a shame that the bike lanes (painted, and otherwise) mostly don't go anywhere useful, or suddenly stop instead of continuing along a certain commonly used road or bike way; my favorite example is 7th Street to Market, which forces you to either play in traffic, wait through 2 cycles of the light, or attempt to make a left on to Market street from the turn lane, while the average speed of car traffic is over 25mph. Frankly, the City gives lip service to bike friendliness and infrastructure, while in reality not caring one bit.

I'd love to see better bike lanes that go somewhere, with signed, posted, and known bike boulevards, much like Oakland, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Mateo have set up. Not just scenic, but useful routes for going from Point A to Point B, that have equal enforcement
for all kinds of traffic. Bike lanes aren't of any use if cars are double parked, pedestrians walk in them, drivers open their doors without looking first, or the cars "sharing the road" are giving you
almost no clearance.

As nice a gesture as they are, the "Sharrows" painted on many SF streets are just decoration on the streets that drivers tend to just ignore. It doesn't seem to have raised awareness of cyclists on the routes that are marked that way.

PlanBike: What should drivers do differently?
Johan: Pay more attention. I have this same complaint as a pedestrian, motorcyclist, bicyclist and driver: people need to understand they're driving a 2000+ pound machine that takes awareness to use correctly and safely. A car is not a mobile workplace, breakfast table, washroom, or phone booth. Yet, daily, I see people using it for all of these things.

PlanBike: All told do you know roughly how much this accident cost in dollars? Any breakdown in costs would be great?
Johan: It's cost my health insurance company around $172,000. Maybe a little more, little less, but at that scale what's another thousand or so? It'll cost me around $13,000 to pay off my portion. Possibly less, and probably more. I honestly don't know yet.

I haven't really gone in to the breakdown, and I don't believe I can share it until the associated lawsuit has either settled or gone forward.

PlanBike: Do you think the recent healthcare legislation will help with accidents like yours?
Johan: Definitely. At least in my case, if my doctor is right and my hip deteriorates to the point of requiring replacement in 15 years, I can still get coverage to help the replacement. I suspect the change will reduce the number of lawsuits for medical payments - which is what mine is - and reduce the overall cost of some of the care. It won't change the charging and billing practices of hospitals.

Speaking of insurance. If you have a car or motorcycle, I'd push you to maximize your UIM (Under-/Un-Insured Motorist) coverage to something just above "reasonable" in your mind. You should raise your medical liability coverage well above the CA minimums. It'll help you when you have an accident, even if it feels like gouging right now.

I've learned a bunch about insurance and coverages through this, and little of it pleasant. I'm grateful to Anthem for not denying coverage so far, and for not dropping me as an insured. It's a bit of an abusive relationship, when you think about it in those terms.




Thanks to Johan for this talk. Hope he continues to improve and continues cycling.

Running Errands By Bike in the East Bay: All Kinds of Ways

While running errands on my bike this weekend, I saw so many others doing the same. It was  cool seeing all the different ways folks were getting it done.

My errands started just before dark on Friday evening. I shrugged off my usual reticence to ride at night and do some shopping after work like I would with a car. Given what I've invested in my Exposure light, why not?

While riding down Shafter (a nice unofficial bicycle boulevard), I discovered Randall on his Bilenky cargo bike. This Bilenky had a huge wooden tray in the front where Randall had a couple of large bags stowed. The bags took up only a fraction of the space available.

Randall says he has hauled as much as 130 pounds on his cargo bike. That's a 90 pound sack of cement plus tools. Incredible! Still, he warned that kind of load is untenable on any kind of hill. A more manageable maximum weight seems to be 60 pounds. That's still not too shabby. That's most people's groceries for the week. Randall says he's been really focusing on using his bike as his primary transport vehicle for 3 years. He laments still having a car and using it for some things. Nevertheless, he gets quite a bit done with his Bilenky.

On Saturday I ran some more errands by bike. After seeing Randall, I decided to take it up a notch and haul a 2 foot long box to the post office even though I don't yet have a rack on my bike. Using some old inner tubes, I managed to lash the box to my backpack reasonably well. It wasn't pretty but I got it done.

After that, I did more shopping on University Avenue and then a birthday party on Piedmont Avenue.  That totaled 20 miles of riding.

On the way to Piedmont Avenue, I came across Johnny who was getting it done without a rack as well. No Bilenky cargo bike here yet he's hauling his guitar and a few spare wheels. Go, Johnny, go! I've got to get some straps like that for my backpack.

It was great seeing so many of my fellow east bay residents realizing PlanBike with such gusto. Personally, I felt like a lightweight. Although I commute a lot and run a lot of light errands on my bike, I've been torn about how to haul serious cargo by bike to my house at the very top of the Oakland Hills. Given what Randall says about the hills, a Bilenky seems out of the question.

Currently, I ride a carbon road bike. The carbon makes the 700 foot vertical climb I do most days very manageable, even with my laptop. However, most bike shop guys I talk to tell me carbon doesn't take kindly to being bolted to metal racks, whether they be stationary trainers or cargo racks.  I guess I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and use my heavier mountain bike with rack to get things up the hill. Regardless, I'm even more inspired after seeing all the activity down the hill.