More Than a Chip on the Shoulder - Cycling on the Roadside

I was sorting through the photos I took on my long bike journey, and I came across a bunch of really weird shots. They don’t show any landscape, people, or otherwise interesting stuff, only road. Specifically the side of the road commonly referred to as the shoulder. Then I remembered! I was going to document the road conditions, which ranged from the wastefully plenty, to the sheer impossible. So let me give you a taste of the variety of highway shoulders I came across.

Put Your Wheel on the Shoulder

Starting out, I want to illustrate what I think is ideal: a proper two-way bike-lane, separated from the motorists by a fence, a mound, some trees, or anything more than just a line painted on the pavement. Of course this radically progressive idea is still exceptional on many roads, so cyclist have to result to riding on the shoulder. This is not always so bad, as many highways have wide or extra-wide shoulders. The one in the second picture is actually wider than a motorist lane, so two cyclists can ride side-by-side and still have a nice distance from motorist traffic. But watch out! These shoulders may go on for miles like this, or they may disappear all of a sudden, as you can see in the third image. A perfect example of a disappearing shoulder.

A Shoulder to Cry on

Having no shoulder means as a bicyclist that there is no other option but taking the lane, something even the most ignorant motorists will have to acknowledge. But if there IS a shoulder, things may not be that obvious, especially if the shoulder is in an abysmal state, like in these photos. These pics show the green shoulder, where vegetation is taking over the side of the road, and the soft shoulder, where the pavement is falling to pieces, is covered in mud, sand, or is made unrideable for some other reason. There are actual road-signs with these exact words.

New Designations for Old Shoulder Problems

Additionally, we have discovered other types of bad shoulders that would deserve their own designation. One such example is the gutter shoulder, where part of the pavement forms a ditch for water runoff. It’s hard enough riding in it without any water, just imagine what it must be like in the rain! Another unfortunate thing is that shoulders tend to be covered in all kinds of debris, including broken glass. Extremes cases, such as the one in this picture, I termed crystal shoulder. Finally, here’s an image of yet another unacceptable feature: the rattle shoulder, made to wake up sleeping motorist who are about to run off the roadside. While an admirable design for motorists, imagine riding on that thing! This last picture is a combination of all: rattle shoulder, gutter shoulder, soft shoulder, as it’s falling apart, and green shoulder, for the numerous saplings sprouting from it.

After all this, I can only hope that one day I’ll be showing these pictures to unbelieving youth with words like: “Back in the day, young whippersnapper, we didn’t have all these luxurious bike-lanes. We were happy when our shoulder didn’t disappear or turn into a gutter…” Let’s hope it won’t take too long!