hey yall. I recently read a blog on a cyclist that lives in boise and he kept stating how bad the drivers were and how unsafe it was. also mentioned a few deaths awhile back. So for all who ride in boise or have ridden the area how are the cars. do you get flipped off yelled at honked or my favorite get a 2 liter of soda thrown at you? short story about that actually. bunch of kids in summer chucked a bottle at me. missed me. pulled up at the next red light and kids window who threw it is down. i gave him a shot right in the jaw. then i hopped on a bike trail and headed home. a girl once yelled at me and again at a red light only this time i just gave her a little squirt from my water bottle. hey its my way of teaching people to respect me. respect or get disrespected. anyways if you have any info on the cycling safety of boise idaho i would like to hear it. i would imagine its only in the city and not up in the mountains around there??thanks
i would imagine its only in the city and not up in the mountains around there??
Why?
I live in boise and have been biking all around this city for the past couple of years and actually find Boise to be one of the safest cities I have biked in. Nothing has ever been thrown at me. I have not had people try to run me off the road. Most people get way over on the other lane if they can.
There were a few deaths a couple of years ago but I think we need to be careful how we classify bike deaths. Were they real road cyclists that obey all rules and laws of the road and know that even though they may have the right away they are still in a more dangerous position again a car.
Why are you so interested in hearing about Boise?
Also why do you think it is safer “up in the mountains”?
I’ve only cycled up there around the time of Boise 70.3 and I had no issue with drivers. There will always be people that don’t cyclist I think it is just a fact of life. All we can do is obey the rules of the road (which a lot of people don’t do) and be kind and courteous with those driving cars who we share the road with.
I think the biker deaths happened back when I was living in Boise a couple of years ago… As a recall, one was a very well known cyclist who was riding on a very popular bike route. I believe he worked at one of the local shops. There were also a few other fatalities that happened near that time, if I remember right. 1 was just a regular guy commuting to work, another was a roadie that cut across a couple of lanes of traffic and got hit from behind. The one that seemed the worst was a female cyclist who was stopped at a stoplight and was run over from behind by a driver high on prescription narcotics. The driver wasn’t even going that fast, she just didn’t stop.
However, I thought Boise was really a great place to ride. The laws are very friendly to cyclists there. For the most part, drivers were nice. There are always going to be some bad experiences no matter where you ride.
i think the mountains are safer because there are less cars…i am interested in the cycling safety of boise because i am looking for places to live in a few years and want to learn about different areas from people who live there. thanks yall
Boise is a great place to ride. Both road and mountain are very accessable, and safe. We have a large and active cycling communtity here. A couple years a go we had a law passed that a car has to give a cyclist 3 feet of space when passing. If you can’t give 3 feet, the car has to stay behind the rider. Things like this have helped the safety on the roads, but maybe more importantly has shown that cyclists have a voice. I do get the occasional flip off, or honk, but have never had anything thrown at me. The city was also voted the #1 town for mountain biking by some publication a few years back. The biking is very nice here.