As a cyclist that re-discovered the joys of being on a bike at 37 after a major operation, I love how many options I have in this area to ride. I gave up many portions of the chehalis western trail after encampments went up and I no longer felt safe, but there are portions that I do still feel safe in the daytime and I carry a weapon for self-protection also from animals. I use my bike as exercise and maintaining my fitness, but I'm terrified of riding on the roads anymore. My final straw was actually nearly being hit by a city bus on capitol way near the safeway almost to tumwater. Silly me thinking I could trust a professional driver to pay attention to driving. My point is I no longer ride the roads.. it's just not safe in 2023 with all the distracted drivers. I got on my bike after being in the hospital and the ENTIRE point is to avoid having to go back to that god awful place. Getting hit by someone that thinks a text is more important that the life around them isn't ok in my book. I exclusively ride the trails now.
I'm beyond grateful for the trail and the bridges over major roads that have made it even safer for cyclists in the last 15 years. I think some projects increasing safety on the trail would be helpful. What I don't think will help will be bike lanes painted with that bright green paint that is SLIPPERY. It's wet here a lot. Please please please figure out a way to take away the slickness of this paint because crashing right next to a lane of active traffic is bad. Really really bad. Hawaii has this same paint, my son lived there and crashed on it 4 times going to his attorney job he chose to ride to work instead of drive to lose weight. People do choose this option.
There's more than one incredible quote by Einstein about bikes too by the way. Open your mind to another option.
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