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Bold bicyclist braves Boston's big burrow
By adamg on Fri, 09/02/2022 - 10:55am
Joshua Fabian spotted this dude pedaling as hard as he could last night in the O'Neill Tunnel under the streets of Boston. No word if he kept going up onto the Zakim.
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Comments
This feels like GPS-following
Anyone else get that vibe? I don't know what else would make me think "this is definitely the way to get from point A to point B on bike".
Nope
Just plain old dickery.
This is the Camberville late 20 something version of illegally dirt biking where they are expressly prohibited.
Share the road, share the tunnel, John Boy.
I’d tell you to grow up but people tend to form their character early on. I bet you had rules about which Tonka toys were allowed in the playground sandbox and would wet your pants if someone had a better idea.
Things are prohibited because they’re dangerous
This kid is an idiot and he’s lucky he didn’t get hurt.
How can you share the road with a bike going 15 in a 65?
What idiot drives 65 …
… in those tunnels?
You have too much blind faith in the good intentions of prohibitions.
Bike Are Banned In Those Tunnels Pee Wee
And on interstates.
If I can't take my car down the Minuteman, then you can't have your Schwinn with the training wheels on on 93.
The image of your massive car flattened ….
…. bum swallowing up a bike seat as you huff and puff your wobbly way down the Minuteman almost made me snort my frappe out my nose onto my spuckie.
"Bow wake" and "piston effect"
Even at 45 mph, a semi pushes a lot of air in front of it and then sucks a lot back in behind it. You have to be ready for it on a 500 lb motorcycle, so yeah, this is a dangerous move for a bicycle. Hopefully this person knows, appreciates and accepts the risks and didn't do this out of ignorance or desperation.
Ya, because the interstate merge will go great for a bike
There’s no breakdown lane. The old saying applies here - never underestimate the stupidity of the general public. At least he would have won a Darwin award!
I can't drive 55.
I can't drive 55.
Profoundly depressing to see so many upvotes on yr dumb comment
I do of course understand that “baseless sneering at yuppies” plays very well among the UHub crowd, and you get extra points for propaganda that justifies vehicular manslaughter. But the idea that “Camberville twenty-somethings” are routinely biking on the interstate for thrills is completely stupid. And you are fully aware it’s stupid. It really seems like this is your class privilege showing, since the majority of bicyclists in Boston are nonwhite and lower-income.
My first thought is that this is a guy who can’t afford a car and got lost on his way to/from a late shift, probably a new job. I myself was in a very similar situation when I biked to my first day in the job in Worcester and suddenly found myself biking on a very dangerous 55mph state highway, with no way to safely turn around.
It’s truly bizarre that you’d jump to “oh, this is a software engineer, he’s just screwing around.”
Eh probably not
It's probably just confusion; somehow got down a ramp from a surface street and wound up in the tunnel. I doubt anyone would do this by choice!
(Some day I do want to shoot through the Harvard Bus Tunnel but … I don't stay up late enough anymore.)
Bicycle equivalent of storrowing
though with (we hope) fewer damaging consequences
Has anyone actually ever been hurt …
… or inconvenienced by this?
I’ve never heard any report of actual problems caused by this.
Just give up, Don Leexote
It's an incredibly bad idea to ride your bike on the interstate (or other freeways). Even if you're riding on the shoulder, trucks doing 45 mph (speed limit in the O'Neill Tunnel) or faster (other freeways) push a lot of air around and that wave can very easily knock you on your ass or against the wall, off which you bounce into the traffic lanes. Plus the ramps don't have shoulders, so a driver coming off the main lanes, not expecting a cyclist ahead doing 10-15 mph uphill, could very easily hit you.
It's unsafe and it's against the law.
Are you going to get around to answering my question?
Or are you just going to go as off topic as you can?
Is it really necessary
For someone to die for this to be proven to you?
But here: https://www.pe.com/2022/04/12/man-riding-bicycle-on-91-freeway-in-corona...
Corona is in California, you know.
No where near East Boston.
Give up.
Your question was answered
You didn't specify if death happened in Boston.
This, also, is not under East Boston as it's the O'Neill Tunnel, not the Ted Williams Tunnel.
Just be OK with this Not Being a Good Idea.
I was quite specific about that tunnel.
As that was the tunnel in question. Read it again.
It certainly is near East Boston. Read it again.
Just be ok with yourself, ok? Just a suggestion.
No where have I said this is what you call a “Good Idea” Read it again.
Just read it again. Ok?
Maybe actually answer my question once you’ve actually read it again, Little Eliza Jane.
Responding to this
Has anyone actually ever been hurt …
By Lee on Fri, 09/02/2022 - 12:15pm.
… or inconvenienced by this?
I’ve never heard any report of actual problems caused by this.
up
So where are the reports on this tunnel?
Haven’t got any but can’t stop blathering either.
Good night, Little Eliza Jane.
But
You didn't specify this tunnel. You asked if people were inconvenienced by this - meaning riding a bicycle in a tunnel.
But go off sweet pea lee. You love having the last word, so have at it babe.
Nobody has been hurt - yet.
It's just a bad idea. NFW would I want to ride there.
Finally.
An honest answer.
If you want to volunteer, be
If you want to volunteer, be my guest.
Don’t assume.
Don’t need your permission either.
So bitter!
Could be but some people do it because…
… it’s doable and other options aren’t always.
Yup
The great Atlantic Avenue Stoppage of September 2022. Just give up you fool.
So precious
https://www.universalhub.com/comment/903694#comment-903694
And before you start type furiously with some deflection, I'm not defending that cyclist in the tunnel or throwing any anti-catholic shade your way.
It's September 2nd
I'm overdue on the rent for that space I have between your ears. Can I Venmo you that penny or do you need a check?
PS - The guy who made fun of a homeless person catching on fire came after me first. Perhaps a little reading comprehension might help you.
Haha turn the other cheek, right John?
I seem to remember something about that, two wrongs don't make right or whatever when I went to catholic school.
And as for the rent, I don't think we established a number on that. What does Lee end up charging you? Or is there a moratorium on that?
Do you know what he’s talking about?
Nevermind.
He doesn’t either.
Good night, John Boy. Remember to pull the bulkhead tight when you head down cellar.
maybe in the Ted Williams Tunnel, not in the O'Neill
The only reasonable way to get a bike to East Boston is the Blue Line, and there are restrictions on the hours you can do that. So I can imagine a cyclist making this choice, though it's a very bad choice.
You can take a ferry from the Logan dock
Bikes are always allowed.
Riding through the tunnel is stupid and illegal. There should be more options for people with bikes but riding through the tunnel isn't one of them.
I'd ridden the long way around via Chelsea. It's not fast as the Blue Line but certainly doable.
Just gotta be careful with the McArdle Bridge!
Hadn't rode over it until Summer 2020 and my tires were just thin enough to fit through the metal grates.
Best to dismount and roll up on the sidewalk.
Chelsea Street bridge is much better for bikes
Using it adds another mile or two to your ride, but it's so much less scary.
The worst thing about the McArdle (Meridian Street) bridge isn't the metal grating, but rather the 'teeth' where the two parts of the drawbridge meet in the middle. I try to bunny-hop this, at a fair rate of speed.
At 11:32 pm? At an affordable fare?
The long ride through Chelsea is pretty daunting as well.
I’ve been unable to get on Blue Line trains even that late at night because they are so crowded.
There is no safe easy affordable way to get to East Boston with a bike. I just don’t do it anymore unless I absolutely need the bike there. I’ve yet to try the Silver Line because I can never remember if those have bike racks.
No bike racks on Silver Line
because of the electric power system.
I've never had to wait for a second Blue Line train with my bike, but maybe I've just been lucky.
At least Beacham Street now has a reasonably smooth surface. It used to be more potholes than pavement, especially in Everett, making it a very dangerous place to ride at night if you wanted to go more than about 8 mph.
You have been lucky.
I’ve had to wait for a second sometimes third train. Even without my bike. It’s no picnic when you are tired and the station is hotter than Satan’s armpit.
Sometimes there are just too many bikes, strollers and too many people. State, Aquarium and Maverick are my usual stations. Perhaps it’s easier if you get on further up the line.
Bowdoin station is never busy
and may be the best place to board the Blue Line with a bike. However, it is not ADA-compliant, so you'll have to carry it up or down some stairs.
Exactly.
And it’s too far out of the way for my purposes and not always open.
Bowdoin is always open now
Has been ever since Government Center closed for a couple of years of construction.
Why would electric power prevent bike racks?
Why would the transmission system prohibit the normal front-of-bus racks?
It doesn’t
He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The trackless trolleys out of Harvard Sq also had no bike racks
and I was told it was the same reason -- electrical charge on the bus body.
Thanks.
.
So do you know why?
I honestly want to know.
Seems like they should have them.
There’s no reason aside from they don’t want bikes on the bus
Can’t blame them too.
There’s nothing different between an ICE bus and an electric bus as far as bike carrying capacity. In fact, electric buses require less cooling so no front radiator.
Who’s they?
Yeah, some in the MBTA hate bikes and all riders in general. Burnout is real.
But that’s not the business to be in, if you do.
The MBTA policy towards cycling has slowly improved and continues to go further in cooperation with all forms of transit.
Thanks for your explanation. I think I’m going to have to enquire directly to the the MBTA and activists to find out the reasons why.
Late Night Blue Line
You're the first other person I've seen besides myself acknowledge how crowded the Blue Line trains are very late at night. As crowded as rush hour. Interestingly, though the morning and evening Blue Line rush hour crowd has slacked off a bit in the post-pandemic world, the late night Blue Line rush hour has not.
And heading for the killer
And heading for the killer guardrails.
I'm shocked, shocked, that
I'm shocked, shocked, that aspersions are being cast upon a bicyclist.
Please, will the bicyclist
Please, will the bicyclist without sin cast the first stone.
How does he breathe in there?
It's been a long while since I've been through any of those tunnels (as a passenger, don't drive) but as I recall the exhaust fumes were so bad I had to close my window. I'd think a bicyclist would be in danger of passing out from the fumes.
Interesting
Truck driver drives on a bike trail and there are all sorts of excuses made for the driver about how it sort of kind of looks like a road blah blah blah. (Northampton last spring).
Cars turning onto an obvious rail bed and getting stuck? Well, a mix of idiot blaming and enabling.
Suicyclist doing some Blue Bike Sketchy Shit? The usual cranks to make it into a massive deal beyond individual stupidity, despite rarity and lack of harm.
I think exhaust fumes just go to people's heads.