Meet the cyclist who biked from Montreal to Virginia: ‘I’ve learned a lot’
By Taylor Locke
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Virginia (WTVR) — A spontaneous bicycle journey from Montreal to Virginia has given a 23-year-old rider a firsthand look at how bike safety laws and infrastructure vary from state to state.
Jan Martinez was biking along Newby Bridge Road in Chesterfield County this week when we met him during his hundreds-of-miles trek. He was on his way to his aunt’s house in Midlothian, but his journey started much further north.
Martinez began his trip on March 12. He bought a used bicycle in Montreal and relied on it for hundreds of miles, catching trains for parts of his journey after biking to Boston.
“So I did that, just staying at cheap motels and friends’ houses,” Martinez said.
Along the way, Martinez noticed major differences in bike infrastructure and how seriously bike safety laws are enforced.
“In New Hampshire and Massachusetts, there is a law that explicitly says that when you’re crossing … a person who is biking in the road, you have to give them four feet,” Martinez said.
In Virginia, a similar law requires drivers to give cyclists three feet of space. If that is not possible, drivers must move to another lane to pass safely. Martinez noted this small difference can make a big impact on how safe riders feel on the road.
He also observed stark differences in the bike lanes themselves.
“In the north, like in New England and Montreal, even with the snow, there was a lot of snow when I was there, they cleaned them up, the bicycle lanes, so you can bike through them,” Martinez said. “But here it was just like a glorified shoulder, pretty much. I just noticed you can’t even see the sign, the bicycle sign, because it’s covered in mud and stuff.”
Despite the challenges of ever-changing traffic patterns and weather, Martinez hopes drivers everywhere remember that sharing the road safely makes all the difference for cyclists.
“I have some anecdotes, some good memories of what I’ve done and I’ve really enjoyed it. I met some really nice people, like you guys,” Martinez said. “These things, you can’t just plan it. So it’s just a really nice experience overall. I’ve learned a lot.”
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