The Chainlink

Salmoning poll

I ended up in West Town during the tail end of rush hour tonight, and saw a ridiculous amount of salmoning on the way there.... just wondering on average how often folks experience a rider coming at you going the wrong way.

How many times have you experienced it in the past week/month, and is there a place and time where you think you're more likely to encounter it? Have you noticed repeat offenders? Are there folks who seem to be doing it deliberately to endanger/scare the right-way riders?

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Permalink Reply by Banshee: 12-15mi on June 15, 2013 at 1:28pm

I see it all the time and every day on Wabash St.

Permalink Reply by Tim Heckman on June 15, 2013 at 1:29pm
I've seen two people in cycling kit salmoning on bike routes and even bike lanes in Riverside/Brookfield lately. But I don't see it that much in the near west suburbs, and usually by inexperienced riders.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 15, 2013 at 3:07pm

+1

Julia C 7.5 mi said:

Sure it is. Doesn't matter if it's a "shortcoming of automotive death machines" - you're still going against the traffic flow and it's still dangerous. 

....The ones I spot salmoning in terrible spots seem to be oblivious to more than just the fact that they're the only one going the wrong way...


Tony Adams 7 mi (dirtbag hipstr) said:

Riding the wrong way on a one way street isn't salmoning. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 15, 2013 at 3:09pm

Last Sunday morning around 7:30 a.m., when there was almost no traffic at all, I nearly had a head-on collision with a guy (middle aged, white) salmoning in the Milwaukee Ave. bike lane. He'd turned from a side street and was coming right at me - soon after the viaduct west of Blommer's.  I yelled at him, and he yelled back something unintelligible (drunk?).  Charming.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 15, 2013 at 3:27pm

Thanks for all the responses.  Not like it's "my" discussion or something, but I'd be just fine if we left race/ethnicity/imagined national origins out of the responses from here on out.

Permalink Reply by Reba 4.0 mi on June 15, 2013 at 6:26pm

Damen Ave between Grand and Division St is full of Salmons - I see them at least 5x a week. It's typically middle-aged men on cruiser style bikes, riding slow and meandering all over the street. I've taken to stopping in their path after yelling WRONG SIDE and pointing ridiculously at the other side of the street. I'm so. sick. of. this. 

The Augusta Blvd bike lane is also prime Salmon breeding ground, from Western to Ashland. I see young, well (stylish) dressed men doing this nearly every morning on my way to work. Between them and the double-parked (in the bike lane) parents dropping their kids off at any one of the three elementary schools on this street, I try and get going well before 7:30 or well after 8:05. 

Desplaines is a great street to take southbound, it's plenty wide, but I've given it up because of the stupid Salmons. 

This issue is one of the major reasons I tend to avoid protected lanes. I'd rather go out of my way and travel the lesser-traveled side streets.

Don't even get me started on the sidewalk riders...

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on June 15, 2013 at 7:51pm

Salmons are heading upstream to lay their eggs.  We definitely don't want middle aged male bikers leaving their sperm on the bike lane now do we?

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on June 15, 2013 at 7:55pm

Maybe the Salmons aren't really going the wrong way, have you thought about that?   Maybe they are simply taking advantage of an available bike lane in the direction they are going.  Maybe they are more communal minded.  Maybe they like to see bikers from the front instead of the rear. Maybe they are going in the right way and you are going in the wrong way and that is why you face lethal doors - in the opposite direction the opening doors are less dangerous.

Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on June 15, 2013 at 8:09pm
Other than Dearborn I don't see it in the bike lanes. I see and do it on side streets such as Winthrop now that Kenmore is closed.
Permalink Reply by Maurice on June 16, 2013 at 12:36am
Once per week or less. Usually a 50+ year old person or a teenager.

I don't think I've ever seen it in Pilsen, even though I commute through there on my way to/from work.
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 16, 2013 at 12:42am

This evening I saw a lone bike cop salmoning on Western... he blew a stoplight and almost got hit by a car that had the green. 

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 16, 2013 at 12:45am

This is exactly what I saw and where I saw it the night I started the thread, and what got me to wondering about intent, i.e. "time to go mess with the hippie-yupsters."

Reba 4.0 mi said:

Damen Ave between Grand and Division St is full of Salmons - I see them at least 5x a week. It's typically middle-aged men on cruiser style bikes, riding slow and meandering all over the street.

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