Streetcars

Riding Over / Around Streetcar Tracks

MY PHILOSOPHY - SMOOTH, MAN, SMOOTH
I would suggest, as is the case with riding on metal grate bridges, you keep very relaxed posture, and in so doing, try to be very smooth with anything you do. A tire rolls quite nicely on ice. It's only when it suddenly turns, jerks, brakes or accelerates that it slips (hills excepted). Also, when a bike is at speed, it has natural gyroscopic tendencies... it wants to stay up. So, just let it do it's thing, don't fight it or strong arm your bars.

NO SINGLE ANSWER FOR ALL SITUATIONS
My experience is there is no hard and fast rule about lane position, as the conditions downtown vary dramatically from one intersection and street to the next. Sometimes between the rails is the place to be, especially if there is hairy traffic activity going on in the lanes on either side. Sometimes outside the rails, on one side or the other, is the place to be, esp if there is no hairy traffic on that side, and if the grates or drains or mahole covers -- or whatever those things are that are regularly spaced between the rails -- are consistently sunk two inches below the road surface (in which case it's kathump.... kathump... kathump... ka-clang, something's shaken loose... kathump... ).

Very often, my ride down along street car tracks, e.g. Queen Street in the Beaches, involves switching positions many times... middle... side... middle... side again.... other side... etc.

HOW I CROSS TRACKS
When transitioning across a streetcar track, don't be gradual. Now, don't be aggressive either, cuz as mentioned earlier, smooth is your friend. But take a good angle, at least 30 degrees. The idea is, when you have a good angle, your tire is not running along the rail very long, it's actually just stepping across it briefly. This way, if worst happens, and the tire slips on the rail, it's on the rail for only a short moment before it's on asphalt again, so you'll only get a scare, not a dump. Remember, be "smooth" while crossing the track. e.g. while on asphalt, make the change in the motorcycle's direction to point cross the rail... then hold a straight line until crossed over the rail, then straighten out in direction of the road again.

Dare I try an ASCII diagram?

Good Example: Crossing from outside the rails to between:

--YOU->---->------\
**RAIL**********\****************** \ \----->------>--- **RAIL*********************************

Look how briefly your tires are on the rail. Worst case, you get a little slip, and that's all. Remember the bit about being loose, smooth and relaxed? If it slips, just sit comfy, DON'T fight the bars, and let the bike recover itself, it will quickly. If you need to cross several rails at once, same suggestions apply, just do one rail at a time.

Dangerous Example: crossing gradually:

--YOU->--->-___ **RAIL*********~~~->-___*******************
~~~~-->------>-
**RAIL*********************************
Look how much longer you are on the rail. Your tires will each rotate almost a full revolution before getting off the rail again. This is enough to cause a serious slide if slippery.

WET TRACKS
Admittedly I haven't no experience with emergency manouevres around wet rails, but the philsophy of "smooth" still applies. If there is time, and you have the presence of mind to think it through, try to do your dramatic manouevring while on pavement, pausing briefly while crossing the rail(s), then returning to your aggressive manoeuvring once back on pavement again. I would not want to be on a slippery rail while in a lean... good chance I would wipe out then.

Certainly, when riding along streetcar track streets on rainy days, and even dry days, give yourself as much reaction time as you can, more than normal. You want that extra time to be able to stop and/or execute evasive manouevre.

INTERSECTIONS AND TURNING
Things get interesting when you turn left from one streetcar track street onto another. It's a whole maze of rails criss-crossing and curving all over the freakin place, and if it's raining too - ha ha, fun. Nothing changes rule-wise, only you have to be that much more attentive, as now you are crossing rails while leaned (as you are turning). I reduce this factor by making left turns in such situations very slowly; thus my lean angle is very minor. Yeah, drivers behind me might want me to go faster. Tough. Once I straighten out again in two seconds, I'll no longer be a slow problem!

Again, try not to gradually cross over rails. Cross them at good angles. This might mean following a rail for a while until you have the room to do this. Fine. Follow the rail. Just don't spend lots of time riding along it. Often times I'll just follow beside the rail that I started with before the turn, and do my rail position correction once the turn is complete, thereby avoiding crossing the rails at all while turned.

BLOCKING POSITION
My short answer to the questions about maintaining proper blocking position is : the reality is you don't have ideal conditions to keep perfect blocking position while riding along the tracks. You have other legitimate factors to pay attention to, namely road surface. So blocking position becomes a secondary concern, and road condition primary. Or, at the very least, the two simultaneously in concert. As such, this just means you need to be extra attentive to people who try to share your lane during those moments you are not in perfect blocking position. WHEN this happens, there's nothing you can or should do. You just brake or accelerate to give room to the offending vehicle, and you resume your defensive stance. There's too much going on to exercise bravado or to communicate a point... just F.I.D.O. (F___ It, Drive On).

AND THAT'S MY TAKE ON IT
As complicated or stressful as the above sounds, now that I've done it enough that it's mostly instinct, I really don't mind riding along streetcar track streets at all. I know I need to go slower, be less aggressive, leave more following distance etc..., but once that's all done, it's just another road, more terrain to navigate, and something else interesting to do while up on two wheels.

Stylz

Stylz was a member of the Zen Riders

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