Bicycle Austin forum

The bike facility on Great Northern (the two-way lanes on the west side of the road) is, in my opinion, abysmal.  That kind of facility is contra-indicated in pretty much every situation.  In my experience, riding north on Great Northern is the worst, since you either are faced with riding between lanes of on-coming traffic, or taking the north-bound traffic lane.  Unfortunately, local residents make matters worse by exhibiting open hostility and aggression toward cyclists on G.N.  And, of course, the "bike lanes" are frequently populated by joggers, walkers, dogs, kids, etc.  Not that I necessarily begrudge any of them their use of the lanes, but it does make for a more difficult situation.

I typically train on Great Northern, but I only ride south-bound (using SCB to loop back to the north end), and I'm frequently riding fast enough that I can take the south-bound lane for most of the way and not impede traffic, dodging into the "bike lane" when I need to.

Shoal Creek Blvd., while cars parked in the parking lanes make things slightly more challenging/dangerous, is generally a pretty straight-forward commute, regardless of which direction you go.

Hope this helps.

Ok, here's an off-hand route suggestion, based on my experiences commuting north/south through central Austin.  But, I'm not real familiar with the routes up around Parmer, and I don't know exactly where Dell is up there.  The exact location in complex situations like Parmer/I-35 intersection can have major impact on your selection of approach.  Still, this info might be helpful.

This will keep you inside of 10 miles each way, which is a good, if slightly ambitious initial commute.  I'd guess itll probably take you 45 minutes to an hour each way, depending on conditions, and how fast you like to push it.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2183451

Note that it starts at the culdesac on Hilwin Circle.  This is a quiet neighborhood street, and I think you could easily park there without much concern.  You could drive there via MoPac (I-35 from Buda, Ben White over to MoPac, exit 45th st.) 

Once you get comfortable with that commute, you could try other options that allow you to park in other places, and even gradually extend the route southward to cut your time driving in rush-hour traffic.  (I'm not sure how much time you spend in traffic daily, but I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that, by biking even part of the way, you actually reduce your total commute time.  Even if that's not the case, it's still a great way to get 90-120 minutes of daily workout for the cost of an additional 20-30 minutes spent en route, which, in my opinion, is a really worthwhile trade-off.)

My advice: pre-ride the route on a weekend day to familiarize yourself with it and make any necessary corrections.  Try driving the route to your parking point one work day to see what that's like.  Then, once you're commuting, follow the rules of the road, bike defensively, don't ride in the door zone, etc.  Personally, I think the Road 1 course is a superb way to learn how to get around safely and effectively.  John Forrester's "Effective Cycling" is also a good resource.

-Lane