Beacon Hill Park Stop Sign

[mfarnham]

Hey folks.

(effective immediately)

We have a problem—namely the new stop sign in Beacon Hill Park. Previously, this was a yield, and previously the centre line on Dallas was painted much closer to the water so there was plenty of room to squeeze a group of cyclists in close to approaching traffic.

That’s no longer the case. Given 1) the pace of traffic along Dallas; 2) the fact that it can be difficult to judge how fast an appearing car will converge to that intersection; and 3) that we’re riding in 2-up groups in a lane that’s much narrower than it used to be thanks to all the new curbs, it’s not really an option to treat the stop as discretionary. Too much chance of a last minute hard stop leading to wheels touching or a failure to stop leading to someone hitting a car or commuter cyclist or vice versa.

We will ask to have a conversation with the city about whether the line can be repainted and the sign can be changed back to a yield or made into a yield from 11pm-8am or something like that. But in the meantime, we need to change what we’re doing in the park.

To illustrate the magnitude of the problem, tomorrow morning’s BHP TTT--with 5 groups doing 3 sets of 6 laps each (ignoring cooldown)—would involve either 90 group stops at that stop sign, 90 groups failing to stop, or some combination of the two, sometimes involving last minute “are we sure this is OK?” decisionmaking. This does not make for good safe riding.

So, after some quick consultation, we’re proposing some changes.

1) Tuesday rides (aside from C) will add a Box lap, with sprints on 1, 3, and 5. Then proceed as usual down the waterfront and end with a sprint to the usual finish-line crosswalk in BHP right after entering the park for the first time (like a Farm Team finish). Groups would then proceed to Dallas and disperse from there. No repeat laps of BHP.

2) Friday rides (aside from C) will add a Box lap with a sprint. Proceed straight up Caddy Bay all the way to Lansdown, turn right, ride the Box clockwise, sprint, then proceed to the waterfront like on a Tuesday, and finish with a sprint to the first crossing of the usual finish-line crosswalk. Groups would then proceed to Dallas and disperse from there. No repeat laps of BHP.

3) Thursday TTT at BHP. This will no longer involve laps of the park. Instead, start in the parking area on Dallas below Beacon Hill (near the crosswalk to the dog park on Dallas). Point your bikes east, and ride the Nationals TT course to the crosswalk at the maintenance buildings at the golf course. That’s your first set. Cooldown by riding on to the OBB Hotel, then turn around and ride back. Start your second set at the crosswalk at the golf course maintenance buildings. Ride back to BHP, turn into the park, and finish at our usual finish line in the park. Then circle the park once to cool down, stopping at the new stop sign. Turn left onto Dallas and start your third set back to the golf course. Cool down to OBB Hotel, then 4th set back to BHP with cool down in the park. These 4 sets would add up to 28km, or slightly less than 15 laps of UVic.

Edit: New "southside" TTT route courtesy of Rolf! https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1354206

(Construction note: If construction is problematic near Clover Point, then shift the course to start at Ross Bay Cemetery (Memorial and Dallas) and finish at Uplands Gate, with a cooldown to Cattle Point and through the Cattle Point parking lot, starting your second set at Uplands Gate. The cooldown for the second set would be a ride up to Fairfield Plaza with a careful turnaround and return down Memorial to the start of the third set.)

Sorry for the short notice on this. Please talk amongst your groups on Spond and on the ride so everyone knows what’s going on and so people don’t turn into each other. If someone is quick at generating maps and wants to create a ride profile for the out and the back, that would be super helpful.

Thanks! Martin