Don’t Hate On The Run Homie: Three Running Rules For Cyclists

I used to be a hater of the run, quite frankly because the echoes of my Full Metal Jacket wannabe 7^th grade gym teacher screaming “pull hard, finish strong” still tortures me to this day.  Running a mile and militant Phy-Ed teachers rank right up there with your parent’s choice in music on the suck-o-meter when you’re 12.  Now, a couple of decades later, I’ve realized running can live in harmony with my bike, maybe Mister Keller wasn’t a complete tool and maybe the 70’s band Bread wasn’t totally lame.  As a cyclist, running can be great training and just as great an escape, if you choose your routes carefully.  You could only snap the photo above of the Dorado, Puerto Rico coastline on foot.  In that way, running makes me appreciate my rides more.

Rule number one: I only run where I can’t ride a bike.  That can be the first challenge.  Goat path trails and/or stairs mark every running route I do.  Last week on vacation in Puerto Rico coral cliffs, deepish sand and the steep cuts of stream inlets marked my ocean front run.  At home in Cincinnati, I always choose a route that incorporates a couple flights of the cities famous public steps or a detour through the downed branch strewn hiking trails in a local park.  Choosing a route I couldn’t tackle on two wheels helps me explain the running to the evil cyclist in my head.  Being slower, running can reveal details of scenery a bike can’t deliver, like those in these photos of my runs in Dorado, Puerto Rico last week. 

Rule number two: while I usually run 2-3 times a week, I only run when I can’t ride.  Lunch hour is a perfect time to eek in a 40-45 minute run and still have time for a sink shower and wolf down a sandwich in the same time your coworkers drive to McDonalds and make a stop at the mall.  Plus, you can double up on the day with bike ride after work.  At home I run at night, or when weekend trips to Target, fixing this old house, or weather get in the way of a respectable length ride. 

Rule number three: while I usually run anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, I never usually run the entire time.  It makes running more exciting.  I break up my runs with 3-4 sets of crunches, pushups and other core/plyometric exercises.  On my work run, I split the run up at the tops of three big lookout hills.  I did the same in Puerto Rico, stopping at incredible vistas.  At each stop, I hit the dirt and give my 7^th grade drill sergeant 25 crunches, 15 pushups, 25 jumping jacks and 15 star jumps.  As I continue on toward the next hill, I hear “pull hard, finish strong” in my head. 

Do You See A Cyclocross Rider In This Picture, Or Am I Crazy?

On vacation in Dorado, Puerto Rico, this picture/painting/print hung over the bed in the hotel room.  Four to five days went by when I realized it looks like there's a cyclocross rider in it, seemingly swinging his/her leg out as if about to dismount.  Do you see it, or have I lost my marbles in the off season?  Take the poll on the right of the page and/or leave a comment.

No El Ciclismo en San Juan Puerto Rico

"Have you ever driven in big city,” asked the rent a car clerk at the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport.  "Chicago," my wife replied.  "How 'bout Mexico City," he questioned.  “We’ll take the insurance,” said my wife.  That and the drive from San Juan to our seaside condo in Dorado was all it took for me to realize there would be no road cycling in San Juan, Dorado, or any Pueto Rican wonderland in between.  (Photo: El Yunque Nat'l Forest, Puerto Rico)

Presumably there are traffic laws in Puerto Rico, presumably the same ones that apply to all of the US and its territories; however the traffic etiquette is quite different.  Puerto Rico puts the free in freeway, or maybe free-for-all.  Unless you’re wearing a full face helmet with a Hans device, downhill body armor and have no deductable on your health insurance, you’d be wise to not ride a bike on the roads within an hour of San Juan. 

In the continental US, if you were pulling out of a driveway into the main road or out of a parking spot, you’d wait for a gap in traffic.  In Puerto Rico, you just stick the front of your car into the road (or rear if you’re backing up), make traffic stop for you and proceed with your turn.  This applies to left hand turns from a driveway as well.  If you don’t have the cajoles to execute this maneuver, the person in the car behind you will kindly come around from behind you and show you how it’s done.  “He just came out of nowhere,” was common-speak during our driving.  If you spaced out for a second, a different colored car would appear in front of you.

In the continental US, you usually allow a safe distance to the car in front of you based on one car length for every ten miles per hour.  In Puerto Rico, I’m guessing because of the metric system, a safe distance is measured in centimeters, one centimeter for every 10mph.

In the continental US, you’d only use the shoulder of the road to pull over for an emergency.  In Puerto Rico the shoulder of the road is at the very least a passing lane.  As you get closer to San Juan the shoulder becomes just another lane, the only drawback being the lack of smooth pavement, or in many cases, any pavement whatsoever.

In the continental US, motorcycles ride in the same lanes as cars.  In Puerto Rico the lines between lanes mark the path that motorcycles should take.  Even the motorcycle cops use them.

In the continental US, if an exit ramp has one lane, traffic travels on the ramp single file.  In Puerto Rico, if three cars can fit abreast in the single exit ramp lane, three cars exit or enter the freeway at the same time.

In the continental US, there are lines painted to separate the lanes on the road.  In San Juan there are some long sections of freeway, up to 8 lanes wide in one direction (9 if you count the shoulder), with no lines painted.  Think of that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer painted the lane lines black to create an extra wide luxury lane.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that even the speedway in Daytona has lane markers.

All of this was disconcerting at first, but there was very little if any horn honking, middle fingers, cursing or road rage.  Traffic seemed to move quite well.  While this driving etiquette put the nix on road cycling, it did open up the doors for non-cycling activities like climbing/hiking El Yunque Mountain and running oceanside on coral cliffs that only Hans Rey might be able to ride.

There are some nice mountain bike trails in Puerto Rico, however staying in Dorado, it was unpractical to rent a decent bike, stuff them into a Toyota Yaris and drive to Cerro Gordo or another trail system.  Maybe next time we’ll stay further away from San Juan.  The south side of the island around Ponce seemed less busy and closer to the real mountains.  I think a road ride through El Yunque National Forest would be fun too.