If you’ve ridden a bike on a city street in the wet pretty much ever, you’ve no doubt learned that you should probably avoid the white striping that demarcates lanes. The material used is thick for durability and visibility, but is often slick in the rain. Cross that with your wheel and you’re in for an adrenaline rush at best. At worst? Ghost bike.

The fine community of Mill Valley puts an impressive chunk of funds into their bike infrastructure. I mean, we don’t have color-marked bike lanes or bike boxes, but I]m not sure that’s even necessary here. But we DO have well striped bike lanes and a reasonable area to ride on, even when the shoulder doesn’t allow for bike lane striping. Sure, we have some gravel on there, and some choppy, narrow sections. But it’s, you know, woodsy. We’re kind of expected to. Anyway, I’ve commuted into MV from SF for over 6 years now, and I’m currently a local commuter and rider as a resident and working professional here. I use my bike for everything I can, and soon enough, that’ll include cargo like bacon and babies. Hey, they even publish their bike plan, and frankly, they HAVE one that isn’t under perpetual assault from anti-bike lobbyists (though plenty of drivers and residents would love to see the bikes gone).

I was stunned to discover the other morning that they had begun resurfacing and painting new crosswalk markers at every corner. I mean, this is a GOOD thing, especially here in ME Valley where the drivers are all on cell phones, in SUVs and asleep or inattentive. But the next day, during the only modest rain, I discovered that the same striping was slick enough to cause me to slide IN SHOES. I saw a woman slip with her baby stroller. Now, look at the pattern. They follow the parallel orientation of the road, right? That means that cyclists will now be riding up to 18" wide by several feet long strips of slip. It’s baffling. I’ve checked it every day since and they’re still slippery. Now, there’s a chance that as they wear they will settle in and become less slippery, but I’m concerned. I don’t see any anti-slip aggregate on there, like we require for various dangerous wet condition surfaces in the building code. Certainly the ROAD with pedestrians and cyclists thereon can’t be exempt.

So, I have a call in to the city, and we’ll see.

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