Tales from daily commutes and Saturday afternoon spins filled the city council chambers last night as bicyclists gathered to talk about Concord's roads.

The goal was to gather information from the community, giving a city committee the framework to craft a master plan to make Concord more bike-friendly.

For a city meeting, the turnout was high. About 65 people crowded around tables devoted to conversations on different topics, including route maps, problem spots, bike parking and safety.

Members of the bike committee manned the tables, highlighting maps and making lists on poster-sized notepads, as small groups of bicyclists talked about everything from dangerous storm grates on Mountain Road to too-narrow shoulders on Clinton Street to traffic lights on North State Street that don't change unless a car pulls up.

But over the course of the evening, broader themes emerged, as well: Drivers could pay more attention. (So could some bicyclists.) During rush hour, certain roads and intersections are scary. Loudon Road is always scary.

"Number one, Loudon Road," said David Harris, casting his vote for which road most needs improvement. "Why do I even care about Loudon Road? Because that's where stuff is." He'll shop at Market Basket on Storrs Street, because it's easier to bike there than Fort Eddy, he said. But the department stores, "they're 3, 4 miles out of town, on the road of death."

Harris and others were seated around a table with a large city map. Greg Bakos, who's on the bike committee, was leading a conversation about where people go on bikes now - and where they'd go in the future, were the city to make improvements.

Several people mentioned the difficulty in getting from the west side of the river to the east. "You have to go under the highway on Loudon Road, and that bridge is tough," said one man.

At a table talking about "hot spots" for bicyclists, Bob Wyatt brought up the double storm grates on Mountain Road near the Mobil Station, "forcing you out into traffic," he said. "Some drivers just don't want to yield. They'll give you the horn."

Wyatt, who bikes down Mountain Road to Eastman Street and ends up at the state office park, later said his 7½-mile ride is "not so bad in the morning." But about 4:30 to 5 p.m., when the roads get busy, drivers are less patient, he said. "It's something every bicyclist can tell you they run into some place."

While negligence isn't widespread, "it's just that one driver that scares the heck out of you," Wyatt said.

That's something the committee is addressing. "One of the things we've noticed is not everybody knows the rules of the road," said Peter Rhodes, chairman of the bike committee.

Rhodes said the group is working on a public safety announcement about how drivers and bicyclists should behave. And Tim Farmer of S&W Sports has been hosting safety and basic repair classes for new bicyclists as well as local refugees.

City Councilor Dick Lemieux, who chairs the city's Transportation Policy Advisory Committee, said staff from the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission would synthesize the feedback received last night into a draft plan that the public will be asked to review.

"You can see, there's an awful lot of stuff," he said, looking around the room.

Some issues, like problem intersections, could be addressed quickly, Lemieux said. Bike committee members hope to have the master plan done by summer, Lemieux said, and longer-term projects could then be worked into the city's capital improvements plan - if the city decides to pursue them.

In the meantime, plans for what will be the city's first official bike route have already taken shape. A proposal for the North-South route, which will run from South Street up to Fisherville Road, will go before the city council for approval in the coming months. (next page »)