Best products from r/ColumbiaMD

I do a little of both depending on the traffic and weather. Pedestrians clearly have right of way on the side walk so I either hop off or walk the bike past them, but if there's bad visibility or really heavy traffic I don't hesitate to get up there for a while. If you have experience driving a car it's not difficult to empathize with drivers and make adjustments to your style depending on the conditions.

Whatever you do, please consider investing in and using a quality flashing red rear taillight. The Bontrager Flare R is a nice one, but models exist at many price points (from $15 and okay to $$$ with a dashcam built in). This massively improves a driver's chance of seeing you, especially when visibility is reduced.

Book recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Cycling-Bicycling-21st-Century-America/dp/0762743166 (sadly not at hclibrary, already checked for you)

Website recommendation: http://bicyclesafe.com/

Columbia is pretty suburban. IF you want the big city life, live in DC or Baltimore and then commute out. It would be a reverse commute either way. There are a ton of paved trails so lots of places to hike around town. If you want mountains, drive out the West Virginia.


Read "Chesapeake" by Michner if you want some history of the place.

I installed a powered antenna in my attic and it works really well. It looks just like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Vansky-Outdoor-Motorized-Rotation-Amplified/dp/B071V7SV6P/ref=asc_df_B071V7SV6P/, was branded differently though when I bought it.

I point the antenna towards DC and get both Baltimore and DC stations - Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CW for both, plus a few extras like ION and some Spanish networks.

I never rotate the antenna and the only channel that sometimes (not always) get artifacts is WBAL (NBC 11)...if I rotate the antenna towards Baltimore it comes in fine, but I normally just use WRC (NBC4) if I want NBC.