I wrote this originally as a comment on a post on r/Texastech linked below. Please let me know if y'all feel the same way and how we can potentially push for bike infrastructure in Lubbock.

As a person who bikes 20 miles everyday in Lubbock, I'll give you the complete honest truth about cycling in this city. It's not pretty.

The only upside i have really encountered about cycling in Lubbock is that it is mostly flat.

Now there are the many, many downsides. First thing is that Lubbock does not have any cycling infrastructure whatsoever. Get ready to share the road with cars, cars that do not want to share the road with you. If you want to ride on side walks, you'll be jumping lots of curbs and lifting your bike up almost every block(depending on the street). If there even is a sidewalk available to you, which you won't find half the time you're riding. Bike Paths are also non-existent and the sidewalks usually have power poles acting as obstacles in the middle of sidewalks, requiring you to to either squeeze through, potentially hitting the pole, or going back on the road. Plus everything is super far from each other and the crosswalk lights on several intersections just don't work properly. I've almost gotten hit several times on the intersection of ave Q and 50th, even though the crosswalk was indicating it was my turn to go. You'll be jay walking quite a bit because it'll be your only safe option since your eyes are more reliable than the crosswalk.

I'd actually recommend cycling in lubbock despite all those downsides, but honestly the worst thing about cycling here are the obnoxious drivers. It makes this city, in my opinion, the least bike friendly city in the United States. I swear I have never ridden in a least bike friendly city in my entire life. It's a stark contrast from where I used to ride in Europe(Munich). The drivers here see cyclists as nothing but a nuisance. I've had my life put in danger and been harassed too many times by drivers in Lubbock. I usually wave at people who are stopped on crosswalks because it makes me have to go into the intersection to cross. The response i usually get is "shut up and ride your bike bitch" or they just flip me off. People will intentionally drive extremely close to you just to scare you off the road. Also try and stay away from diesel pick up trucks, because there's a chance some dick head will "roll coal"(look it up) on you, ruining your day and making you smell like grease. The worst part is biking at night, which is extremely unsafe here due to the amount of homeless people out and the drivers who just speed down roads in pitch black darkness.

In full honesty, I do not recommend biking here regularly, unless you're just biking around campus. It's tough dealing with the poor infrastructure and extremely rude drivers. But it's doable because the landscape is so flat, you just have to be tough as nails and disregard the drivers that scare you and ruin your day.

If you want to learn more about cycling, what makes a place great to cycle everyday, and what makes a place terrible for cycling, i'd recommend you checkout "not just Bikes" on youtube. Lubbock is exactly the type of city he refers to as a car-centric hell-scape.

Lubbock needs to build a damn network of bike paths for Christ's sake, it's not like we don't have the space or money to do it.