Avoiding pedestrians?
I had a disappointing experience this past Sunday. I was riding my fixed gear bike on the local bike path. My fixed gear is currently geared much too high - once you get going, it's HARD to stop!
Ahead of me on the path were two pedestrians - one on the right going in my direction (her back to me) and the other on my left, approaching me. The pedestrian on the right was closest to me. The pedestrian on the left first moved more to the left, then to her right! Having not much option, I passed the pedestrian on my right, and then steered right to miss the approaching girl.
The pedestrian who had her back to me was severely startled and began yelling as I departed claiming that I hadn't given notice and calling me a string of offensive names.
I felt badly, but after consideration, came to the following two conclusions:
1. The path is a bike path, not a pedestrian path and
2. The walker in question had an i-Pod in her ears and couldn't have heard me even if I'd yelled
Other than not using the bicycle path or stopping for all pedestrians, how can one peacefully coexist? Pedestrians on the bike path who let their pets run free (or worse, their children), who are effectively deaf due to music players, who walk in a way to completely block the path, and who don't know how to move even when they DO hear me say "bicycle on your left" drive me BONKERS!
Any ideas from the forums?