I'm new to bike commuting and was amazed that road biking could be considered safer than sidewalk commuting.
I live in Santa Monica CA; I was hoping to ride the roads the whole way to work (6mi), but the busy Los Angeles streets with fast drivers definitely make me nervous.
I guess I was looking for an experienced commuter to give me advice on the following: I go thru a 1.5 mile of road en route that is only one lane wide, parked cars in the shoulder, and high-volume, slow speed rush hour traffic going about 15-25mph. I've been riding the sidewalk slowly in an effort to not annoy the rush hour motorists, whom I can't keep up with (I'm on a mtn bike, not a road bike, and there are stop signs every 1-2 blocks.) Fortunately there are few, if any peds en route, so I'm definitely not endagering any of them. However, it's slow going with all the stops, curbs, and ped-speed biking. I tried taking parallel side streets, but the cars go faster, and the one I'm using (Ohio St) is a designated bikepath street (and the others arent).
Just wondering how some of you experienced bikers would handle this (besides riding as fast as the cars at 25-30mph with stop signs - I can't do it!).
Thanks