TechKnowGN

I walk regularly, and know many members of the New Albany Walking Club, host of the biggest walkers-only event in the country. A majority of them are nothing but super friendly on the trails. I came across 2 of them on a long ride this weekend as they prepare to walk a marathon, and they always said thank you when notified they were about to be passed. I find many bikers are less friendly of slower bikers than walkers or runners are of bikers.

kgriffioen

If I need to get some where, like to work, then I avoid the MUP like the plague. Its just not worth the hassle. I did use them for a while but now I just stick to the roads.

If I were to go on a slow ride with the family, then I would use the MUP.

EKW in DC

MUP I ride is can be good, can be bad...

Good: This morning on the way in to work in downtown DC I rang my bell to signal my approach from behind to two or three joggers, all of whom waved in acknowledgement and thanks and moved to the right as far as they could, even though there was no one coming from the other direction. They were just being courteous and communicating their intentions as I do with the ring of the bell or "On your left."

Bad: Joggers w/ earbuds cranked up so loud they can't hear anything. I could slow down and ring my bell behind them for 5 minutes, all the time screaming at the top of my lungs "ON YOUR LEFT!!!"and they probably wouldn't hear me or react. Not safe. Occasional dog owners are bad, too, though most of the part of the MUP I ride does not directly abut residential areas.

Worst: Weekends. BUT I either expect to have issues or I take other routes. I mean, people don't get in their cars near major cities and 8 AM and expect to be able to fly down the interstate at 70 MPH w/o slowing down, right? So, we cyclists should expect that on weekends when MUPs see the most use, that we'll have some high traffic situations to deal with and know we might not be able to ride the MUP as fast as we would on a Wednesday morning at 8:30.

For fellow NoVA commuters: One improvement I would suggest for the Mount Vernon Trail is at the end of the runway at Gravelly Point. Too often, even at random times of the day on weekdays, groups congregate right in the middle of the trail to watch the planes coming in or taking off. They often do so with little children, too, and fail to adequately corral/supervise them. The asphalt there should be widened and/or signage should be added asking those there to watch the planes to kindly step off the path so that cyclists and joggers can pass unimpeded.

Wogster

This is part of the problem, everyone knows that on streets, whether it's the law or not, all rights belong to the motorist and cyclists are about 4th rate, behind motorcycles and powered scooters, but slightly ahead of electric bicycles, for now. On trails and MUPs pedestrians have all the rights, and cyclists rate 3rd place behind walkers.joggers and wheel chairs. There is no place where cyclists have all the rights, not even bike lanes where drivers seem to have the right to park.

shmily_dana

I don't get why runners/walkers will shun the sidewalks and use the bike lanes frequently in many neighborhoods I've lived. I dont get why given the choice on a MUP between hard, flat dirt or what is basically a sidewalk, they will choose the harder surface. In Tucson there is a river path. The north side is a MUP, and the south is walkers/runners only. Almost nobody uses the south side. The north side also has dirt foot paths parallel to the MUP. The pedestrians use the middle of the MUP.

Also, saying "On your left" is often interpeted as "move in a random direction".

hendrick81

It all depends on how you act.

Wogster

I don't really care if a jogger uses a bike lane, as long as they are willing to shift out of the lane and let me pass, unimpeded. The problem is that most of them, jog in the direction of traffic and with their music players on, with the volume set at 11, they don't hear you, so you need to go around them. Of course you look in your mirror and every car in the city, decides at that point, they must pass that particular location, so you lose any momentum you have.

As for the MUP, I once say a path that split into two parallel paths, with a sign that looked like this:

<- Pedestrians Only
Bicycles Only ->

You would think that a walker/jogger/runner in that case would take the Pedestrian path, well about half did, the other half would take the bicycle path, and then give any cyclist who dared to pass them dirty looks.

Here is what the designers were trying to accomplish, you had about a 20% grade, the pedestrian side had a railing, and some stairs cut in, which would make it easy to deal with the hill when walking, this path was about 1.5m wide, so two people could pass comfortably.

The bicycle path had no railing, was slightly wider so a descending and ascending bike could pass each other, maybe 2m wide. A cyclist going down could get a nice speed going, before slowing down at the bottom if the path was clear, which it usually wasn't because some walker would be gingerly and slowly walking down the path, right in the middle.

d4c4c8

I do a lot of riding on the Santa Ana River Trail in southern CA. The peds that seem to get angriest at bicyclists are the ones who are wearing earbuds and couldn't hear a 747 behind them, then get all freaked out when you pass them.

The others that seem to think they own the trail are those who stand in the middle of the trail chatting. Meat pylons is a misnomer.. I call em targets.

hendrick81

This is why i usually never ride on any kind of mup..

#1- It is hard to maintain any kind of decent speed for any period of time......
#2- You have to deal with a buch of idiots than think they own the trail with there strollers, and dogs...


Just stay away from the mups and you do not have to worry about any of this kinda nonsense........................

cyclokitty 

O_O! Meat pylons -- I like that!

Every so often there is a group of moms with baby strollers that meet on the Beltline. There's about 5 or 6 of them and they like to walk side-by-side, pretty much taking the entire width of the trail. Lord help you if you want to ride by --- not a nice occasion. The language! I've never been cussed so badly. All I wanted to do *sob* was ride past.

Sheesh.

exile

Here is the bridge I go over on my way too and from work. The middle section is designated for bike traffic, and the outer area is supposed to be for pedestrians (outside the arches on the step up sidewalk). Lets just say I've encountered ped's walking anywhere but the outer area.

Last night on my way to work the bridge was totally unlit. If not for my lights on my bike I would have ran over two (albeit lovely) females. I also passed two bike ninjas out on their cruisers who were frozen on both sides of the yellow dividing line .

Wogster

Yeah, don't you feel like yelling, "I PAY TAXES TOO, YOU KNOW" The problem for those who have not been on the Beltline is that except where it runs through a cemetery, there are fences on both sides, even though it can be 5m wide in places, 5 of those SUV sized strollers can easily take up the whole width.

Common decency would lead to a couple of these people dropping behind while you pass, then moving back into position. Nice and easy, no fuss, no muss. Except selfish people find it it's far better to use up 10x the energy to cuss you out, then it is to be decent. Sadly those kids in 20 years will be spending most of their time with shrinks because they are so screwed up.

moose67

You think walkers are bad you should try riding the golf cart paths in Peachtree City, GA. All ages are driving carts on the path and they do a lot of the passing. The kids are the ones that scare me. Not that they mind you being there but that they're not always paying attention. I saw some texting and talking on cell phones. Others were just talking to their passengers. This was the first time I've riden the trail. I went with my boss's and they have rode the path before. I don't know if I'll do that again. Too much traffic for me with the walkers, runners and golf carts.

Aleforge

Yep, they are just raising another generation of clueless disrespectful people.

hendrick81

This thread is just making me wanna go on my local mup, and start raising hell down the path...

Aleforge

Oh no!

dlester

I have had more than a few philosphical discussions with groups who consume the entire path when engaging in their activities, making it impossible to pass. I usually point out to them, in a not so tactful manner, that 'on your left' is a courtesy to let someone know you are passing. It is not a warning to get out of the way. When they need to get out of the way, the phrase is considerably less cordial.

shmily_dana

My other favorite people on the MUP are the dog walkers. They are on one side of the trail and the dog is on the other and the leash is across the trail. I have a 1.5mile MUP as part of my daily ride. A lot of people seem to think it is a good idea to wear dark clothes in the dark. (I see people do this on sidewalks also.) There have been people I've only seen because my headlight reflected on the dog's eyes.

I used to ride the Santa Ana river trail, the back bay trail and some of the beach paths. The worst people in those areas are the rollerbladers. I've only seen a few rollerbladers since I've moved to AZ and that is still too many.

d4c4c8

Normally SART is excellent for training on. There isn't that much ped traffic on the trail so you can maintain a 20mph pace with very little problem. San Gabriel River has even less foot traffic but LA County sucks as far as maintenance goes, it's got a lot of nasty bumps when transitioning from asphalt to concrete.

Lug Steel

The strange thing is the majority of paths around town were created being
called "bike paths", the term "Multi-use path" didn't even pop up until about
10-15 years ago when the "meat pylons" decided to cluster things up by wanting
to walk on BIKE PATHS instead of ANYWHERE ELSE-
I used to be able to shout "BIKE PATH!BIKE PATH!BIKE PATH!" when confronted
by angry pedestrians, but now they can shout "MULTI-USE!MULTI-USE!MULTI-USE!"
I now just wipe my rims down w/ automotive wheel & tire cleaner before riding the "MUP", so when I need to apply the brakes they squeal like hell,
the path parts like Moses parting the Red Sea!