Red letter ride......
 

I don't know what it is with some pedestrians, motorists, and other cyclists:

1. Riding along a paved levee in a nearby park, I end up having to stop completely because two women decide they want to use the WHOLE path to chit-chat while cycling and I can't get safely past them. Then they give me an attitude when I won't get out of their way. Uh, hey ladies... see that broken yellow painted line on the ground?

2. I have to practically stop for a very young child on rollerblades who is stopping all traffic coming up behind him. He's clearly too, too young to be on them on a public pathway.... and he's right in the middle of the path. His dad is completely clueless.

3. The usual assortment of pedestrians who decide to walk right down the middle of the path... with headphones on.

4. A mountain biker and his SO, both in combat cycling outfits, who give a sarcastic, 'Excuse f______ us', when I say, 'Coming around!' and then pass by them at a T intersection on the path, where they are parked right in the middle of the intersection, having a sip. Hey, lunch box, it wouldn't hurt if you learned to just be considerate of other people now, would it? Of course he and his SO wouldn't have noticed that they had held me up the last 1/2 mile or so because they were riding across the whole path themselves.

5. And finally the moron who double-parked his car along the street in front of a sandwhich stand, pushing all cyclists out into traffic.... while the parking lot for the place is practically empty.

I love to ride. But some days, I just want to scream when I get home. Everyone's ride or walk or just day out and about tooling around would be so, so much more enjoyable if people would just be aware of what's going on around them and show some minimal consideration for others, the same consideration people expect of others.

Sorry, sometimes I just need to vent. End rant.

I ran across each and every situation that you described yesterday. The kid and the rollerblades, did that, the people who wanted to chat, did that, that lady with two kids who didn't know the path goes two directions, did that.

I notice that when the path is crowded, it is just better to suck it up and try not to hit anyone. Did you see the guy on the recumbent, who had to ride in the middle of the bridge, so that nobody would even think of passing him, and then he meanders into the passing lane and stops, trying to be a jerk the whole time. I just try to get to a clear area on the trail and enjoy those moments when I think I am going to die before topping the low grade hill. Best -

PS - even a bad ride has some good points for me.

Yesterday must have just been idiot day or something I had all the same problems plus a few additions, a guy biking trying walk a dog at the same time, a rollerblader trying to walk two dogs at the same time, a pack of about 1o bratty kids taking up the whole trail not letting anyone pass either way and then to top it all off the idiot that pulled off to the right side of the trail to it looked like take a break no one was around so I went wide left to give him plently of room then without looking he does a U turn and rammed right into my front tire through me over the handle bars and messed up my bike what a great day for a ride I'm sticking to the road for now on

I just gave up riding on the bike trails during the week end... Exactly as you described: kids learning hpw to ride, people learning how to rollerblade taking the whole lane...I just stick to the road, because otherwise I get frustrated and mad at these people and it's not a healthy feeling. It's much more quiet in the evening during the week.

superman,
I hope that the damage to your bike was not too great. I have been put into the grass myself, the only time that I ever really yelled at someone to stay the hell on their side of the path. Gee, I don't really know what I would do if my bike were seriously damaged. I would probably want to take it out of someones butt.

I didn't even yell at the guy I was pretty proud of my self for that the guy was a descent person and gave me his bussiness card and offered to pay for the repairs, it will be nice if he actually does but I'm just planing to call the guy and have him say he never met me, luckily my lbs was about a half mile from the accident, they said the back tire needs to be trued and I need a new shifter I'm guessing that won't be to cheap but atleast it's fixable and my lbs is good about getting me back on the road quick.

True: even the worst rides are still worth it. I figure this: someday I'm going to be very old and grey and not be able to get out for a ride. So I might as well enough it now. I even use that as motivation on the days I don't want to get out. Because some day, it's going to be true.

I normally don't ride the paths on the weekend because of all the clowns. But I thought I would give it another shot and it wasn't fun.

It's most dangerous for the moron parents who think that it's time for their kids to get out on the trail to learn to ride or blade. That's just reckless parenting. There are plenty of empty parking lots in business parks every weekend where you can teach your kids to ride/blade safely away from other traffic.

If your kid can't keep a straight line without difficulty or doesn't understand stay to the right, then he's too young to be out on a path. It's really that simple.

Taking responsibility for your own careless behavior doesn't make you 'decent', it just make you an adult. And, yes, I'd wait for the check to clear before passing judgment on him.

Bike paths... :eek: Given the choice between what you described, and downtown traffic at rush hour, I'll take the traffic any day. Seriously.

The paths are great when it isn't a weekend. I just thought I would give it another go since I hadn't in awhile and since, gee, I pay for those paths, too.

I think we all learned our lesson this weekend no trail riding on the weekends, my trials I ride are practically empty any time before 5 monday through friday which is great.

Weekends are bad in general. What's really bad is when those irresponsible trail users also end up on the roads driving in the same manner.

jatkins679, no disrepect but what do expect, I mean you've said it yourself that you know the bikepaths aren't a great place, so why put yourself in that position yet again? I'm not sure if you have the access, but you should try country roads, they offer both a pleasant yet fast ride with limited traffic.

I'm not if its the same where you live but bike-paths are for both cyclists and pedestrians.

Anyway I hope you have stress-free riding in the future, Portent.

Went for my long ride today, everything is going fine up until the last 10-15 minutes of my ride. Then some guy gets mad that Im holding up the turn lane because Im going up hill and not on the bike path. As he finally goes by he yells 'bike path'. People dont realize that bike paths are fine...if only bikes are on them. I see dogs, walkers (old and young) on the bike paths. If I were to go on them I would be slowing down and complaining of many of the same things already said in this thread. All in all though, still a good ride, first long ride in VA so plenty of hills...not as bad as I expected.

As you might recall from my original post, I said I hadn't been on the paths in awhile and thought I would give it another shot. I normally don't 'put (myself) in that position.'

What do I expect? Oh.... I dunno... Maybe that people use such public facilities with common courtesy and give the consideration that people almost always demand for themselves? Is that really all that unreasonable?

Shared or multi-use pathways usually are best negotiated by a fast cyclist when:

1. It's after midnight and before breakfast when most everyone else is home in bed.
2. It's pouring with rain (or even just a bit misty).
3. It's freezing cold.

There are other times, but picking them only comes from local knowledge and/or familiarity.

Fine, warm weather puts many people's minds into neutral when on shared pathways, and more so if they have company. Summer weekends are almost a dead loss for faster cyclists on a shared path.

Young children are particularly dangerous as they don't have the spacial awareness needed to interact safely with other users -- this usually when their parent is 100 metres away and has no control. And have you ever noticed that when a young child watches you ride past, they will steer a path straight for you? Very disconcerting.

We are moving away from calling these facilities bike paths, and instead substituting the term "shared pathway" as a true indicator of their use. There are defined legal obligations on behalf of pedestrians to *not* use designated non-road bike paths (ie, they are a segregated facility only for cyclists). We don't have any legally designated non-road bike paths here. Even on shared paths, pedestrians have legal obligations under the Australian Road Rules, particularly keeping to the left and not obstructing a rider. It's not enforced.

We recently introduced information (distance, direction, facilities) and behavioural signage on the major north-south shared pathway in the city. The behavioural signage includes passing with verbal or bell/horn warning, moving off the path when stopped, bans on animals, and keeping to the left (this is in Australia). The signage seems to have resulted in some improvement in behaviour, and reinforces certain legal positions in case of collision or conflict (for example, obstruction and keeping to the left).

Pick your moments if you wish to ride an MUP or shared path as anything more than a wheeled pedestrian.

R

I think we need to be realistic here and accept that these things are not designed with the needs of cyclists in mind (not even if they are referred to as "bike paths"). Most of them don't actually go anywhere, which is fine if you intend riding nowhere, but not so useful it you use your bike for basic transportation.

There's rarely (if ever) sufficient room to pass even the most courteous of pedestrians safely. The idea that "cyclists must give way to pedestrians on the path" is nothing more than a joke. About the only cyclists they have any value for are children learning to ride - even then I think there are better places to do it.

The moral of this particular story (and many, many of the other bikepath stories on this board) is to find somewhere else to ride. Bikepaths are yet another example of people who don't ride telling those who do where they should. Would you attend a sex-education class taught by a nun?