Originally Posted by Keith99
From the article:
Brussels resident Matt Meyer said he frequently sees cyclists pedaling on the
shoulder of the Great River Road near Grafton instead of using the Vadalabene
Bike Trail a few feet away.
Once, Meyer stopped a rider and asked him why he didn't use the bike path.
"He said, 'I have just as much right to use this road as you do,'" Meyer
recalled. "I understand that the paths get crowded, but they're not using them
at all
Assuming this is what really was said and it is typical then cyclists and their attitude are a big part of the problem here. Matt Meyer asked a good question. It deserved a good answer. He is now an enemy. AND the question in and of itself deserves an answer. I assume there is a good answer. Let's say it is bacause the path is not maintained and is dangerous just saying that might well have made Meyer into an ally, or at least lest him neutral.
Its not really a good question. Asking why cyclists don't just use the bike path is like asking why drivers don't just get out and walk. If people are asking you why you aren't using the path then there is the implication that you are supposed to be over there, not on the road. Real reasons for not using the path: poor maintenance, awful design, crowds, non-cyclists using it, will be seen as just plain old whining by the ones who would ask in the first place.
I have been on another board where someone complaining about bikes being on the road and not on the bike path. He consistantly insisted that the path was 'perfectly good'; at best a misstatement, worse a lie. In my experience there really is no such thing as a 'perfectly good' or even 'reasonably good' bike path.