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Old 11-13-13, 12:10 PM
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Dwayne
Rocketship Underpants
 
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 328

Bikes: '94 RS Bikes Stampede (commuter), Scattante XRL Team road bike (formerly '05 Cannondale R5000), '05 Cannondale Prophet 1000

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Originally Posted by Engineer
I ride on the street, sidewalks, alleys, bike trails, driveways, parkways and dirt trails, across grass and gravel, through parking lots and small bodies of water on occasion, whatever makes the most sense at the time. While I probably ride 98% of the time on the street or bike path, sometimes the safest (or convenient) way is to take a detour off the street. If you are not getting in anyone's way, I don't see what the problem is. My commute goes through industrial areas and past cemeteries where there are almost no people on the sidewalks and very little chance of cars pulling out of driveways. If I do resort to a sidewalk with people on it I will slow down to walking speed, but usually stay on the bike.
Well said. I ride street 98% of the time, too (73% of all statistics are made up by the way), but there are two sections on my commute where I use the sidewalk. One is on the uphill of a 45mph four-lane road (so traffic is actually 55-65mph); I ride on the street until the hill starts, then switch to the sidewalk up the hill, then back on the street at the top. It's right before the interstate on-ramps, and a fair amount of 18-wheeler traffic, too. I think I might see a pedestrian once a month there.
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