Originally Posted by
katsrevenge
And yet that kind of thinking has kept the active biker types to mostly young, male and fairly fit. Riding with 45+ MPH traffic does not appeal to many females, those with fitness lacks or those who are older. (that said, there will always be a few outliers, but for the most part, this holds true with what research has been done.)
I'd argue strongly with you that this "kind of thinking" has kept the active biker types to mostly young, male and fairly fit. Even the profile of posters in other parts of BikeForums is older than you think.
Part of becoming a good cyclist is being able to assess routes for their cycling amenity. That's why, when someone says they are going car-free and want to commute, we suggest they scope out the neighbourhood looking for routes that have suitable cycling amenity. Indeed, why ride a 45mph busy road with no room to cycle safely, when there might be a parallel road that is not a main route but connects to another road that enables that person to arrive at their destination in a timely manner.
Every road is indeed a bike path. Remove the cars and that's what you've got. And as has been pointed out earlier, the specialised separated bike facilities do not go everywhere cyclists generally want to go. At some stage, a rider has to use the road to make the destinations they want, if they are a utility cyclist. Education and experience will play major roles in improving the amenity of roads that those riders now consider unrideable (as contango has mentioned several times).