Originally Posted by
LarrySellerz
Hey guys, how often do you ride on sidewalks? Are there roads that are sketchy enough that you stick to the sidewalk? As a kid I rode on the sidewalks all the time, but now I feel like they are pretty darn dangerous.
Don't, myself, unless there is no other way. I do ride on MUPs some of the time, so it's unavoidable, but otherwise it's on the right third portion of the RH lane in the street for me. All things considered, it tends to be much safer.
Frequently rode on a "boardwalk" sidewalk along the beach, many decades ago. Typically at off-hours when most people weren't anywhere around, so usually no issue at all. But I finally came upon a person expecting to walk out onto the sidewalk (gee, imagine that) without risk. She wasn't looking. But, to be fair, she probably couldn't have processed the fact I was going far too fast for the spot and conditions. Laid it down, got bad abrasions on my arms. Amazingly, never did get infected, probably due to the cleansing and bottles of iodine used to disinfect. But, I can only imagine how many decades it had been since the last time that sidewalk had been completely scrubbed and washed.
These days, I'm often on a MUP for at least some of my ride. And I make it a point to do passing of others at "crawling" speeds, so that even if they lose their minds and change direction without warning it's unlikely anyone will go down due to the speed differential.