Originally Posted by
n0dice
For a road rider it simply doesn't work to have a 5' wide, 1 lane path. People walk in them and park their cars. Many trails I've been on have horrible sight lines on corners that do not allow for any kind of speed. While I'm at it, many bike lanes/paths aren't wide enough to take a corner at speed. I'll often check over my shoulder and if it isn't busy I'll move to the left of the bike lane just so I can have a good line to make the right turn.
Originally Posted by
mandovoodoo
nOdice has it pegged.
Being stuck on a 5 ft bad trail or yelled at to get on such a thing, or being stuck on a worse badly designed lane is what the "elite" are concerned about.
It is interesting that you both decry facilities based on the current sad state of offerings generally available in the US. I can't help but agree, based on those terms... a 5 foot wide "sidewalk" with poor sightlines and terrible turning radii is indeed not suitable for a skilled cyclists' needs... it is a joke set upon "the bicycle riding public" to entice them off of their couches on weekends while slowly ambling down said path on some poor imitation of a bicycle.
The reality is that a real well designed path is NOT what these example MUPs are.
A well designed path should have at least 5 feet of space either way for cyclists, should have well designed high speed wide radius curves, and entry and exit points that allow for merging vice blind intersections. Such a path should permit a cyclist to move at 20MPH+ with good sight lines; to allow cyclists to efficiently propel themselves across a city in reasonable times. A path should encourage the efficient use of a bicycle in such a manner as it is preferred over a network of stop light and stop sign congested "city streets." Such a path would be akin to a Freeway, with underpasses and overpasses to minimize intersections.
Such paths are rare in America, and therefore typically unknown to most cyclists... hence the typical comments seen well above decrying "paths."
Those 5 foot things are designed by parks departments... and are not for transportation use.
Now try to imagine a bike freeway that allows quick crosstown trips and is well designed.
A proper path designed by transportation engineers might look something like these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgUkNxUE0wc
or like this path in San Diego (a rare path indeed)... see attached images.