Originally Posted by LakeHouse
... So I've been watching the shoulders of roads, and the drivers on the road. Theres a lot of nice wide roads around here, all two lanes, and a fair amout of traffic on them. Theres a bike trail on the side of the road that connects the two cities, about 12 miles apart. The bike path scares me. Seems like a damn good way to get clipped by a car, either turning in or pulling out. The path's ashphalt connects to the highway when theres a road entering the highway, and the road painters put a big white stripe to indicate drivers should stop in front of the bike path, but paint means little here. I would feel safer on the side of the road. ...
This is, of course, one of the (many) major problems with separate bike paths and one of several reasons I generally prefer road shoulders or on-road (Calfornia "Class II") bike lanes over dedicated multiuse trails (Class I).
On vacation about 4 years ago, I tried the two-way multiuse path in the Squaw Valley / Lake Tahoe area, and found every intersection to be just as awkward and scary as I would have imagined it to be. Fortunately, local motorists seemed attuned to the presence of the path, but I worried about all of the tourists and visitors.
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Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
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