I really, really encourage you to NOT ride on the sidewalks unless it's some kind of emergency. Bicycles are vehicles and they should be on the roads. Be cautious, be alert, be seen and be loud if need be, but do so on the road.

My sig line aside, I tend to opt for the street more and more. Yes, some of the roads are crappy, but I've also come across sections of sidewalk that were even worse.

Granted, the thread title asks a pretty open question, but sidewalk vs. road is still pretty location-specific.

At this point, though, in this thread, there are just three of us who are in or near the DC area, one of whom is already the OP.

For the most part its road only and save the sidewalks. But it is extremely area-specific. I've mention this on other threads and sidewalk cycling is accepted and almost the standard here in Pacific Beach San Diego. All you see is mostly beach cruisers, I have a few co-workers that sidewalk commute.

Generally its an accepted practice here. I tend to take the sidewalk over small stretches, especially this specific two-lane section that has horrendeous road conditions.

+1 from another bike-hostile city in the American SW. Agree with: scout the route, take residential streets, learn the road surfaces of your route, use parking lots or shortcuts if they help you avoid bad turns & intersections, stay off the sidewalk: it's dangerous & frustrating even where it's not illegal. Be safe and build your skills.

Interestingly, Google maps cycling option recommends G st. west of the railroad, then using 2nd St. NE up to K street. Overall, avoiding H st. I'd recommend seeing how parked cars, etc. are on G and K and trying to stay on those streets. I'm never overly comfortable in a door zone, but if these two roads are more lightly traveled, they may work well.

I completely agree.

You pose a hazard to pedestrians and to yourself. DO NOT RIDE ON THE SIDEWALK.

You can avoid the bridge by simply heading down to Cap Hill and cutting over. East of the Hill is pretty sedate.

As for riding in traffic,have you heard of WABA? They offer classes on riding in traffic:
https://www.waba.org/about/services.php#classes

You could also find another rider who has a similar commute(or even a co-worker) and ride with them to learn the ropes.

As I have said before, the only time I have ever been hit by a car was when I was riding on the sidewalk.

Cars just aren't looking at sidewalks because they don't expect zippy, fast things coming from them. They do look and see cyclists riding on the road.

I only take sidewalks if there is something more dangerous in a section of road, but I try to get back to the road as soon as possible.

Thanks to the DC folks for weighing in with alternate routes. Yeah, H street is a deal breaker, so I'll find a better way around.

And thanks to everyone else for your input. Street it is...

If the street is too hostile to ride on then ride on the sidewalk IF, and ONLY IF:

1. There is sparse pedestrian traffic

2. You yield in advance to whatever pedestrian traffic does exist -- the sidewalk belongs to foot traffic, you are there under sufferance.

3. You scan the parking lots at all driveways prepared to yield to vehicles coming out.

4. You operate on the assumption that those vehicle operators don't see you.

5. You ride "salmon" on the sidewalk so you can scan for oncoming vehicles turning in.

6. You cover the brake at driveways.

7. At intersections you basically cross as a pedestrian would.

8. You are not trying to break any speed records.

9. You are aware of the risk of getting "doored" by somebody walking out of a business that adjoins a narrow sidewalk. Almost happened to me once, and it was awake-up call!

Sidewalk riding is NOT inherently unsafe in all circumstances -- depends on the sidewalk and it depends on the rider. Sometimes a sidewalk choice is almost like an empty MUP vs. an extremely hostile road. If so, go for it and take necessary precautions.

Don in Austin

scout the route first (on a weekend) and then on the week (but go in plenty early and give yourself lots of time at first). I will say the weekend traffic is quite a bit different than weekday traffic. I'd imagine in a town with so many tourists like DC that sidewalks would be busier and streets would be freer on a weekend, but that's pur conjecture.

Generally speaking, it is a lot LESS safer to ride on sidewalks. That is why it is illegal in many areas. Sidewalks are for pedestrians, and riding a bike there makes it much more likely that you will hit someone. You also have to stop at almost every intersection, and many parking lots and other entrances. Drivers pulling out of side streets, driveways and parking lots are usually looking for traffic coming down the road, not the sidewalks -- so they are much more likely to hit you or block your path.

However, there are occasions where riding on a sidewalk is advisable or permissible -- such as roads undergoing construction.

Good points.

Also, I was really hoping that my user name would be original...my bad. I've requested a subtle name change.

I stick to roads almost all the time. The only exception on my commute is where the street merges with a larger artery that has cars and trucks barreling down a hill. I would be trying to keep up with the traffic and then suddenly slow down to make a left onto the bike path. Not me.

In this area I ride a short stretch of sidewalk that has rare pedestrian traffic that leads right to the bike path.

Interestingly, I get yelled at regularly, to get off the street and ride on the sidewalk. Every car driver here seems to think bikes don’t belong on the street. I can bet on it happening on every ride that is not on a back road.

Where I live (Michigan), it is not illegal to ride on the road, but highly recommend to ride on the road by the League of Michigan Bicyclists (not that anyone who drives a car here knows this).

Generally, I ride on the sidewalk if going less than 15mph (and there is not too much pedestrian traffic) and on the road when going 20-25mph.

The best bet is to use Google maps, and pick out a route using residential streets (as others have mentioned). I can go as fast as I want without worrying about cars, pedestrians, or people pulling into/out of strip malls not expecting a bike to be on a sidewalk doing 15-20mph.

That's pretty much my situation most of the time.

I live in the South, where walking is shunned, and most popular local running event involves running 2 miles to a Krispy Kreme (doughnut shop) eating a dozen doughnuts and running 2 miles back to the starting line. You can tell by our girths that we are not big walkers down here - there are very, very few pedestrians (at least at the times I am riding).

I have to be as vigilant about driveways and turning cars on the street as I do on the sidewalk, from what have observed so far. Assuming that a driver pulling out onto a street will see you if you are in a traffic lane seems like a great way to develop a first name relationship with an orthopedic surgeon.

From what I can tell, there are only two differences between riding on the street and riding on the side walk around here:

1. I do not have to share the sidewalk with someone weaving amiably along at 55 mp in a 35 mph zone in their dually pickup truck while chatting on a cell phone. They mostly stay off the sidewalks.That's sort of a big deal to me.
2. I have to slow down for pedestrians on the rare occasions when I see them. That's OK, there are so darn few of them that I feel like stopping and introducing myself anyway.

Note that this may change as I moved more from running errands to true commuting. But right now, I chose based on lane width, volume of vehicular traffic, and volume of pedestrian traffic.

I live in Miami and riding on the sidewalk is not the best idea due to the reason that once on the sidewalk it seems like your are invisible. I did that once and almost got hit...

I think you've been covered here pretty well with some good advice (except for the safety baron: don't yell at people about helmet use). My opinion is that riding your bike is the priority, and if you have to ease into on-street riding then so be it. You'll be better off not being on the sidewalks, which are actually very narrow in DC, but the biggest two issues are going slow to respect pedestrians and to be wary of any and all curb cuts where cars will be crossing your path. If you jog regularly, you develop a habit of scanning those conflict points because drivers won't do it for you.

I'm finally relocating into the District in 2 weeks, and am super pumped to be able to ride in an upper tier cycling city. You're pretty fortunate to be starting out here. I got up to speed, so to speak, in Atlanta so I'm pretty confident in by abilities. The best advice I have is to start slow, sticking to side streets and bike lanes, and work your way up to busier streets as your confidence grows and at your own comfortable pace. Oh, and watch out for cab drivers. They're insane.

You could also look for group/social rides going on to get more confidence. Bicycle Space is a LBS that sponsors a bunch of casual rides, and isn't too far from you.

It's funny you mention that, because Bicycle Space is literally next door to my new office, and I have their group rides info stuck to my fridge at the moment. That's exactly what I was thinking about, re: getting used to riding on the road. My wife and I are going to check out DC Vintage Cycles this weekend to see what they have to offer. At this point, instead of trying to transform the mtb into a commuter, I'm going to keep an eye out for a commuter-ready bike, with fenders, chain guard, etc. I'm hoping those guys will have something useful for a nice price.

My wife's going to buy a used bike as well, just to ride around with me every now and then, so I'm excited about the group ride concept.

Totally agree with what you say, except that "here" means "an extremely limited area of San Diego". Elsewhere in SD, road biking is more common. In areas where both road and sidewalk is available, there's no clear preference of riders.

I have to say, though--I had to walk the bike most of the way home last night (long story), and almost got creamed twice by cars pulling out of driveways; this is despite my blinkies going (but no headlight). I think motorists tend to pay more attention to the road than the sidewalk. It was a very interesting experience.

I'm suprised someone finds Raleigh, NC as hostile to bikes; I ride everywhere in Raleigh, routinely taking trips to the farmer's market, Umstead, several colleges, and elsewhere, often on Western, Avent Ferry, Hillsborough.... I've only had a few hairy moments on the road, and nearly all of those were at greenway-road transitions or parking lot entrances/exits. I see dozens of individuals biking every day; road bikers, tourers, commuters, casual riders....heck, I've even seen young kids (7 yo+) on the busy roads with their parents. On an average week, I do ~80 miles on roads, with about 60 of that during peak traffic. I have also nearly hit 6 bicyclists on the same route (while in my car)....all riding on bikes, generally going downhill and crossing a driveway or entry way without hesitation. I, like most folks, check sidewalks...but I don't check way up or down the sidewalks...even if I wanted to, Icouldn't.....many have decorative railing, bushes, and other obstacles to viewing a bike that could reach a drive....but pedestrians are easy to pick up in the planned gap.

How many pedestrians are you going to hit or scare? I bike and walk all over town (Sacramento CA). Bicyclists (morons) on the sidewalk are dangerous to everyone.
M Riley

I'm with you. Everyday on my commute I see several examples of this. I ride on the road exclusively and in my opinion, only young kids learning to ride safely should be allowed on the sidewalks.

Where I'm from there are bylaws against young kids riding without a helmet, and I think it's great. I wear one. If we all wore helmets, statistically there would be less serious head injuries. But this is not the topic of this thread.

What burns me up the most is seeing a thirty-something dude who (apparently SO confident in his cycling skills that he feels a helmet is unnecessary) bombs down a hill on the sidewalk. If these pricks are that gifted on a bike, they ought to be on the road, not running down grannies out for a stroll. The moral of the story is get a good handle riding your bike in mild traffic and then move into the heavier 5hit.

and stay off the sidewalks. It makes the rest of us look like idiots.

That and Paula Deen - "just a stick of buttaahhh"

I did my share of sidewalk riding when I just started commuting. Then, as my fitness and speed increased, I found it pretty hairy to blast by at 20 mph even on some sections of MUP. I ride road almost exclusively now, but I do not lose sight of that bikes are very opportunistic vehicles. I will take refuge on a sidewalk if needed, and sacrifice speed. Moreover, I was directed to a sidewalk by a cop when riding through a scene of a very recent accident. He just did not need another thing to keep track of.

Sidewalk riding is hard on a bike too, hitting cracks, water meter well covers, on and off ramps and gutters square on...

SF