I forgot to mention I live in the middle of 2 steep hills on a busy 2 lane street... Cars fly down these hills, most of the time I wish they would slow down. Its not safe for the children in the neighborhood.
This doesn't give me an excuse to take the sidewalk, I learned to love hill really quick! :D
I'm sort of a hero to the neighborhood, I make cars conform to the speed limits when I coming home. ;)
:lol:


I walked(with my bike) behind guy riding his bike in the sidewalk today after work. Right past a popular/busy bus stop, through the line up.
You could clearly see the people appreciate my choice over his.
He didn't get much farther quicker. As soon as I mounted my steed I dropped him in a sec.
Goes to show it doesn't always save time.
He was tailgating a pedestrian which was a dumb move IMO.
Taking the alley would've been faster/safer to ride to be honest.

Again I'm not suggesting anyone take my opinions as a threat against anyone who enjoys riding on the sidewalk. I just don't do it, & don't agree with it. No more PM's :rolleyes:

IMO riding on the sidewalk is like speeding.
We all do it once in a while, & get away with it.
When you get caught, you come back down to earth for a bit, & then start the evil "cycle" again. :giver:


BTW: I love Daihard's SIG!
So much truth to that quote.

Today I was on foot at a crosswalk. I saw a cyclist coming towards me on the street, which is unusual in the area as only my SO and I do this. I pointed out to my travelling partner that "Hey, that guy's doing it right!"

Immediately after I said this, it dawned on me that something was wrong. He was going against traffic. In the street.

He continued to do this until he got up the hill just down the street.

Crap like that makes it hard for the rest of us.

M.

I'm sort of a hero to the neighborhood, I make cars conform to the speed limits when I coming home

...until the one arrives thats too busy texting to notice you, at which time the awful and entirely indifferent destructive power of a 2,000 lb+ automobile relative to the fragile human body is likely to make itself felt.


I figure any time I'm using my own body to regulate traffic speed I'm doing something seriously foolish.

YMMV,
Mike

it dawned on me that something was wrong. He was going against traffic. In the street.

Not intending to validate that guy but..... The best way for me to get out of town involves a seven mile section of narrow winding two-lane highway, surprisingly rural in character for being so close to the city.

What has happened not far south of town here in San Antonio is the Eagle Ford oil boom, the burning gas flares of the thousands of new wells drilled literally visible from space as a swathe of light across nighttime Texas. Thousands of trucks, massive infrastructure problems on formerly quiet country roads, exceedingly high moving vehicle accident rate.

On that seven mile section I ride on the edge of pavement against traffic, moving as far off-pavement into the grass as necessary when oncoming cars are present. I've tried riding with traffic, almost been hit a few times that way by wide vehicles.

Mike

My hills are quite steep, & they're rollers. If your not paying attention odds are you'll sideswipe a car before a cyclist.
If they can't see my myriad of blinkers than I guess I have I coming to me. Better me on a bike, than me smoking a child or a pet on a narrow sidewalk.

I don't use my body to regulate traffic, I just follow the rules of the road in my area.

This is the Commuting forums isn't it?

I gonna float a WAG that we lose about a cyclist every other year that way in my city. Last one was a couple on a tandem who were actually over on the shoulder, guy in pickup wasn't paying attention, radio or phone or something. IIRC he was acquitted of negligent homicide.

Sounds unlikely, and you getting your pelvis shattered along with broke legs and permanent brain injury would be an entirely separate event from anything that happened on the sidewalk, it ain't an either/or concept we are discussing here.

You have clearly stated that traffic has to slow down to avoid hitting your body on your bike in the roadway. Sooner or later for whatever reason someone wont, and any "local hero" status you may have will be quickly forgotten. Most people out there would probably put the blame on you.

I commute every day while consciously avoiding such situations, I would imagine most bicycle commuters do, pretty much a given if they've survived any length of time.

JMHO,
Mike

I live in FL where both are legal. I stick to the street 95% of the time, and ride as a vehicle. When there is a one way road that I need to travel in the opposite direction of though, I will get on the sidewalk, slow to a moderate pace, yeild to pedestrians...etc. I'll also get on the sidewalk if I need to use a road that is obviously dangerous to share with cars (no shoulder, fast speeds, or an area where motorists are completely unused to bicycles on that particular stretch of roadway) common sense stuff

I ride to stay alive, using common sense and courtesy to get where I'm going. I'm not a representative of anything, I don't live by any cycling ideology. I ride for fun, and I like to keep it that way.

If you could picture a 2 lane street, you can imagine how narrow the sidewalk would be.
Factor in the renters who don't clean the leaves like your supposed to make this a very sketchy situation. I leave before sunrise, & get home just before sunset. There's about 10'-12' of sidewalk from your front door to the boulevard.
You tell me if coming down a hill @ around 15-20kms on the brakes is a good idea over a leaf covered sidewalk rather than taking the road that clean, & follows our laws.

If you live in fear, you miss out on too much.
We have a fair amount of cycling related deaths, same for vehicular deaths.
What if we all stopped driving, or cycling because it just wasn't safe? It just wouldn't happen.

I don't get why there is so many bike Nazis here.
Clearly I don't agree with riding on sidewalks, I'm not trying to convince you to follow me, but merely trying to explain my situation. People seem to think hills are a sign to take it to the sidewalk. I happen to like climbing so I stay on the road.

If you want to take to the sidewalk, have @ it.
Never knew one had to be so "manly" to ride on the road?
To me its just common sense, second nature.

I shoulder check just like I do in my truck, if I'm in the way I'll pull over. Does this kill me momentum, yes. But it also keeps me from getting killed. I don't drive or ride like an idiot, & I tend to ride defensively.
I'm following the rules of the road, not in the wrong.
Again there's nothing heroic about it, its just common sense.
What is there to blame me for doing?
Making you pull over a bit to pass me? What might take a second or 2 out of your day? If time was an issue you could always take a street not marked for bike use.(even though most people don't) I don't see your point here Mike.

P.S: Not every truck owner is a cyclist hater, if fact most deaths here are from cars.
I love my truck, & car, but not nearly as much as my bikes.
Commute to your hearts content, leave this whole debate behind.
You do, or you don't, it a part of life.

When you live in the most congested city in North America you learn to live with traffic. Especially when riding on sidewalks is prohibited.

Cheers.

Street.

http://images.thesartorialist.com/th...g_3669Web1.jpg

+1

Well said. I ride street 98% of the time, too (73% of all statistics are made up by the way), but there are two sections on my commute where I use the sidewalk. One is on the uphill of a 45mph four-lane road (so traffic is actually 55-65mph); I ride on the street until the hill starts, then switch to the sidewalk up the hill, then back on the street at the top. It's right before the interstate on-ramps, and a fair amount of 18-wheeler traffic, too. I think I might see a pedestrian once a month there.

Doesn't the fringe on your boots get caught in the chain/sprocket, Standalone?

My Grandfather fought the Nazis in WWII. I'm pretty sure no-one on here is like them.

And folks are telling you,they don't feel safe riding in the street on some hills. In the example I gave,the road itself has no hazards,and I can manage climbing the hill without having to walk. But many drivers ignore the law,and this makes it unsafe. I'm not going to risk my life unnecessarily just to prove a point. If I ride in the street on that hill,I might get hit. If I use the sidewalk,I have a slim chance of getting hit. Same goes for the other example I gave that was a flat street;many drivers use it as a speedway. If people obeyed the laws,I wouldn't have a problem riding in the street on that road.

There's a saying we have here on BF about being right vs being dead right.

My reference to Nazis is only in humour, I'm more or less commenting on how people get so offended when I obey the rules of my local laws.
Just as you say "if people obeyed laws"...
I happed to do just that, & ride on the road.
Here its against the law to ride on sidewalks, where as many place you guys are from its not. Which is why I explained my situation, & stated you don't have to follow as a say. Just cause I don't agree with it doesn't make it wrong for the rest of you.

I'll continue to "roll the dice/take my chances" on the road...
If my neighbour(who is 75) can do it, then I surely can @ less than half his age.
:lol:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...00933743_o.jpg

If these tough guys can do it... ;)

https://fbcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.ne...37487976_n.jpg

Nobody else is looking at my boots, you know...

And you seem to have stopped traffic.
:lol:

Safest way to travel, boys. Safest way to travel.

Being visible is the key to safety while commuting!
:lol:

I rarely ride a bike in the District, living and working across in Virginia. I have noticed that the center of downtown DC (~50 square block area containing the Capitol area and monuments) can be relatively bike friendly, where drivers are tempered by Police presence, tourists and camera ticketing. But as you go outward toward the city fringes and beginning suburbs, the traffic becomes almost frenzied. I think that dynarider has it correct.

Judicious use of the sidewalk is okay, but I liked the term "guest" applied to bike riders there, deferring to others.

Well, I suppose. And I'm not really a sartorialist, either.

http://images.thesartorialist.com/th...ike3331web.jpg

Dismount, & walking in a cross"walk".
:thumb:
Glad to see I'm not the only in here to practice this motion.

The boot fringe was my first thought >.>

The second was "Aw, she's adorable!"

The third was "Holy crap, that's you?"

M.

Being an old fart, I just don't understand this tattoo fad, I think it distracts from the beauty of a person and ruins it. I see women with this stuff and I just shake my head, and the crazy part is, when a person reaches 40's or so they're going to look at themselves in the mirror and ask why they got that particular tattoo, not to mention as they get older than that it fads and become wrinkled and looks really bad. I know, it's personal expression of art, all I see is graffiti on a human instead of on a building and it's ugly and destroys the property on which it's on! The same is true with all the piercings.

Don't shoot me, it's just my opinion.

Aw, shucks.

My safety comes first. I could care less about arbitrary rules. Especially when the sidewalk is very rideable, safe, and empty. I'm the same way with traffic laws. My safety is #1 , traffic laws are #2 , being courteous to motorists and pedestrians is #3 .

I'll just have to forego the opportunity to go to the morgue feeling smug about being a law abiding citizen.

Sidewalks are NOT the safest place to ride much to your disappointment and disbelief, in fact it's the most dangerous place to ride unless you're a small child. First you have to deal with pedestrians that are able to all sorts of unexpected things and their not expecting a faster object nor looking for them; you have old folks who can't hear or walk well, wheelchairs, people with baby strollers, pets, and children; then you have to deal with crosswalks; then you have deal with driveways where motorists are zipping in and out of and not looking for nor expecting a 15 mph plus object to suddenly be where it wasn't and smacko the motorist won't have time to stop from hitting you. You are at a greater chance of being hit by a car on a sidewalk then the street and this is common knowledge.

The only time I ever use a sidewalk is where it is a designated bike path and then I very careful and ride slowly; or if traffic is too busy and I need to make my way across an intersection to turn left I will pull over the side of a road, dismount the bike and use the crosswalks to get to the other side so I can continue on the street. One the things I hated about riding a bike in California along the coast in places like Santa Barbara was that the bike path, which was designated a bike path, instead became a pedestrian path at which point it was too dangerous to ride on due to the crowds so onto the street I went.

Narrowly avoided disaster today. Walking down the sidewalk to the grocer with the SO and our dog, a kid on a BMX bike books it past us at around 20MPH (downhill and all). He actually brushed the sleeve of my jacket, he was so close. Now, I've got these kinda cripple legs so I don't always walk in the straightest of lines, so had it been a moment sooner or later, it might have ended pretty badly for all of us.

M.

if not the boot fringe then the super baggy pants, and yes very cute.

I ride 20 miles to work. Of that about 3 miles is an off-road paved trail (Atlanta Beltline). About 12 miles of it are low traffic neighborhood roads I've gone out of my way to learn about in the interest of safety and a peaceful existence. Another few miles are busy multilane roads up and down significant hills where I ride with road traffic. About 3/4 mile (cumulative estimate) is sidewalk in areas with fast narrow busy lanes and big trucks and a nice wide empty smooth sidewalk. Often I'm on the sidewalk for 500 feet. It's an important 500 right there.

Your points are dead wrong for the sidewalks I'm talking about. I have one rule. Love thyself. I'm not hurting anybody.