yep to a point I do that uglify the bike then uglify myself which in my case is a very difficult task
on weekdays I look like a middle aged half crazed bike messenger on weekends I change to a half crazed roadie.

I know what you mean ngateguy. There are streches of my commute where I take the road instead of the bike path because the path is not practical but in this case, I think I would have been better on the path.

I know it's often more dangerous to ride on the bike path/lane, usually because of pedestrians or careless week-end cyclists who think the bike path is some sort of a fairy park (I don't what that means but anyway...) but I try to use it and sometimes point out to to "them" that it's a "bike road" and just like on a "car road", vehicules are going fast and you don't cross it without looking and you stay on your side of the yellow lane.

At collegiate nationals this year in berkeley, a local who was held up for the race: "Go back to San Francisco you stupid ******s" he yelled this at people watching the race from the side of the road.....

I'll leave that decision up to you, since you know the area and the circumstances and I don't. However, I will point out that motorist's views on their own are not sufficient justification for not using the road. They're probably the same people who will be walking on the path when/if they find somewhere to park and will whinge that bicycles belong on the road!

By all means use the path if it's the best option for you, but the mere fact that it's there does not provide any additional justification for motorist abuse of you decide the road is a better option.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as "bike roads" and "car roads". At least, not until such time as I get some say in which of the two my taxes are used to construct/maintain.

Allister wrote this:

https://members.optushome.com.au/clan...ride_bikes.htm

An interesting perspective on who are the "real men" and who are the "******s".

This did not involve yelling or fingers but. Wed. right before closing a guy calls and wants to come by and "buy" a bike. I say OK, he shows up right after closing, with the whole family. They stay for 30 min. and do not buy any thing. Oh yes, my wife has come in to town to ride with me, so she has been waiting this whole time. I swap duds and off we go. We roll up to the mall exit, right hand lane, the guy that was in the store is in the left lane. As we pull out, he pulls out then turns right and cuts us off.
Once, coming back into the shop after a ride a guyin a Honda pulled out as we were turning in and almost hit the guy I was riding with. He just threw up his hand, no finger. The guy in the car started flipping him off and screaming at my friend. Then he pulled out and got caught by the light. I lost my temper a bit, rolled up to him and in as many words told him to get out of his car and I would brake his finger off and find a more suitable location for it. For some reason he declined by rolling up his window and locking the doors. I guess lycra is intimidating up close.

around here I get people swearing at me on average of once or twice a week, when riding 4-5 days a week, occasional finger, mostly yelling stuff.

and no I'm not provoking it in any way by riding crazy or in the wrong place.

not sure if that is above or below average

Chris, my point is not to separate car roads and bike roads, that's why I've put them in " ". It's to make people understand that vehicules (bikes) are going fast on the trail and it's just as dangerous as the standard roads (which I called car roads here). Of course, it's not the BF users who need to understand that, they already know.

In most US municipalities there are rules for riding bicycles. Here in MN the law clearly states bicyclists have a right to the road, and can ride on the road, staying "as far right, as safe vehicle handling will allow."

Not many drivers read the vehicle/road codes and laws. They are only interested in getting the little plastic card that, they think, gives the right to rule the road.

As far as stupid things said to me while cycling, and there have been a few, this one came from a motorcycle cop sitting at the side of the road with his radar gun. He'd clocked me and as I rode by, coming from a dead stop at a light(something I don't always do, except when there're cops around) he announced his reading to me 12 miles. Boy what a stupid thing to say.

The last one came a couple weeks ago, for the life of me I have no clue what it was about, just a few teenage (I assume teenage) boys out for a cruise, pass me and yell out "Nice a55!" It had me thinking of a snappy come back for the rest of the ride, and then had me thinking about what would provoke someone to say that. I even checked to make sure my shorts weren't see through(God forbid, I'd be showing my a55 off to the world).

You could have just blown them a kiss.

It's kinda fun taking the p!ss out of homophobes.

According to the law a bicycle is classified has a vehicle
were a vehicle that cannot compete with heavy traffic
I never enjoy riding a bicycle in lots of traffic,thats why
a lot of times I especially get up early in mornings to have my 2hr. ride then I'm done for the day,before the mad rush starts.You people who got your own bike paths are fortunate...that would elimanate a lot of swearing

Interesting. I admit I don't ride on the road much, but I've never been been abused. I guess Portland is one of the better cities in the nation for bicycle friendliness (although the way people drive around here is frightening).
I'm always careful to take responsibility for my safety. I never assume that drivers are going to respect the bike lane when turning until I've made eye contact and I don't ride the car lane unless there is no bike lane and I don't think I will be obstructing traffic. Plus, I always give a friendly wave when someone shows respect by giving me a wide berth or yielding to me.
Unfortunately, bikes aren't common enough in the US to earn the same respect as in other places. Plus, driving schools hardly discuss the rights of cyclists and how to respond around them, so people are left with bad assumptions.