Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
See, in my opinion, attitudes like this are what causes some drivers to be a little aggressive towards cyclists (and I'm not saying you're one of them, Paul so this isn't personal in any way).
The fact of the matter is, there are more than a few very serious cyclists in RI and SE Mass. Bike paths are fine for the people riding slowly, and casually. Serious cyclists shouldn't use them. We're damned if we do, because the people out for a slow ride think we "riding too fast" and call us "Spandex wearing asshats", or horror of horrors, "Lance wannabes". And we're damned if we don't because we run into the "roads are for cars, bikes are for bike paths" mindset. How do we train seriously on a bike path? Slowing down every 200' to wait until a family riding 3 abreast gets into single file to let us by safely? Am I never supposed to do any hill climbing? Bike paths are flat as a pool table, for the casual riders who'd otherwise have to walk a bike up a 1% incline. Most of them have a 15 mph speed limit. I'm far from a racing class cyclist, and even I can average over 17 mph for a 100 mile ride. At 15 mph on flat terrain I don't even breathe heavily.
In Massachusetts and RI, cyclists have a legal right to ride on any roadway unless it is specifically posted against bicycling--basically, limited access divided highways. And in my experience, cyclists and drivers can and do co-exist. There are reckless individuals on both sides. And plenty of people who have their heads up their asses behind the wheel--or, more likely, have a cell phone glued to one ear and are oblivious to what's happening around them.
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I'm with you, serious cycle speeds are way too dangerous in a bike path environment.
I witnessed a guy (in spandex from head to toe) mow down a girl on roller blades at the canal. The girl was out for a workout and had her ear buds in. She went to turn around to see where her boyfriend was just as the guy on the bike was going to pass her on the left. She drifted into his path and there was no way to avoid the collision. Lucky they weren't both seriously injured, the girl by the cyclist and the cyclist by her boyfriend. The guy was flying.
Just like we all have a right to fish where we want, we all have a right to use the road...