Quote:
Originally Posted by piemma
Get well soon and stay off the roads if you are going to ride a bike. That's what bike paths are for.
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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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