From: kcary@pepvax.pepperdine.edu
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
Subject: Re: Bike paths (yeah paths! - warning: rambling comments)
Date: 4 Jan 1993 20:18:16 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

In article <1992Dec31.025801.9135@slc.com>, you write:
>It isn't the "competitive" cyclist for which paths fail, but the
>"practical" cyclist. Bike paths just can't get you everywhere you may need 
>to go, safety issues notwithstanding.

REPLY TO MARK'S COMMENTS:
What Mark says is true for most people; there is a current dearth of
bikepaths. For myself, I commute to work on 'em. 

THE POINT:
More paths mean more viable destinations; I want more money spent on this.
Not that I'll use 'em, but there are more like me out there that will.

>
>    Marc San Soucie
>    Portland, Oregon
>    marcs@slc.com

RAMBLINGS ABOUT MY LANE/PATHS, UNRELATED TO ABOVE:
2 mi. to the beach on the [Imperial Blvd.] 'bike lane' [lined-off shoulder
of road], 3 mi. along the beach on a path, and another two miles [on the
Ballona Creek path, ride early or with company to avoid bad-guys] thru the
Marina and along a "scenic storm drain ;-)" that used to be a creek. I
still have a mile and a half of boulevards at the end of this trip (with
big traffic, but no bad road features). I'm sure this is safer and more fun
than the alternative. 

THE ALTERNATIVE IN EXCESSIVE DETAIL:
I could ride through the loud, smelly ~1 mi. long highway tunnel (typical
vehicle speed 55+mph) under the airport runway on an access walk. Busses
and trucks that are afraid you will slip off the access into the traffic
sometimes use their airhorn. The far side of the tunnel is worse going
south than north. Going north, I thread my way past 3 serious freeway-ramp
style merges that spill traffic onto/off the main road by the airport at
35-50 MPH; scary, but I'm patient and time my moves carefully. Coming south
at this point, I get dumped off in the third traffic lane, where there is
criss-cross merging with another blvd. at 35+ mph traffic
[Sepulveda/Lincoln merge]. Everyone, on my left wants to merge across me,
two lanes to the right, to get into the airport, or to get into the lighter
traffic in those lanes. Some cars from the right want to get across the
other way to make a left [on 96th]. The curb lane is a right-turn-only into
the airport, and everyone is too busy to slow down. There used to be a
sidewalk, but that's gone. The rest of the blvd. isn't so bad, and its a
straight shot to work. Yah, I could go 'round the airport east or west, but
by the time I've gone 1.9 mi. to do that, I can take the paths. Sometimes,
when I'm late, I still ride the shortcut through the tunnel and past the
merges.

ONE REPORTER'S OPINION:
More paths please. More lanes, too, on highways. You still have to be
heads-up. You still have to be courteous to all you share the road with
(cars & trucks for lanes; skaters, peds, little girls pedalling at 5mph
with Daddy, racers and enthusiasts at 20+ mph on road bikes for paths). I
find some people need admonishment (I sometimes like to slow and butt into
the conversation of groups standing on the paths), but I haven't had to
repeat the question I asked the driver of the merging red convertible I
caught at the light, "Were you trying to kill me?". The path route is much
more conducive to concentrating on my riding (posture, breathing, stroke)
and enjoying the ride. On the highway, I keep a "coming home in one piece
is the most important thing" attitude at all times; this postpones much of
the feeling of relaxation until after the ride.

CAVEAT:
Paths/lanes aren't the end to all problems with cars and even I can't ride
the whole way on a path. Skill and courtesy still play a part. Drivers need
more education in skill and courtesy, too. That everyone can't use a
lane/path doesn't mean they aren't useful to society as a whole or are a
bad thing. The building of paths/lanes does not exclude better education
for drivers.
Kim Cary, GSEP Systems Support, Pepperdine University
kcary@pepvax.pepperdine.edu, KCARY@PEPVAX

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc