From: nathanh@pogo.wv.tek.com (Nathan Hult)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: Re: Bike Paths/Lanes
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:58:45 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville,  OR.

I just finished reading an article written by "JForester" and I felt a need to 
reply.

First of all I am a serious cyclist that trains 7 days a week but I also get 
my workouts on weekdays by commuting to work on my bike.

I agree with you that bicyclist need to be treated as moving vehicles and they 
should have access to all roads.  I also strongly believe that the education 
of drivers to treat bicyclists as moving vehicles is also essential.

In your article you state you are against bike paths.  I disagree however that 
a bike path can't be designed to be "safe" and capable of riding at speeds 
greater than 20 miles per hour.  Of course bike racing is not safe so I tend 
to place a much greater importance on speed than safety.   

I live in Portland, Oregon.  There are a few off road "Bike Paths," however 
they are not designed for any kind of speed on the bike, plus they are filled 
with walkers and runners.    I never ride on these "Bike Paths."

Now in Seattle, WA there are two long "Bike Paths" that are much better than 
the ones in Portland.  The Burke-Gilman Trail and the Sammamish River Trail 
both find ways to avoid most off the stoplights and intersections.  The trails 
also are designed for faster speeds, but once again you are quite frequently 
slowed down by pedestrians or joy bike riders. However, I can get a decent 
workout on these paths most of the time if I avoid the high pedestrian hours.  
Basically these two paths almost meet my definition of a good bike path.  

However, the best bike path I have ever seen is in L.A.  I visited Smogville 
a few years ago and wasn't too thrilled about having to bike there for a 
week.  I was in Anaheim, and to my great surprise I found a wonderful bike 
path.  The path is along a dried up river bed.  The path avoids crossing 
almost all roads by going underneath the roads.  The path is generally fairly 
quick and almost all Bicyclists.  I had some wonderful workouts on that Bike 
Path.  There were a few corners that I had to slow down on, but in general I 
could go as fast as I wanted without any worries.  There were signs along 
the way telling people to ride/run/walk single file and stay to the right.  

My other question to JForester, is are you also against bike lanes on the 
shoulder of the road.  I agree that an off road Bike Path system is not the 
way to go.  I would like a few Bike Paths just for workouts, but for commuting 
a 3 foot shoulder or a bike lane on the road is ideal.    I use to have a 
long commute, 25 miles, so I had to take the most direct route. My route 
consisted of many roads with speed limits at 45 or 55.  On these roads with 
no shoulder I have been honked at, yelled at, run of the road three times 
by trucks, and had many close calls with drivers passing me, in fact I was 
actually hit once.  Luckily, when I was hit the driver had slowed down and 
actually just hit me in the rear with his side view mirror.  Now I have moved 
closer to work, 7 miles, so I can take much safer roads and avoid the 
problems. 

I much rather ride on a bike lane or a wide shoulder and take my chances 
with people coming out of drive ways, intersections,  and making right turns 
than getting plastered from behind by someone driving 55 mph.  I can 
defensively avoid most of the other risks but I can do little to prevent 
someone for hitting me from behind other than wearing bright clothing.  Some 
instances I do not like to ride on bike paths such as when I go downhill at 
high speeds, 30+mph, in congested areas.  In those situations I like to be 
very visible so I ride in the middle of the road. 

My preferred bike commuting system would be to have a wide shoulder or bike 
lanes on all major roads in and out of the city.  Bike lanes like the one 
in Anaheim would be ideal but also much more expensive to build than just 
widening the major roadways.  
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles,can.general,ont.general,soc.culture.canada,ott.general