Sunday, August 26 Rides

[RolliePollie]

Err... yes! Technically, on multi-use paths, bicycles yield for pedestrians and pedestrians have the right of way.

You need to call out and let pedestrians know you are passing them, and give them an opportunity to move to give you room. And if they don't move, well, tough luck for you. You'll just have to slow down and negociate around them in a safe manner. And no, it is not reasonable for you to expect that they get off the path for you. Sorry.



If you're driving a car on the road and you come up behind a slower-moving vehicle, and there is another vehicle approaching you in the other direction, what do you do?

Do you expect the slower vehicle to pull off the road so that you can pass as the oncoming vehicle is approaching you? Or do you pull out expecting that the approaching vehicle and the vehicle you're passing will somehow get out of your way?

Of course you don't !!! You slow down, you wait for the approaching vehicle to pass by, and then you pass the slower vehicle.

And you do the same on a multi-use path.

You have to use common sense, have a lot of patience, and show a lot of courtesy to other users when you're on a multi-use path. Yes, walkers and joggers and people wheeling strollers and especially oblivious people with dogs can be a pain in the butt, but it's their path too, whether you like it or not. And if you don't like it, stick with the roads.



That would be an excellent idea.

Uh oh, I think maybe I should've clarified...the joggers & pedestrians who were not moving over were oncoming towards us...we were not coming up behind them. They were facing us. So they were in the lane I need to be riding in, walking towards me, looking right at me. If I come up behind someone, I definitely call out that I'm passing, hang back, thank them when/if they do move over, etc. But when there are 4 people walking abreast on the path coming towards me, they can clearly see me, they are taking up the entire lane, and I literally have no place to go because there is oncoming bike traffic, then I think they should move over. I thought that was how the who-yeilds-to-who thing worked. But if I'm off base here, then I definitely should just stay on the roads! It was just a very frustrating ride. And I'm sure the joggers were very frustrated as well. I am perfectly happy to share the trail with pedestrians, joggers, dogs, rollerbladers, etc. And I do dumb and oblivious things all the time. But I just wish people would pay a little more attention. It's a bummer because I know everyone out there was trying to enjoy a really nice day.

[Starfish]

But when there are 4 people walking abreast on the path coming towards me, they can clearly see me, taking up the entire lane, and I literally have no place to go because there is oncoming bike traffic, then I think they should move over.

This happens all the time out on our spit, which is several miles long, and the large shoulder on one side of the road is marked and specified as a BIKE LANE. But, the pedestrians (and their dogs), the roller bladers, and so forth, seem PO'd that I'm actually riding in the Bike Lane.

I end up just swerving out and riding in the lane, racing with cars, flying by BIKE LANE signs.

[jobob]

Uh oh, I think maybe I should've clarified...the joggers & pedestrians who were not moving over were oncoming towards us...we were not coming up behind them. They were facing us. So they were in the lane I need to be riding in, walking towards me, looking right at me. If I come up behind someone, I definitely call out that I'm passing, hang back, thank them when/if they do move over, etc. But when there are 4 people walking abreast on the path coming towards me, they can clearly see me, they are taking up the entire lane, and I literally have no place to go because there is oncoming bike traffic, then I think they should move over. I thought that was how the who-yeilds-to-who thing worked. But if I'm off base here, then I definitely should just stay on the roads! It was just a very frustrating ride. And I'm sure the joggers were very frustrated as well. I am perfectly happy to share the trail with pedestrians, joggers, dogs, rollerbladers, etc. And I do dumb and oblivious things all the time. But I just wish people would pay a little more attention. It's a bummer because I know everyone out there was trying to enjoy a really nice day.

Hey sara - I misunderstood what you were saying, I'm sorry I was lecturing you like that.

I ride on a paved multi-use trail near me (the Alameda Creek Trail) and sometimes I see very impatient, impolite cyclists. They're the ones I should be lecturing!

Sometimes I'll see an older person walking along the trail, holding a walking stick or a length of PVC pipe, carrying it horizontally. I cringe when I see that because I figure that person must have been buzzed too close by a cyclist in the past. I give that person (and everyone else) a wide berth and give him a cheery hello as I pass (after I've also called out well in advance if I'm approaching from behind).

I figure I need to do my best to give cyclists who use the trail some postive PR to counteract the occasional doofus.

Anyhow, I was dumping my frustration on you and that was really unfair of me. Sorry!

Oh, but don't get me wrong, I get really annoyed as well at the people who walk four-abreast across the path heading towards me and not one of them can be bothered to step aside just a leetle bit to let me get by. My smile gets REALLY LARGE as I slooowly approach them. gah.

[mimitabby]

not my stepfather. After his first incident with a bike, he just quit walking.

And the cyclist said "on your right" but stepfather misheard (he's 80!)
and got run down instead. no serious wounds, but he doesn't walk on that trail anymore....

[jobob]

Oh geeze, that's a shame, mimi.

[RolliePollie]

Hey sara - I misunderstood what you were saying, I'm sorry I was lecturing you like that.

No problem!!!!