"Women who ride"... on the sidewalk...

[Geonz]

I'm still occasionally perusing the "women who ride" site... and today's post reminded me how much educating is necessary.
http://womenwhoride.typepad.com/marie/ - Marie finds riding with traffic hard to understand and feels that the sidewalk is safer. Kudos at her for getting "out there" - I *loved* her story about riding with her grandson. But...

I know these are exactly the folks who - okay, let me exaggerate a little here - cringingly eke themselves out to that far right part of the curb, but they are "in the road"... and because they're hugging the side going 8 miles an hour, terrified... cars are passing closer because of their lane position, and of course they're where there is a ton of debris and potholes so they're *having* to weave and wobble... probably get right-hooked a few times...
... and then figure the rest of us out there are just so brave and daring!

Now, I know at some point it just makes sense to figure some people should stick to the paths... but I dunno, is there sometimes a way to get people past their first impressions?

I know yesterday, I was doing serious mental work keeping myself from waxing cowardly in the slush - my brain *knew* that the best thing to do was to keep on plowing (I have a 50 pound bike with studded tires. I wasn't slipping **at all.** It was simply the idea that this Was Not Smooth Pavement that terrified me.) By the end... I was better at it. And a better bike handler for it. How to pass that on...?

[mimitabby]

yeah, some people, but not other people. Some are not going to change, no matter how much enlightenment strikes them. Others will.

[Beane]

I have a 50 pound bike with studded tires.

EEEEK!!

[Melalvai]

Sometimes just telling them will do it. The other day I was talking to my former PhD advisor who lives just down the street from where I do now, and he was horrified that I ride on that particular road, it's so narrow and curvy. Well, I don't routinely ride the curvy bit, just the part to get me to the main streets, but I have ridden the curvy bit, and I explained to him that although it is counterintuitive the thing to do is ride out in the middle of the lane--not the middle of the road--middle of the lane. Cars will see you, they will not hit you, even though yes, they go way too fast on that curve. They won't hit you. They just won't. But if you hug the edge, they won't see you, and will pass too close or even hit you.

He listened and just said "Really? I didn't know that. I wouldn't have thought so." But he believed me because, despite that I was his graduate student, I have been riding the streets of this city daily for a year.

[Geonz]

That's my hope... I *do* know people can be educated, sometimes.... some of us all the time ... but it's one thing to accept that you know what you're doing - it's another thing to go out and believe it enough to *do* it ... and it explains a *lot* about oh, drivers' attitudes, and city planners' attitudes if htey haven't learned it themselves. I'm glad one prof has been told and is listening! THe roads are a little bit safer

[IFjane]

EEEEK!!

I agree, Beane! We all need to watch out if Geonz is heading our way on that thing (and she's mad!)....

[SouthernBelle]

I suppose several things are counterintuitive, like taking the lane when you are going to turn left.

I've never been that afraid of riding road, which may demonstrate a lack of good sense. But there are roads which I seldom, or never, ride. So I do demonstrate at least a modicum of good sense.

[Geonz]

They don't call me the spinster for nothin'!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

[mimitabby]

They don't call me the spinster for nothin'!!!

hey she was riding on the road. I always identified with her!!

[OakLeaf]

hey she was riding on the road. I always identified with her!!

I always identified most with her when she was riding cackling through the sky!

[KnottedYet]

She was my favorite. Glinda and Dorothy just irritated me.

[three]

Not to be too harsh, but I feel like cyclists who ride on the sidewalk do a great disservice to the rest of us - for a number of reasons. And, it is also horribly ironic behavior, since those who do it often do so under the guise that it is safer - when, in fact, a substantially greater percentage of bicycle accidents happen as a result of pedestrian traffic than automobile traffic.

Sorry, but I cringe when I see cyclists on the sidewalks in town. It bothers me that Trek would allow one of their 'Women Who Ride' representatives to ride in this manner. This is what I would call a prime opportunity for education.

[OakLeaf]

+1 Three.

I particularly hate the multi-use paths we have in Florida that are built alongside through streets, sometimes crossing from one side to the other. It really blurs the distinction between sidewalks and multi-use trails, encourages drivers (and riders!) to believe that bikes don't belong on the road, and creates extremely unsafe crossings. It's a particular problem for roadies using the same streets, avoiding the trails for all the same reasons roadies usually avoid them (unpredictable animals and pedestrians, very slow speed, lots of broken glass). I sure don't have the energy to become an activist, but I wish someone would do something to raise cycling safety around here.

[KnottedYet]

Do you have a Critical Manners ride near you? (kind of the opposite of a Critical Mass)

A bunch of polite cyclists on the road, following every rule and signalling every move, can do quite a lot to raise safety awareness among drivers and riders.