My favorite ride is a five-mile loop around Lake Miramar in San Diego. It's a MUP, though, and a favorite spot for families barbecuing up by the boat rental building and restrooms. It's a really nice spot for picnics and boating, but there's no swimming allowed. It's a drinking water resevoir (but there are geese and ducks and various other wildlife - go figure).

Anyway, as bmc said, in the late afternoon and evenings, the place is full of pedestrians who don't realize they're on a 15 MPH bike path. There's a big sign at the front of the path telling them to keep to the right, but obviously, that sign is meant for everyone but them and their toddler and their cute little dog on the retractable leash. I try not to go ride in the evenings there.

I also avoid it early on Sunday mornings. The walkers clear out around 10am, though, and that's when I get there. It's almost empty in the middle of the day every day of the week.

A couple of weeks ago, though, I was riding in the middle of the day and came up on these four young women walking abreast and taking up the whole right-hand side of the road (it's a standard two-lane street according the city maps, and is open to vehicular traffic, with a 15mph speed limit).

We were coming up on a blind curve that is posted for no passing - there's literally a bright yellow pole in the middle of the road that serves as the double yellow line there, and there's a big yellow street sign that says "No Passing." I was a good way behind them, but I called out "On your left!" so they'd have time to move - I was going about the speed limit. They didn't move. I called out again as I got closer and the girl on the outside and the one next to her went to move right and I started to pass them when the third girl waved them back out!

I literally skidded to a halt within a couple of feet of the two girls who had moved to the right, then moved back. Number Three gets all snarky and says, "There's a whole road over there." I kicked back into gear because now Number One and Number Two had moved farther to the left and made room between them and Number Three for me to get by.

I called out, "Oh no, there's not. It's a posted no-passing curve." She yelled back, "Oh yes, there is."

Oh, geez, did I really revert back to grade school? Yes, I'm afraid I did. "Really? You're willing to force people into oncoming traffic?" I shouted back at her. I did not handle it well. I admit it. But at least I didn't shout obscenities at her. They smirked at me - or at least, she did, the others just sort of looked to her to see how they were supposed to react. I think they were embarrassed. I know I was later when I had time to process what had happened. I should have just ridden between them and ignored Number Three.

I only call out "On your left!" if I actually need someone to move over for safety, like when people are walking and talking and blocking the right side of the road and there is oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. If there's no oncoming traffic, I just whip around them and return to the right side of the road as quickly as I can.

I actually got passed by a guy on inline skates a couple of weeks ago. He didn't call out anything, he was so zenned out. I heard him coming and couldn't believe I couldn't stay out in front of him doing 12 - 14mph. I finally quit trying and he passed me by like I was sitting still. Sheesh.

When I see people with dogs on long leashes, I call out "Bike!" well in advance of me catching up to them, which sometimes works. Sometimes I yell, "Leash!" when it's one of those retractable things. I agree that those things are an absolute safety hazard.

The people who bug me the most, though, are parents who let their toddlers and young children run all over the road while they - the parents - are talking on the phone. It's a posted 15mph road and there are occasional cars and trucks on it, too (people driving into the park to visit the several fishing spots with docks and reeds and all that stuff that turns fishermen on). There are also cyclists who do not pay any attention at all to that 15 mph speed limit. (I have to admit that I've hit 19 mph on some of the flats, and my daughter confessed to 17.6mph when she was on a rescue mission to get a First Aid kit to her friend who had crashed and needed bandages.)

I've called out "Baby on the bike path!" to a father who was pushing an empty stroller, talking on a phone, and ignoring his toddler who was scampering along way behind him. I had to yell it twice before he heard me and turned around. I had stopped and his boy was stopped, too, looking up at me. He scooped the baby up without saying a word to me and continued his phone conversation.

Another young mother was on the phone, too, while her toddler was wandering in the middle of the path behind her. I was approaching from in front of her, so she could see me coming. She was just too engrossed in her phone conversation. I called out, "Watch the baby! Watch the baby!" She turned and saw where the baby was, looked back at where I was, and told the baby to hold still, which the baby, to her credit, did, and I passed very slowly, just in case.

There are the same parents who ignore the many signs warning about rattle snakes, too, I guess.

And then there are the parents with their kids out on new bikes who are actively teaching them the safety rules. "Keep over to the right. Good." For those folks I'll call out "On your left!" even thought there's plenty of room, just to demonstrate what to do, and I've often heard the parents saying, "See? You call out 'On your left' when you need to pass someone." That's a nice warm-fuzzy.

Roxy