It gets even more confusing here - in the county west of Denver, a lot of "bike paths" simply look like glorified sidewalks. They're basically concrete sidewalks beside major arterials that happen to be a little bit wider. Frequently they taper out and will end up only on one side of the street, as well. So unless you're a cyclist who buys maps and knows which ones are designated for bikes and which ones aren't...no wonder drivers get confused.

My coworker is grumpy that you can legally bike on the road if there is a designated bike path that parallels it. He doesn't understand how awful riding a road bike on an old segmented sidewalk full of unswept crap (I seriously ran over the same puddle of vomit for 3 weeks) can be. Not to mention the constant shopping center entrances where no one checks for cyclists, and the up and down off of curbs that point into the street. Now, since I'm slow - particularly uphill - and I ride a bike that's better designed for bumps, I generally ride on the bike path. Especially on my way to the office. But downhill on the way home? Heck no.