On 3/15/2018 8:55 PM, jbeattie wrote:

Linear parks are fine and some can be useful travel routes for bikes, but mixing bikes and walkers always results in a sub-optimal experience for both -- particularly when you have parents with walkers, dogs and kids on trikes (common around here) and sometimes steep grades. I walk and ride the same local trail, and descending bikes are a menace. I always take the adjacent road when on a bike.

Related: A committee I'm on for the local metropark presented policy
recommendations to the commissioners Monday and got them approved. That
includes policies like "Check with knowledgeable bicyclists before you
design another [insane] bicycle facility" and "Follow the design manuals
[because landscape architects that don't ever ride bikes are not geniuses].

But afterwards, in the public comments segment, one guy stood up and
asked if they could please paint some stripes on the road that's closed
to motor vehicles, to separate the bikes from peds, dogs, etc. This is
on pavement that's 18 feet wide, IIRC.

The commissioners gave their usual concerned "we hear you" looks, but I
doubt anything will be done. But the guy was justifiably worried about
cyclists coming close to pedestrians, dogs, etc. However, we cyclists
know that almost all of that is triggered by the peds. We had a club
member in the hospital because of a jogger's sudden U-turn. It's common
for peds to walk four abreast, with the leftmost straddling the center
line, which makes passing on either side a gamble. Many have earbuds.
Dogs are on long leashes... etc.

The facility supposedly has a 10 mph speed limit for bikes. Someone can
say that therefore any crash is the cyclist's fault - but it's odd that
roller bladers and runners are allowed to exceed 10 mph. And of course,
there's no law requiring a bike to have a speedometer anyway.

I do what I can to keep things safe. Specifically, I do that by avoiding
the facility whenever it's reasonable to do so. I'll go a mile out of my
way to minimize my riding on it. If it were ten feet wide instead of 18,
I doubt I'd ever use it unless it was deserted.


--
- Frank Krygowski