10/07/05: Do we belong on bike paths?

I don't want to sound like a heretic, but I wonder if trikes belong on bike 
paths at all. And whether the term"bike path" isn't a misnomer anyway. It is 
often used interchangeably with rail trail, isn't it? My beloved GTO is 36 
inches wide; my DFs, only 18. But even that understates the difference, because 
you can use body English on a DF to weave around an obstacle or walker when 
passing on a narrow path, something you can't do on a trike. I read somewhere 
that the minimum width of a one-way "bike path" is 6 feet; two-way width is 10, 
but often is only 8. But walkers often walk 2-abreast, and even if they 
anticipate being passed by an 18" wide bike, the idea of being passed by a 
trike probably never enters their minds. Therefore, they won't be thinking that 
they must allow all that much room on the path for a trike.

So the very thing that protects us on the roads from cars overtaking us [the 
novelty of seeing these unusual contraptions] puts walkers in danger, because 
they don't have eyes in back of their heads.

So I'll just keep riding the roads, and leave the paths to more "narrow"-minded 
cyclists.

Jules.


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