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

On Fri, Oct 07, 2005 at 08:34:50AM -0400, Jules D. Zalon wrote:
> 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.

Ottawa doesn't have such a beast called a "bike path", so any ignorant
motorists that tell me to use it, I tell them no such thing exists if I
get the chance.  We have on-road bicycle lanes and non-road "shared
recreational pathways" that are shared with pedestrians, toddlers,
strollers, dogs, kids trikes, skateboards, rollerblades, wheelchairs...

I have a similar problem, my GTV being a metre (39.25") from axle to
axle.  The numbers I have heard are 1.5m (4.5') for one lane of a bike
lane or shared recreational pathway.  Many of the bike lanes here are
less than 1m and some are as little as 75cm.  The old shared
recreational pathways are barely 1m per lane, but all the new ones are a
decent 1.5m.

I'm not a big user of shared recreational pathways, using them only the
alternatives are out of my way, or I'm not in such an agressive riding
mood.  The pathways here did have a recommended posted limit of 15km/h
(9mph) but in the last decade or more it has been set at 20km/h (12mph).
The amount of traffic on the path and the speed limits usually determine
if I use it.

The use of walkmans and reluctant pedestrians is another reason to use a
combination of bell and horn.

I frequently drop a wheel onto the grass to get around obstacles on the
path.

> 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.

Works for me...

> Jules.

        slainte mhath, RGB

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