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

I don't know why trikes wouldn't belong on bike paths.  On my recent American 
Lung Association of Washington 3 day TREK I rode marvelous bike paths (riding 
into Victoria B.C.) and passed many walkers - all friendly, happy folks with a 
friendly wave.  
The only incident on one of the bike paths were three horses and riders coming 
from the opposite direction.  I pulled over to the side as far as I could get, 
sat quietly  (clearly the horses were not used to trikes) and chatted with the 
riders as they passed... the only thing I will do differently next time is wait 
longer before pedaling out again.... as I started off,  I heard one of the 
horses make a bit of a fuss behind me.
I would not take a trike on a "Walkers Path" ... but didn't mind walkers on a 
'Bike Path"... Annie


Message: 1
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 08:34:50 -0400
From: "Jules D. Zalon" <jzalon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [trikes] 10/07/05: Do we belong on bike paths?
To: <trikes@xxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <018a01c5cb3b$fa331d50$6701a8c0@jules>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="iso-8859-1"

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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