Originally Posted by genec

...Folks, there is a strong case for sidepath/sidewalk riding. Sure, it doesn't work everywhere... like in a dense downtown environment where there are driveways and cross streets that occur every 100 feet. (God help the bike messenger...)

But it does work in some places... and it can be vastly more relaxing than the best situation of "bike lane" (oh paint will save you...) or "act and be treated like the driver of a vehicle..." (which rarely included being treated like an equal).

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…Last week I visited the family in Macomb County. IMO, that is some of the nastiest road riding I have ever encountered. The main roads, to get anywhere, are six lane concrete slabs with bumps about every 20 feet, and many cracks and potholes especially on the right, with no shoulders, and heavy, zooming traffic with little patience for (slow) cyclists. Sidewalks alongside are frequently discontinuous, and often non-existent.

Even as an experienced urban commuter, I will often flee to the sidewalks, little used by pedestrians out in suburbia. Some major roads though, like Schoenherr and Gratiot do have continuous sidewalks for long distances.

I have developed a technique for riding under such circumstances I call ”bolus riding.” (Bolus = “a small rounded mass of a substance, especially of chewed food at the moment of swallowing”; think of swallowed food as it passes down the esophagus.)

Since the flow of traffic is coordinated by traffic signals, traffic usually flows as a bolus. So using my rearview mirror, when I see a bolus of cars behind me, I go onto a driveway or intersecting street (all with sidewalk curb cuts) and on to the sidewalk.

After the bolus passes as seen in the mirror I go back onto the street where I can ride much faster, until the next bolus of cars arrives. I estimate that more than one-half of the distance can be ridden comfortably on these otherwise hazardous roads.

Now actually those suburban counties like Macomb and Oakland have developed some nice, long MUPS, but the prevailing attitude seems to be that bikes are not ”real” transportation, so one usually drives to a MUP to ride the bike; and the MUPS are though rural countryside, with no defined, or non-recreational [utilitarian "useful"] destination...