A million and a half views for this tread. Sidewalks? Really? That many people care?
I guess many folks think of some bicycle messenger or sushi delivery guy in SOHO terrorizing the sidewalk citizenry in a town where people actually walk on the sidewalks. What I picture in my mind are thousands of miles of smooth concrete through suburbia keeping me off of the 8-lane highway for a few blocks on my way to Office Depot, or the sidewalk in front of my home that I jump on for the length of two houses to get to my corner. Sidewalks that go almost totally unused by anyone else other than some immigrant workers on Wall-mart fully sprung mountain bikes and the occasional housekeeper making her way from the bus stop to some McMansion up the side street. With a little courtesy it is a snap to safely avoid such persons when encountered.
I see some sidewalks as an untapped cycling resource. Other sidewalks would be hateful cycling suicide almost instantly. Those hateful ones I avoid. The "good" ones that serve as unplanned bike paths for five or six cyclists each day and three or four walkers are regular planned additions to my bike routes often saving me from going around the block needlessly or giving a couple of hundred Suburbans a free shot at me curbside when there is a perfectly usable piece of pavement just five feet away and going in the same direction.
Now I am not saying that sidewalk riding does not take some extra thought. Actually, there is an art to it. You gotta realize when you take to the sidewalk almost anywhere you are giving up your "right of way" to all vehicles at cross streets and driveways. Yes, when you get to that McDonald's drive through entrance or exit you might want to plan on yielding to a few cars turning in or out. But for any cyclist with a brain and a capacity for cognitive thought, that is not a huge stretch, nor a deal breaker.
So cycling on the sidewalk may be illegal in some places, but we are certainly NOT going to Hell for doing it properly.