Brian Ratliff

This is a really old thread. Just say'n. Might want to start anew so the conversation is fresher.

kshapero

I live in Broward County, Florida. The county law here specifically states that sidewalk cycling is legal. Only requirement is for bikers to let walkers know you are coming. I have used the phrase, "Excuse Me!" for several years and only get smiles.

couchman

i am always on the road, and can be as hard assed as the next guy about holding my lane. however, when i am towing our girls (2 and 4) i readily hop on the sidewalk. I am quick to give space and slow down for peds, but I generally find people are very nice when they see you towing kids.
It's our girls because, I would have a hard time explaining that "I" got the girls crushed somehow defending the right of all cyclist. "but but but the guys on the forum would support me!"

Also, i use my cart to haul the grocery's with and without the girls. When I am rolling solo it's back to holding the lane. There have been occasions when I have almost dared drives to roll on me or the cart (with in reason, i'm not jumping in front of bus's or 18 wheels). They always slow down well in advance with the cart in tow. i wonder if they would change their approach if they knew it was just eggs and watermellon back there.
So if you want more room, pull a trailer 24/7.

-=(8)=-

I ride the widewalk from Juno into North Palm (3 miles) everyday.
Safer, smoother, faster @ 6:15am...Why wouldnt I ?
There is no all encompassing method thats best to ride all for bicyclists with
rules, infrastructures and attitudes being as different as they are across the country.
In S. Fl, I am more concerned with not getting hit than making a statement.

margoC

But it was linked in another thread and I read it.

It's an old thread and a lot has changed since it was started. Fwiw I no longer ride a road bike. I lived car free for almost 10 years when I lived in a sleepy coastal town (that has now been developed to the point of unrecogition) and in those years I rode fast and far. I had several horrific wrecks, luckily not car related. It's affected my ability to ride fast and far on a road bike though.

So I have non-road bikes I've started riding, mostly around the neighborhood that's a safe residential area. There are a couple stretches of sidewalk around the edges, it's rare that anyone is on them.

I recently plotted out a route to town, there are several long stretches of sidewalk, again, with nobody on them.

Once you get downtown there are people on the sidewalks. It's a scenic historic town and many people walk all the time.

There are some beautiful parks, one in particular I like to go people watch, that's my incentive for my goal of riding downtown.

Anyway, there is a very large path that goes down the middle, from one end to the other. On either side are grassy areas where people sit, play with dogs, children play, people do park things.

So perched on a bench, I people watch the people in the park and the people on the path. There are all modes of travel, bikes, skateboards, things I've never seen before and don't know what they are but they have wheels. Everyone seems to be courteous and the wheeled devices are going slow.

There is a large art school downtown as well, bicycles are a popular mode of transportation all over town. In spite of being more or less bike friendly, people still get maimed and killed every year. I'm not willing to be one of them. I'm not even willing to have a minor accident.

So I sometimes ride on the sidewalk. There are several long sidewalks near me that rarely have pedestrians, they may as well be bike paths. If there's a pedestrian I leave the sidewalk and ride slowly on the grass, the one time there wasn't room I dismounted and walked past the pedestrian.

This particular sidewalk links one residential area to another for when I want to go on a longer ride.

Every scenario is different. Every bicyclist is different, not everyone rides a fast road bike and can easily transition between road and sidewalk.

Anyway, many sidewalks where I live are vacant stretches of concrete and there's not one reason or one person inconvenienced if the equally rare bicycle rider utilizes it.

JoeyBike

Same here. Likely moving to Greenville, SC. The area we can afford is a lot of unconnected cul-de-sacs exiting onto very busy highways. No possibility of quiet back streets a lot of the 10 mile route from our location to Downtown. After careful study with Google Earth and a two week recon trip to Greenville I have determined that I will be riding some sidewalks. Same technique as you. Yield to everybody, if I ever see anybody because nobody walks there from my observations. A few migrant workers cycling on sidewalks is all I've seen until getting close to Downtown where there are paths and bike lanes. Cheers!

rc5781

I always ride on sidewalks to avoid cars. That said, cars to bikes are like bikes to pedestrians. If I see a pedestrian on the sidewalk, especially with a dog, I stop or slow down way before we cross paths. Then I look over my shoulder to see if cars are coming. If not, I bounce onto the road and zip past the pedestrian and hop back onto the sidewalk. If a stream of cars are approaching, I either stop and wait for the cars to pass or if I will inevitably cross paths with the pedestrian I slow down to a walking pace and intermittingly put my right foot down on the ground to pass the pedestrian slowly. I don't dismount and walk my bike because then you're "wider" since you're walking your bike from the side.

JoeyBike

Funny you should say this. I've encountered some bridges with signage "Walk Bike Across Bridge". Why oh why would I want to be TWICE as WIDE on a narrow bridge?