tomato coupe

How does one distinguish parodies from the real thing?

ummed

I would say that you have to recognize that something is too stupid to be real, but internet...

If you know the poster and/or saw the parodied thread, it's easier to recognize.

rsbob 

Don’t know what the issue is? I rode on sidewalks for at least seven years until mom deemed me careful enough to ride in the street. That was a couple of months ago.

My take is that people driving cars have predefined expectations of where cyclists should be based upon their observation and personal experience. Since a majority of cyclists do ride on the streets, drivers don’t necessarily expect to see them on sidewalks, either when entering the road from a driveway or exiting a road to a driveway. Add to that what another poster mentioned; they don’t anticipate the speed of a grown-up on a bike on a sidewalk. Unless my life is in jeopardy due to some hazard or traffic condition, I am always on the road.

That said if there aren’t a preponderance of pedestrians or intersecting driveways across a sidewalk and road riding is dangerous or makes one uncomfortable, then do it.

ussprinceton

Camilo

Interesting post for the road cycling forum. And my answer is no, I do not ride on sidewalks, unless it's a very short diversion to get through a tricky spot on the ROAD.
OOPs I guess neither my pointless detector nor my sarcasm detector were sensitive enough. I'm always impressed when such clever sarcasm is used.
My dad made equally as subtle and pointless facetious comments and "jokes", but he had dementia.

ussprinceton

ussprinceton

merlinextraligh

when I started this, the thread was adjacent to the Bike lane thread, the first post paraphrases the first post there with slightly more inflammatory language, and has a similar photograph.

In context, I thought it was pretty
obvious.

as the threads evolve, and aren’t side by side it becomes a bit less obvious.

ussprinceton

Reflector Guy

I'll occasionally ride on the sidewalk if the situation requires it and there's no better alternative; for example, when there's traffic screaming by and there's no bike lane and no shoulder and the curb is high and there are no parallelling side streets. Fortunately for me I suppose is that I usually see few if any pedestrians in these areas. Unfortunately though the sidewalks in these areas are usually in poor condition.

ussprinceton

freeranger

I try to avoid riding on roads if possible. I don't ride on sidewalks though, either mups or trails is what I prefer. I will ride roads if in a residential neighborhood with little traffic. The area in which I live is what I would call rural. The roads right outside of our development have a 45mph speed limit (so 50-55 mph is the norm), and there is no shoulder. The main roads, after out of the area, do not have bike lanes. I had enough close calls when I used to ride motorcycles, not going to push it on a bicycle!

roccobike

Strictly illegal in North Carolina. Says so right in the driver's manual. A bicycle is considered a vehicle in NC. Vehicles are not permitted on sidewalks. Police seem to draw the line at 16 years old, when you are old enough to get a license. Kids can ride on sidewalks and an adult can accompany them, but that's about the only exception.

merlinextraligh

A good parody thread has to walk a delicate line between being so over the top it’s to obvious, and too vailed for people to get it. And perhaps this wasn’t the best crafted paradoy in BF history, but come on people, after I’ve let the cat out of the bag several times, we’re still posting about the legality of sidewalk riding. At least read the thread before you post.

ummed

veiled

merlinextraligh

pedant😁

SoSmellyAir

In addition to the aforementioned predefined expectations, many drivers also have tunnel vision and/or limited peripheral vision. They don't check the blind spots (either rear or A-pillar) when approaching an intersection. The combination of such drivers and the proliferation of e-bikes on sidewalks is a tragedy in waiting.

rsbob 

AI says, “statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injuries in the United States, accounting for more than 8 million emergency department visits each year. In comparison, an estimated 467,000 bicycle-related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency departments.”

Moral to the story irrespective of bike lanes, Don’t fall in the shower and it’s safer to ride a bike.

njkayaker

Sir, this is a Wendesday's Road Cycling.