I started writing a reply to the thread about the cyclist injured on the LFP after the last CCM ride. I realized a paragraph in that I was composing something that probably deserved it's own thread. So, here goes. One poster replied to that other thread saying there should be a speed limit on the LFP. I don't think trying to impose a speed limit on the LFP is a viable solution. What is needed is better communication about what is and isn't acceptable behavior when cycling in and around crowded areas on the path.

I use the LFP to get to and from work everyday, riding from the southside north and back. I do ride fast a lot of the time, but only when I have open sight lines and no crowding. Now that the weather is getting better everyday I'm seeing loads more people on bikes and other than the diehard commuters who know how to ride the path respectfully, a lot of the new folks I'm seeing are those who are now dieing to get out and get their exercise. The only problem is most of these fair-weather-cyclists apparently don't know the first thing about riding on a MUP in a courteous manner.

We've discussed this subject so many times here on the C-link, usually in early spring and after some rider notices another cyclist down on the path as the result of an altercation with some jerkwad in a hurry because they're out trying to hammer on their Tri-bike on the Oak Street curve or something. Let's face it, lamenting bad behavior here on the C-link isn't going to cut it because, though we have a large membership, I'm willing to bet if you polled cyclists on the LFP on any given day you'd find less than a 1/3 or 1/4 who have heard of The Chainlink. Chastising idiot cyclists here isn't doing any good.

Last year some folks painted slogans on the path from north of Navy Pier going northwards. These slogans said things like "Call out On Your Left" or "Shift right if slow or stopping". Best I can tell this had no effect on how walkers or cyclists behave. Also problematic was that some of the slogans were painted in colors like blue and red which barely show up against the asphalt. Only the all-white stencils showed up, and now, less than a year later they've all worn away so much you can barely even read any of them.

Some of the most egregious behaviors I observe on a daily basis are:

-cyclists riding way too fast in areas heavily crowded with pedestrians - too fast to be able to react when a ped will walk out in front of them without looking

-cyclists wearing ear buds or even worse, huge headphones - if you can't hear anything around you, you'll never hear someone calling out that they're passing you - I've had to shout at an ear-splitting level many times to alert some jerkass with headphones that I'm passing as they start to weave into the middle of the lane

-cyclists passing slower riders or walkers and coming directly at other oncoming riders - if you are going to have to come into my lane to pass someone in yours and you're not MORE than 100 feet away from me, put your brakes on, slow down, and wait your own damn turn! I see this crap occurring a lot in especially dangerous areas such as the stretch of path south of Navy Pier which runs underneath LSD - that part of the path is WAY too congested for that sort of behavior

-extremely fast riding amongst other cyclists and pedestrians - I don't care if you're training for a triathlon or bike race - the LFP is not the place to do it - there are some areas where you can get away with very fast (ie. 20+ mph) riding on the LFP, and I'll clue ya in, those areas are nowhere north of the museum campus -

What we need is some sort of huge effort to get some folks out on a weekend day or weekday evenings to try and educate riders. I don't know how this would work or where the funds or organization would come from. Maybe some group like Active Trans could undertake some sort of education program. I'm just not sure how to address this sort of behavior. Maybe we need a cycling group of Guardian Angels that ride around in big packs running down jerkass riders and telling them to slow down and show some courtesy to other trail users. Maybe a bunch of us can go patrolling and when we see those super-fast "Get outta my way, I'm training!" douchebags, we could ride up and surround them forcing them to slow down and encouraging them to go somewhere more sensible for their "training."

I just don't know. Frankly, some days my ride home scares the crap outta me. On really busy days during the summer, weekends and holidays especially, I'll take to the streets to get south of the most crowded parts of the LFP, before getting back on around Roosevelt. Even then, I still have crowds around the beaches south to deal with. There's no point in griping about pedestrians either. Bicycles are the faster vehicles and should yield to the pedestrians, which I do. Still, that doesn't change the fact that so many pedestrians, let's be honest, the vast majority of them are Chicagoans, have been on the path before, know there are bikes and should know well enough to look both ways before just walking across the path in front of oncoming bicycles, yet they continue to wander aimlessly in their own world acting as if it never occurred to them that the path is also used by bicycles.

I think maybe I'm just spitting into the wind here, as I can't see any real viable solution for how cyclists and pedestrians can coexist on an MUP like the LFP without having several "incidents" per year. For myself, I think I may just end up adopting a policy of using the path to ride into work in the morning but taking some city streets route on my way home until the cold arrives again and drives away all the idiot cyclists and oblivious peds. Anyone know a good low traffic route from Lasalle/LSD vicinity to Hyde Park/57th street?