Refrain from inflammatory rhetoric about bike path

Written by Opinion Monday, 23 May 2011 11:30

I have thus far refrained from jumping into the railbed/wetlands/West Ave/other options bike path discussion, but the latest letter on the subject in the Gazette was too much. The idea that converting the abandoned railbed to a bike path will lead to children somehow ricocheting off the path into eight feet of water during a major tidal storm frightens me too. That is followed by visions of renegade teens deciding that biking out onto an unlit path into the wetlands during bug season would be more fun than hanging at the Boardwalk, the ice cream store, or a friend's condo where the parents are out for a night of entertainment. I shudder for the future of our town!

Seriously, folks, I have ridden my one-speed beach cruiser, my multispeed "business bike" with front basket and "flatfoot technology," and my skinny-tired aluminum frame road bike all over this island, and I have yet to see the type of activity the writer is worried about, although there are already a number of places that kids can go to get into trouble on bicycles. What I have seen, many times, is family groups in the south end trying to help their children maneuver up and down West Avenue, which regardless of the number of lanes is a great place for speed riding at 20 mph or more, and a lousy place to teach Junior how to avoid oncoming traffic and driver doors swinging open from parked cars.

I have seen people of all ages trying to ride on Central Avenue, which as the street closest to the beach is already full of pedestrians toward and from the beach in defiance of the constant north-south vehicle traffic in summer. Asbury Avenue is simply too narrow, and we are out of alternatives. I have not walked the railbed, but I have listened to all of the arguments about this, and believe it is more about "not in my backyard" than it is about safety or the environment.

Ocean City needs to become more bicycle-friendly. There are simply too many cars on this island in midsummer. I say let the studies continue, let the facts prevail, and keep the inflammatory rhetoric and emotional over-responses out of it. This town does need a safe, family-friendly, slow speed bike path while riders like me stick to going with the traffic flow and riding fast, eyes wide open, on West Avenue.

And while the study team is at it, how about more bike racks at the Community Center? The design included only two small free-form bike racks that are more aesthetic than practical, and if it were not for the Tuckahoe Bike Shop donating a full-size utilitarian rack, I would have been chaining my bike to a tree last week.

Joan Farrell

Ocean City