To address the issue of Mom and the Kids: Are you nuts? Stick to the trails and residential sidewalks. Busy roads are not for pleasure cruising with the tykes. That's like taking little Johny swimming with Bull Sharks. Just common sense talking.

And the big trike driven by Gramps? Same treatment as slow agriculture or construction equipment: both drivers need to work together for a safe pass.

In reality, though, you can't teach courtesy and common sense; unfortunately those two qualities are what safely and efficiently sharing the road all boil down to.

One thing we can all agree on is regarding the design speed of a road and the effects of that on cycling. We should be designing urban roads for 25 mph for the safety of all users. The effect on throughput should be negligible.

The other important thing to take into consideration is that by making cycling for one group, we should not be making it more difficult for others. The strictly vehicular cyclists should not suffer because we want more segregated facilities for families and the elderly. We need to find a balance for all bicyclists just as we urge for balance for all modes of transportation.

like brayj said, its for one particular niche of riders and doesn't necessarily suit the avg. person trying to make biking work for them.

i like how robert hurst puts it in "the art of urban cycling - you can take parts of effective, and efficient cycling. cycling should be adaptable to your surroundings. the reason i ride a bike, well, A reason, is so i don't have to sit in freaking traffic. what's the point of riding a bike if i can't cruise past long lines of cars.

dan g. would like us to sit in traffic, acting like cars. nuts to that.

There are more than a few bike message forums that get polluted with anti-bike lane rhetoric from proponents of cycling techniques like the above.

I'd like to see the recommendations for a mom with two kids, one on his or her kiddie bike. Or perhaps for an older person riding to the market on an old townie or tricycle.

Dan Gutierrez and is partner put together an awesome set of videos and information about these Effective Cycling techniques.

I hope that this is not all cyclists are left with! We deserve slower auto speeds and a bigger slice of the roadway.

i also like it because it shows just how suicidal riding one's bike still is in most places in America. the dude is cruising at 15 or 20 mph - that's never happen for most folks. we need bike-only thoroughfares where folks can do 5 mph and not worry about getting run down.

happy cycling!

:)