1. Let people know when you’re passing. Zipping past someone out of nowhere is annoying, scary, and dangerous. Just give a shout: “on your right” or (better) “on your left,” please. A bell is helpful, but it doesn’t let the biker in front of you know which side you’re coming up on.
2. Teach your kids to respect traffic. I’m not saying don’t bring your kids on bike paths—by all means, do! Just be sure to teach them that when they’re biking or walking on the those paths, they’re in the middle of a high-traffic area. Kids, especially young kids who are used to biking and walking on sidewalks, are prone to forget that if they wander randomly into the middle of the path, they’re wandering into the path of big heavy things moving as quickly as 20 miles per hour. Speaking of which…
3. Slow down. Like the sign outside Freewheel Bike Shop in Minneapolis says, this ain’t a velodrome. Think of it like those Montana freeways in the 90s: there isn’t a speed limit, but there is such a thing as a reasonable speed.
4. At night, use lights. It’s safe and it’s smart. Also, if your white headlamp burns out, don’t replace it with your blinking red tail light. A bike should be like a mullet: business up front, party in the back.
5. Use hand signals. The more people behind you know about your intentions, the less likely they are to run into you—or each other.
6. Stop at the stop signs. I’m not going to judge you for a rolling stop, but acting presumptuously towards cars and other bikers is unsafe and makes us all look like assholes, so that when we want to build better bike infrastructure, people stand up at community meetings and say, “Bikers are pricks! They’re always running stop signs!”
7. Pull off the path when you need to stop. That’s not your personal parking space, it’s a right of way.
8. When you’re with friends, ride single-file. I know you want to be social, but there are some of us who need to get to work. Please respect that.
9. When you see something dangerous lying in the path, stop and pick it up. I’ll be honest: I’ve totally been guilty of the old, “Whoa! Good thing I saw that rusty nail and swerved out of the way! Hope everyone else does too!” When I did that, I was being kind of an asshole. Sorry.
10. Don’t not use bike paths. This post makes it sound like I kind of hate everyone else on bike paths, but quite the opposite: the more people use bike paths, the safer they are and the more clearly the rest of the world gets the message that bike paths are important. I love seeing other people on bike paths…just as long as they’re not being assholes.

– Jay Gabler