Exactly.. that is the diff. I was entirely satisfied with our bike paths UNTIL I started riding longer distances in the weekends.
Then it struck me how dangerous it is to ride in largish groups on bike paths and I have seen many accidents because of it.
When I started riding longer distances I decided to use it for practial purposes and cycle from A to B even when it was 100 km apart...
It was only then that I got severely frustrated with our system and decided it was actually a case of bike apartheid. Since I'm a woman, I'm cursed with a less than wonderful sense of orientation, so finding your way is really HARD WORK and we don't even count the senseless change of directions, the necessity to take left turns in pedestrian style as if you're a pedestrian not someone riding a vehicle.
In short.. when you stop being afraid riding with traffic, it is intensely annoying to have to ride on bike paths.. not because I want to race, but because I try to use my time as efficiently as possible. Randonneuring means that you cover long distances in a set amount of time.. being a turtle means that I have to economize my time... pushing buttons twice in order to make a left turn is CERTAINLY not economical. Stopping for mushroom-sized signposts in order to read where the road is going to and then figuring what the heck it means is NOT economical...
So, I basically stopped riding longish distances for practical purposes due to utter frustration..
Ivana, who at times really DOES enjoy a nice bike path, esp when these are scenic and far, far far away from the drone of traffic.