I'm new to cycling and use the Promenade Mon-Fri twice each day to get to and from Queen Margaret Uni in Musselburgh. We are not allowed to park there and have been encouraged to cycle or use public transport which is no good for me, I would be late after dropping my son off at nursery.
I gave up my car and bought a bike for a number of reasons, one of them being I believed I could cycle along the promade after looking at a "spokes" cycle map, if I couldn't cycle there; I would give up my bike and go back to a car.
Some roads can be hell, taxi drivers hate us, bus drivers hate us and vans just don't seem to see us.
While cycling on the promenade, I do however slow right down, dismount when realising I've encountered the busy school run, wear bright clothing so I can be seen by people and slow right down when passing dogs (who are obviously oblivious to bright clothing).
I find it a delight to see the school run on the promenade with parents and kids cycling together and now, on Sundays, I use the promenade to cycle with my 3 year old son who is learning to ride a bike, I see it as the perfect place for him to learn. Isn't this what we want? To encourage kids to cycle and eventually be using less cars?
What is needed is more promotion of cyclists being "bike polite" both on cycle paths, shared paths and roads.
http://www.politecycling.info/index.html
We are having a cyclists meeting at QM Uni tomorrow, I'll bring this subject up and ask cyclists to be aware of all of these issues.