Share the Trail. Seriously
As Philly road rage has hit the Schuylkill River Trail, one local cyclist calls for her fellow riders to show some decorum.
/ Illustration by Lars Leetaru
It’s 8 a.m. on a sunny day, and I’m pedaling my way to work. I’m on my rehabbed 1970s Nishiki that my husband got me as a wedding gift. My hair is blowing in the wind beneath my mint green helmet. As I cross Main Street in Manayunk and get to the Schuylkill River Trail, I’m feeling happy and energized. I’m part of the 1.7 percent of Philadelphia commuters who bike to work, and I love it.
But morning commutes like this one are too frequently disrupted these days by noisy e-bikes zipping around me, or aggressive cyclists riding by and shouting obscenities. I find it puzzling: We bike people are accustomed to complaining about cars — I’ve been run off the road, honked at, and screamed at by drivers. But by fellow cyclists?
Biking in a city with loads of bike lanes and lush multiuse trails like the Schuylkill River Trail should be a no-brainer. I save money (no car insurance, score!), it’s a solid workout, parking is abundant (and never parallel), and I rest easy at night knowing I’m not contributing to worsening air quality.
But lately, it’s been hard to take the proverbial high road when that road is filled with illegal electric bicycles and obnoxious cyclists who go well above the speed limit.
And they’re not behaving badly only during a harried commute: Just a few weeks ago I was biking the trail in the evening. Tourists milled about, runners chased endorphins, city dwellers traveled to picnic destinations — and a little boy, no more than three, pushed his little bicycle pedals with all his might. He was going quite slowly, but I didn’t mind: It was nice to see the cycle of bike life play out in front of me. After all, we all relied on training wheels at some point.
The evening was perfect until a woman in a Lycra onesie sped by at top speed, screaming: “GET OUT OF THE WAY! GET OFF THE ROAD!” The little boy’s parents scooped him up and hurried off the trail like they were under threat. It made my stomach churn.
This woman had no sense of the trail as shared space, to be enjoyed by runners, walkers, and cyclists of all ages and abilities — let alone the animals that call the trail home. As she whizzed by, I thought of the blackbird I saw splayed on the trail with tread marks on its feathers, and all the flattened chipmunks.
I don’t mean to suggest that most cyclists are like this woman, though I could tell plenty of stories like this one. The majority are kind and observant. But the people who behave badly have an outsize impact on mixed-use trails.
The problem is compounded by the increasing number of e-bikes, bikes with throttles, and even gas-powered motorcycles. E-bikes are permitted on the trail only if they have working pedals, weigh less than 100 pounds, and go no faster than 15 miles per hour. Signs are posted along the trail with these rules. But people don’t seem to pay much attention to them, and I don’t often see any enforcement when they’re broken.
Cyclists are correct to demand better treatment from cars, because cyclists get killed when drivers are aggressive. But on a multiuse trail, when bicycles, not cars, are the dominant mode of mechanized transportation, we owe it to others to rise above petty aggravations and follow the oldest of golden rules: Share the trail, and don’t be an asshole.
Published as “Cool It, Cyclists” in the September 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
