biking etiquette

Here is my final update on the subject...I did call the Police Department for the city I live in. I told him that I never even thought it could be illegal to ride my bike on a sidewalk and told him which streets I was talking about. I also advised that I asked for advice on this forum and got a lot of people who told me never to ride on the sidewalk and that I had to ride in the street. He told me that no law enforcement person in the city would make me get off the sidewalk. He suggested a light for the bike in case I was riding at night and I did say that I would be getting a bell (as a result of advice from some on this forum). He said he would rather I possibly startle a few pedestrians than have to clean me up off the road. So I will get a bell to alert people to my passing on the sidewalk and will slow down or stop if necessary to get around them, but I won't be riding on the street when I feel it is way too dangerous.

But also looking for designated bike paths in the area!

I do most of my riding on MUPs (Multi Use Paths) where I run into all the sidewalk issues except that I have a right to bike on the path.

I hate trying to pass people who take up too much room, wander from side to side, travel two or more abreast, or pick a path straight down the middle. In other words, I hate it when people are hard to pass. To make it worse, a lot of these people are wearing headphones and are shut off to the world around them.

A bell is good for people like that. It's easy to announce your presence far earlier when you have a bell. And it gets people's attention. I'm not sure, but I think some people are wondering why an ice cream truck is overtaking them.

I'll use your term -- MUPs -- and say that I know the frustration. I always try to offset that by remembering that, if bike paths were designed only for cycling, there likely wouldn't be any. By that, I mean it's the broad-based support that comes from multiple users that make the bike paths possible in the first place.

It's also important to remember that bike paths are for recreational use, not exercise training. Not addressing you personally, but, in general, I think it is unrealistic to expect to be able to do training rides on MUPs. We have a nice network of crushed-gravel/partially paved paths in my area (Illnois Prairie Path and Fox River Trail). I have used them in the past for training rides, but with the full realization (and accepting full responsibility) that, for that use, I basically had to yield to everyone else, since I was the one using the path in ways it was not intended. That means getting up early before the families get out there, using primarily routes that are less-used, and gearing down and just accepting that when you go through Wheaton, St Charles, Geneva, or Batavia, it was going to be slow going.

Can anyone explain to me why sidewalk bikers would rather almost hit other pedestrians on the sidewalk trying to squeeze by them than just pass them on the grass?

Since the OP is in Florida, here's a helpful link to get you started... and happy cycling!
http://floridabicycle.org/bicycle-traffic-law/

Since the OP is in Florida, here's a helpful link to get you started... and happy cycling!
http://floridabicycle.org/bicycle-traffic-law/

Now, that's an odd thing at that particular Florida link....

"As of 2012, Bicyclists are no longer required to keep at least one hand on the handlebars."

There may be reasons but none of them good

As it's very much a case of subjectivity -
In YOUR opinion.
Others have different opinions, of course .

You said your roads were dangerous so I would ride AGAINST TRAFFIC. That way people would see you coming.