^^ I am not familiar with that area, but I've seen similar situations here in Edmonton Alberta and the primary reason cyclists won't use the side streets is because it usually involves stopping every block or two for a stop sign, being re-routed to pedestrian crossings at major intersections with major roads and being forced to switch roles between cyclist and pedestrian to get across major streets.
Cities figure they'll just run a bike route down a quiet side street without thinking about the implications to someone trying to actually get anywhere on a bike. ROutes like this may be fine for my folks who toodle along on their city cruisers at a liesurely pace, but when I ride my road bike I put on anywhere between 50 & 100k's in a session. Hard to do when you're stopping every 30 seconds, & it sounds like that's what may be happenning in your case
I certainly don't believe that bikes should be on sidewalks, but it can take some balls to ride on street in heavy traffic. I'm confident enough in my cycling abilities that I bike on street pretty mcuh everywhere, but for those who are not as brave, options need to exist.
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Short term pain for long term gain
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