Berry, I did not read your post originally due to time constraints, but, I am glad that I went back to it. It is very well stated and it buttresses a point that many of us have tried to articulate in the past: the behavior of cyclists is often times seen as the pure manifestation of discourteous behavior by motorists who encounter us on the roads.
In all of the solo rides that I have taken over the years I can only think of a few times where I have had an issue with aggressive motorists. All of the issues that I have experienced have been on group rides, and, in just about every incident it is from motorists who feel that we have been hogging the roadways. Face it, Gyros, our formations are not always tight and we do have cyclists riding beyond the perimeter of that imaginery line in a double paceline. This is seen by motorists as a total disregard to their rights, and, as they sit behind us waiting they take note that we make no effort to close our ranks so that they can squeeze by. We know that this perception is not always warranted, and we do respect motorists' rights. But, it is what it is. When I think of last Saturday's ride I remember a number of times where we had motorists waiting, and our group was all over the road. A few of our riders were actually riding partially in the other lane! When cars are behind us I cannot think of any reason that we are not in tight formation and as far over to the right as the roads allow. In fact, it is hard to imagine any scenario where we should not be taking up as little of the road as possible. I think that we can use the guidelines that you have stated by riding single file on busy roads, but, I do think that we can go to a double paceline on lightly traveled roads. Do they do this in CA? What we need to work on is keeping our formation tight at all times. Not only does a well-formed double paceline look great, it gives motorists the impression that we are experienced, courteous cyclists who desire a symbiotic relationship with motorists. This is much more effective when it is viewed through our actions on the roads, and not our words on google groups. Rick ---- Berry T Stevens <[email protected]> wrote: -- You received this message because you subscribed to the Gyro email group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected]
