Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
Vehicular cycling does not equal always taking the lane.
I agree about the higher traffic speeds making cycling more unpleasant, difficult, sometimes even dangerous. I just think the threshold is higher than 25 mph. Cyclists don't always have to "keep up with traffic" to be safe.
Sure, the real threshold is when motor traffic is moving 15MPH or greater than the cyclist... this speed was identified by John Forester who declared that "negotiation" between cyclist and motorist becomes difficult when such a speed differential is reached. So for a cyclist moving at 20PH, 35MPH+ motor traffic starts to become "difficult to negotiate with."
Personally traffic moving at 35MPH doesn't really present any issues to me... But motorists moving at 50MPH really do look "unpleasant, difficult, sometimes even dangerous."
Sadly, in my area, many arterial roads have speeds at 50MPH or higher. I'd be willing to bet Montana has a lot of similar high speed roads. Massachusetts, I believe, doesn't allow cyclists on roadways with such speeds. Here in CA they just paint a strip along the side of such high speed roads some 5 feet from the edge of the pavement and declare it a bike lane.