Decades ago one of my riding partners was in his 80s. He'd worked as a bike messenger back in the late 'teens, during the
Great War. Drafting? Bah. He said the way to make a quick, easy run was to grab ahold of a car or truck and let them tow you. Back then he said drivers more or less expected to give a tow to bicycling messengers/delivery boys, at the very least on the long, flat run across the viaduct over the river.
Of course it was just as dangerous/deadly then as it is today*, and society got tired of scrapping the remains of bicyclists off the street. The state legislature made cyclists hanging on to motor vehicles illegal in the 1920s.
*Cars didn't move as fast, but there were a lot more trolley tracks.