trekker pete

I am driving home tonight in the wife's minvan. Yeah, should have been on the bike, but, feeling a bit lazy this week along with personal drama I'd rather not go into bumming me out.

So, I'm driving along, it's about quarter after 6, pretty much the middle of rush hour on a very busy road.

I spot one of the pleasant signs that spring is here. A group of 10-12 bikers on an afterwork group ride. This particular stretch of road is pretty busy this time of day, but, it is pretty flat, has wide lanes and a pretty generous shoulder. This actually makes it a pretty good bike route, so long as you don't mind sharing it with a bunch of cages.

Anyway, the entire group is riding single file on the generous shoulder, with one exception. Mr take the lane is about mid pack. He was not overtaking anyone, he was just riding along, somewhere between right tire track and the middle of the damn road. This was causing car traffic to slow and back up a bit since they could not safely pass with oncoming cager traffic which I was part of.

What an a-hole. I understand the take the lane philosophy to a point. I have done it myself when I feel there really isn't much choice. This tool was not doing this. He was just asserting his right as a vehicle, I suppose. There was ample room on the shoulder for him to ride and let cages pass safely, but, he just didn't give a rat's but. I found myself thinking "I hope somebody runs his arse into the ditch".

As a result, there are probably a few more pissed off cagers on this route who think we should all be bannished to the MUP. I will be sharing the road with them while commuting on my bike.

Thanks alot, ahole.

degnaw

A bunch of VC proponents will probably complain at your attitude and how the shoulder invites right hooks and how one should never be to the right of traffic that might be turning right...

...but I agree with you.

I've also seen a thread about a member getting a ticket while taking the lane, because the 12ft shoulder contained some right turn lanes or something.

FightingPanther

i bet you ******* in the lane was coaching the other riders on safe road riding...

uke

Yup, I went through that phase too. Then I realized sharing the lane was a better idea in most scenarios than taking it. Now I share.

jaxgtr

Yea, I am with you on this. Even with a fairly wide shoulder, I still try to stay to the right as much as possible.

trekker pete

I was watching this dope pretty carefully. He didn't seem to be doing any coaching as far as I could tell. He did have a blazing yellow reflective vest on though, so I doubt he was gonna be run over.

If safe riding is his goal, there are a hell of a lot better places I can think of riding than the middle of ellington road in south windsor at 6:15 PM. The same spot is pretty nice though at 5:30 AM on a sunday morning commute.

10 Wheels

What made you believe that he was part of the 10-12 group of riders?

JanMM

Share the road doesn't mean cars on the road and bikes on the shoulder.

DataJunkie

I am more interested in the juvenile name calling.
I do not care either way. Let him take the damn lane.

crhilton

Presumably he was keeping up. Although the description of his clothing makes him sound dissimilar to a club rider.

Usually this sort of thing is self enforcing. You take the shoulder because it's less miserable. It might be more dangerous, but if it is you trade the misery for the danger and it's worth it. It's al little like using MUPs: You're more likely to get hurt, but you're less likely to get harassed.

I guess some guys have balls of steel. No fear apparently.

JeffS

Every thread ever started in this way here was created by a person who deserves a punch in the neck. Congrats on continuing the trend.

Seriously. This is NOT the place for it.

JeffS

I_bRAD

You call him ahole, hey probably called him coach

trekker pete

there are a number of sparsely traveled back roads in the area that he can feel free to coach his arse off on. This is a very heavily traveled main road at that time of day. Taking the lane here during heavy traffic is going to result in an impatient cager making a dangerous pass. If he was on the wide and well paved shoulder, passing would be very safe. I'll see if I can get a google earth pic of the spot.

I_bRAD

Whatever. Why don't you take the backroads? Is the local university on the back roads?

Hot Potato

And just think, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you are never, EVER going to get those 2 minutes of your life back! The scoundrel! Running him into a ditch would be too kind for you paying such a high price?

lil brown bat

Right! How dare he ride on your road?

degnaw

It is perfectly legal to drive 45mph in the left lane of the interstate, and you no longer have to deal with those pesky merging people! The people behind you won't mind, after all, there's only several dozen of them and they're held up for less than 60 seconds each!

Hot Potato

Ahhhh, you begin to understand! Now, allow some space between you and the car in front. It doesn't matter if it is 10 feet or half a mile, notice that no matter how big the gap, when you travel at the same speed, you both get where you are going? I know, I know, this sounds just crazy, but you don't have to be able to read the dashboard of the car in front of you to get where you are going. For the final lesson I shall enlist some help from the University mathematics department to show that if you just leave a few minutes earlier, you will end up where you are going a few minutes earlier. The math can be hard to follow, but when they walk you through it you will be able to understand.

CCrew

Actually, many states whether they enforce it or not have a law that says the left lane is for passing and traffic is to keep right. So you might want to find a different analogy.

-R

10 Wheels

Texas is one state.

unterhausen

it probably cost the OP exactly zero time. This is what amazes me. Idiot drivers that can't stomach the notion that they might have to -- potentially -- expend some small amount of effort to avoid another vehicle operator. I don't get honked at often, but the last time I was honked at, it was by two people that were operating the only vehicles in sight on a 4 lane road. I don't usually ride on that road because of the idiot drivers, but this was when the university was closed so nobody was on the road.

There is a road near me that has fairly heavy traffic, so I usually ride on the shoulder. Speed limit is only 35, so this is entirely a matter of courtesy on my part. I was right-hooked on Sunday. It made me realize that my status on the shoulder is less than clear. I'm going to be taking the lane from now on.

bragi

Your post is totally inappropriate. Seriously. This is NOT the place for it. It's one thing to disagree. It's quite another to be personally insulting.

KitN

+1

All it takes is one d-bag like that to make the cagers go "SEE! This is why bikes shouldn't be allowed on the road!". Ugh.

unterhausen

The original post is rude, wrong and trollish. That is all.