Had to go in tonight around 6pm so my commute was at a different time than usual. It made a difference in driver attitudes- probably in part due to it being a Friday night.

Despite my heavy commuter bike with a pretty wide profile studded tire the air was still enough and I was feeling frisky so I was able to book along one section through Brighton (an urban mixed residential/commerical area) by fully taking the lane and keeping up with the traffic. When I do this in the morning on the way to work in the am it doesn't seem to cause the drivers too much distress.

But tonight I had two cars get right on my rear wheel and attempt to force their way around me. I was holding a distance of about 35' between me and the car ahead but they felt the need to fill it. When there was no oncoming traffic from the opposite direction they chose to whip around me and fill the space. Ironically, of course, in less than 1/4 mile traffic came to a complete halt as there was congestion for well over a mile. Naturally, I just moved easily through the traffic leaving them well behind me.

When I got to Commonwealth Avenue, another urban (more commercial than residential) section that runs by Boston University, despite traffic congestion and slow traffic speeds yet another driver chose to whip around me and then right hook me (they signaled) and almost took out 3 pedestrians as they rounded the corner.

The strange thing is had I driven this same route to work tonight I'd have arrived a good 20 minutes later than I had on the bike but drivers seem to continually have the impression a bike on the road is slowing them down.