Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
If you are riding in busy urban/city/grid conditions, stay away from the gutter as much as possible to avoid crossing traffic running stop signs on you. The closer you get to the curb, the less time they have to judge your speed and the less time you have to react if they run the stop sign anyway.
As a rule, on roads up to 35 mph with or without on-street parking, I ride between 18 and 23 mph (easier for them to detect speed if you are holding near normal traffic speed) and put my wheels in the LEFT car tracks of the right lane - just like a motorcycle would do - assuming nothing is coming behind me. I use a rear-view mirror and glance in it every 10 - 15 seconds. If the cars coming up behind me have room to move over one lane, and are doing so, I stay put (there are no minimum speeds posted) and they just go around me. If there is a conflict behind me, and it is reasonable for me to move over and stay out of the door zone, I will move right JUST OUTSIDE the door zone and actually USE the cars passing me as a rolling blockade. I KNOW the crossing cars will see and respect those vehicles.
If you are hugging the right curb or the parked cars: A. You will be physically harder to see for the crossing traffic drivers, B. It will be impossible to judge your speed from that angle, C. Even if the car sees you, recognizes that you are on a bike and moving fast, they will STILL BELIEVE they can race across your line to cross in front of you (they are, after all, more important road users). If you are far LEFT, they will realize they can not make it all the way across without killing you and virtually 100% of the time (in my experience) will just allow you to go past. I give them a nod or a wave of thanks if I can.
On wider, faster roads or if you can not cycle near 20 mph, you better be ready to turn or hit the brakes. If you are riding under 18 mph, you are also increasing the chance of right hooks. So they get you both ways - crossing and overtaking. Learn to ride faster, find another route, get a rear-view mirror and learn to use it just like all of the motorized vehicles are required to do for very good reason. And for all else, be prepared to change course or stop - pay attention. No wool gathering. Remember George Carlin's line: Imagine how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are dumber than that.
I have to say that this is a pretty good and fair assessment of the realities of urban/city cycling... you know the kind of place where messenger style riding is king. (or Joey style riding)
This is also somewhat counter to the rantings and ravings of strict vehicular cycling -- the fosterites, who time and time again tell us that speed doesn't matter. The reality is speed DOES matter... it matters enough so that traffic flow is the key factor in the how and why of traffic engineering in our cities. (safety is secondary to flow) This is also why your grandma and my grandma will never be utility cyclists in America (unless they use back streets to get from the residence to the market... if said alternatives exist).
Interestingly Forester tells us that on one hand speed doesn't matter, but on the other, speed differential can make "negotiation" between cyclist and motorist nearly impossible, and that the "dedicated cyclist" prefers to go fast.
I have to fully agree with your comments about cycling speed on roads up to 35MPH, and contend that this is why higher speed roads, such as those seen in places in the west like southern California, with typical arterial roads of 50MPH and higher, are not conducive to cycling. Oh it can be done, but as a "road sneak" or with the end result that you either fight FRAP laws or impeding laws (like Chipseal and others) or you prove you were actually riding at the posted speed (a'la the Brentwood doctor case... where cyclist SPEED was a key factor in the case against the motorist)
Theory verses reality... reality wins yet again. Thanks Joey. Keep spinning.