Originally Posted by
SactoDoug
Personally, I do not ride on any road that does not have a shoulder. I want a margin of safety so that cars can get past me. Even in the bicycle lane, there are a lot of motorists that come down the road with their tires on the white line and zip past me doing 60 mph in a 40 mph zone with just 1 foot of clearance at my handle bars. I can't image what those same numb skulls would do if there was no shoulder and they had to go around a cyclist.
I would never get very far if I limited my riding to this criteria. I suspect that many posters here would never get out of their driveway, or at most their neighborhood. Riding on the road with automobiles is simply necessary in most places in this country if you want to viably commute by bike.