Originally Posted by Leisesturm

???Pull off the road and wait in a service station or parking lot till the knot of traffic passes? I am just not understanding the o.p. or those who advocate vehicular cycling to the point of having to worry about the speed at which they are traveling is impeding traffic. I am never impeding traffic because I am never in its way! Nor do I ever use the sidewalk. I use bike lanes when a bike lane is going where I want to go, shoulders when a shoulder is available and I use parking lanes when parking lanes are available. If none of the above are available the road will not be a high speed arterial and traffic will be traveling at most 25mph. That is slow enough for them to squeeze by me in a single lane but most will edge over the center line as they pass. Even if there is oncoming traffic! Unerves me but that is how they roll (nyuk, nyuk) around here. On the two lane (in each direction) out of town I could, I suppose, claim the slow lane and traffic could pass easily enough in the left hand lane. Doing that would serve no constructive purpose so I use the shoulder. Even so about half the drivers that pass will pull into the far left lane and even those who don't will edge over as far as they can in the right hand lane. I am out on the road to get somewhere and every stop costs something in time. Some stops are unavoidable so I am not about to add any more than I have to by pulling off to let traffic by. Nor do I have to if I was never in the way of traffic to begin with. FWIW.