Originally Posted by
Surrealdeal
I ride the fog strip on roads like that. I would take the lane just as the rider in the picture did, to get around the horses and return the fog strip after doing so. Same procedure whenever I pass a parked car. I don't waste my time determining if someone is in it or not, I take the lane. When the fog strip goes away (Around intersections) I take the lane. On roads with no fog strips I take the lane. I avoid roads with no fog strips but can handle myself when I do ride them.
All that said, I commute from one suburb to another with virtually zero urban riding so I do not have the same experiences that a lot of other regular commuters here on the BF do.
Exactly this. I do the same kind of commute and this is the exact type of riding style I have adopted. Without any role models mind you. Most usually I am on the fog strip only when actually being overtaken. There isn't usually much hard road on the right side of the strip but when there is, that's where I am. I am a long time big city cyclist so I can do urban riding as well. Most of the take the lane advocates do it out of fear. No, it isn't pleasant to be overtaken by two, three or more 3/4 ton pick-ups. The one's pulling horse trailers really make my hair stand on end. But the proof as they say is in the pudding. I and the poster I quoted are proof that this technique can work. Speaking for myself (and knocking real hard on some wood) I have not met with any of the road mischief so widely reported in "Advocacy and Safety". BTW. Re: being right hooked. I always stop a bike length or two short of the actual corner if it is clear I am going to get there ahead of cars planning to turn right. They can turn right on red here and they won't if I'm at the corner so I hang back and leave them to it. If I am slowing for an intersection with a car on my left I make sure they see me before I pull ahead. I have never been wrong (yet) about whether they see me or not. Part of it is because I am riding in Oregon. It was worth moving here to take advantage of the overall bike aware (vs bike friendly) culture of motorists in the Portland Metro Area. I have, however, commuted for years between Brooklyn and Manhattan in NYC. I am not a cycling wimp. I know when to take a lane or defend my space on the road. That is probably my key departure with vehicular cyclists. They, IMO want to empower a dogmatic approach to road safety in the theoretical abstract of legality. It does not translate easily where the rubber meets the road. Nor are all of you cycling in Portland, OR or its suburbs. I think its fair to say, however, that outside of big city urban centers most suburban and rural road users behave similarly. Cars feel entitled to unimpeded access to the road ahead. Cyclists should and can as far as possible,
without surrender, strive to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic around themselves. Because flow it must and flow it will.
H