Originally Posted by
Surrealdeal
Each to their own. Riders out in the lane when there is a 3' wide fog line drive me nuts when I am driving.
I know that we have the right to the lane. I'm just sayin.
Oh, you mean a 3' shoulder? Great, if you have one. None of the roads I commute on do, and few of the roads I've seen on rides outside my commute. They often have a nasty habit of disappearing with no warning, when they do occur.
The lane offers no promises to be better and (here in MN at least) the lane is often in worse condition than the fog line. Also in a 3' wide fog line it's pretty easy to dodge a pothole or small debris.
If it's a 3' shoulder, sure. If it's a 4" fog line, it's rather difficult. Many roads don't even have fog lines, and many of those that do are painted on the very edge of the pavement; if it crumbles, you're off into gravel, sand, or (in some rural areas with flood damage) 6' down into a creek. Your options are (1) move left, into passing traffic; (2) stop; (3) risk serious injury.
Your way works too. Personally I feel safer in the fog line unless there is a large object like a parked car or a horseback rider to avoid.
If you know the road, know you've got a wide shoulder, and expect no parked cars on those shoulders, your way can work.
For the rest of the streets and roads, someone noted that passing cars and trucks seemed to give as much room on the left of a cyclist as the cyclist takes from the right. If you ride 6" from the edge of the road, traffic seems to give you 6". (Unnerving.) If you ride 18" out from parked cars, they'll pass 18" from you. Take 3 feet, they'll give you 3 feet. It has worked that way for me with very few exceptions.