This is often true on many of my distance rides and recreational rides but I rarely do those rides on busy roads where I would be holding up the "typical flow of traffic". On my commutes I am moving at the rate of traffic, and often faster. In most of those circumstances cars are basically racing me between traffic lights and while they may pass me momentarily we catch up at the next intersection.

So, I don't understand this complaint.

FYI average traffic speeds in major cities:


London drivers clock an average speed of 11.8 miles per hour (19 kph). That's far slower than Berlin, at 15.0 mph (24.2 kph), and Warsaw, at 16.1 mph (26 kph), which came in second and third, respectively.

In Boston, even on Storrow Drive, a road prohibited to cyclists that is the higher speed by-pass to the downtown streets, the average speed is only 28 mph.- and averaging 28 mph on Storrow is pretty good I ride alongside that road on the bike path and during peak hours easily out pace the "traffic flow".

Here in NYC the average traffic flow: In a 12-month period, weekday traffic in the district moved at an average of 9.5 miles per hour — about the speed of a farmyard chicken at full gallop.

Thursday, Nov. 13 was the slowest weekday of the year studied, with an average speed of 7.5 m.p.h. — about the speed of the typical jogger in Central Park. Excluding federal holidays, the fastest weekday: Monday, Sept. 28, at a speed of 11.7 m.p.h.


I would say that drivers need to suck it up about bicyclists since they spend so much time being slowed down by other drivers.