Originally Posted by
spectastic
I want to get in the habit of biking long distances in my spare time. But the thing is some 60 mph roads only have a small 3 ft width strip for cyclists. I was doing a short ride to a close city that was only 6-7 miles away, and half the car that passed by me didn't bother to change lanes. They just whizzed past me with 3-4 feet of clearance. While I was on a strip of road that forced me to bike on the right lane, one dumb f*k honked at be before speeding 4 ft past me at 50 mph (this was not really a highway, but was an extension of a highway). I've never ridden on highways, what are some things I should know??
-- A 3 feet wide strip is ample room for you.
-- The cars going by gave you 3-4 feet of clearance ... that's lots.
-- Some drivers will honk to warn you that they are there.
-- What should you know? The drivers don't want to hurt you. Stay out of their way, ride in a straight line, and ride predictably, and chances are, they won't bother you.
I frequently ride on highways. Most of my rides are on highways with speed limits anywhere from 80 to 110 km/h. I've done tens of thousands of kilometres (guessing over 100,000 km) in those conditions. And sometimes there are shoulders, sometimes there aren't.
Given a choice, I would prefer a 60-80 km/h quiet country roads, with or without shoulders ... or a 90-110 km/h highway with a shoulder. Give me one or the other.