Originally Posted by
paulypro
I saw the comments saying it's the officer that's not informed, and I realize my opinion is unpopular here and on the rest of the 'web. I still think the OP cyclist is abusing the existence of a sharrow, which should mean that it's a shared lane, not a lane available for cyclists to take over. I'm all for blocking a car from passing me in an unsafe situation, but I think this cyclist was running down the middle of the lane without even considering tucking to the right a few feet to allow some cars to pass. As I said, there's plenty of space in the 'getting doored' area (just to the left of the oil slicks and dust strip) where there's no parked cars for the majority of the vid. As a cyclist you should be able to smoothly work the road to use this space and come into the lane when needed which is how I'd interpret the intent of a sharrow, again to increase awareness to motorists that cyclists may be coming into the road. The lane looked plenty wide to let cars pass if the rider had been keeping right.
I am the rider in question. There was not enough room. I ride this route every day. Even if there was, I was going at roughly the same pace as the rest of traffic, making it pointless. Its not safe or predictable to be weaving back and forth in and out of primary lane position. Shared lane doesn't mean you have to share it at the same time, but that this lane is shared by cars and bikes. Trust me, I've experimented with different lane positions and doing exactly as you have said. I move to the right, a driver comes up next to me and takes forever to pass and then I am forced to stay in the door zone or stop completely or risk a dangerous maneuver to get back into the main part of the lane.
That being said, further back on my route it is only 1 lane in each direction. During that section of my ride I am required as a slow moving vehicle to pull off when 5 or more cars are stacked behind me. I use the full lane until it is safe for me to pull to the side and allow any traffic that is backed up by.