Sawtooth

I have been struggling with this VC thing for some time. While I fit most of the characterisitics of what I believed to be a vehicular cyclist (and never-ever hug the gutter), I had a mistaken notion that to truly ride vehicularly, I had to take the lane almost all the time (even in situations where vehicles could safely share the lane with me). That just did not fit with my believes about sharing the road.

I followed the link in HH's signature and read other material about the issue. I learned that I ride VC most of the time; not in an effort to be VC, but as a natural result of experience on the road and a knowledge of what will most likely be the safest way to approach a given situation. I was riding VC all along but was not aware of it. I am convinced that at least some of those who speak out so vehemently against VC ride vehicularly most of the time but are not aware of what that really means.

I admit that sometimes I have a bit of a Slvoid in me and take more risks than I have to in order to get somewhere faster or even to have more fun. But for the most part, I fit the VC image as described in Serge's link. With all respect to Cyclaholic, there are many VC concepts that simply make good sense and are followed by almost all experienced cyclists. For instance, am I the only one to notice that cars give me more room when I ride further to the left in a constricted lane? Or am I the only one who (without deference to VC) moves to the center of the lane near dangerous intersections in order to be seen? I doubt it. Also, don't most truly experienced cyclists merge left in a vehicular fashion, negotiating for lanes and looking back? I argue that VC mostly just makes sense and comes naturally as a result of experience.

In short, I take accountability for believing in a misconception regarding vehicular cycling (taking the lane unneccessarily). I am curious if there are other misconceptions that are common out there and giving VC a bad rap when it really is just a common sense and experienced based method of staying alive on the roads.