FB, I'm with you, though I'm not a city rider. I ride very rural so don't have much experience with heavy traffic. Either there is a huge shoulder I ride on in the heavy traffic, or there are no shoulders, lines, or traffic and I only get the occasional car.

I'll ride those huge shoulders and when I see a break in the cars (they come in waves) I jump over onto the smoother roadway. Rural, I ride a foot or 2 from the edge. I use a mirror so I can see when a car is coming up behind me. Being that I'm on a bike and sitting much higher than they are, I can typically see over the crest of a hill or see through a turn before one would in a car so I'll signal them to go on and pass. If I do see a car coming that the driver behind me wouldn't see yet, I'll signal back to him with my palm and maybe glide over a bit until that oncoming car is past. Though riding very rural as I said, rarely do I encounter a situation where a car behind me wants to pass with another car coming the opposite way.

I don't get all the control the lane stuff either. I'm doing like 10-15 mph while traffic is doing 45. Why would I want to be out in the middle of the road with that coming up behind me?