Originally Posted by
Bob Ross
You may have missed the earlier post where someone pointed out that riding two abreast makes your group half as long, and therefore allows the overtaking motor vehicles to pass you more quickly. Since cars are going to have to pass with ample space and caution (ha!) anyway, I think most automobile drivers would appreciate the courtesey of us allowing them to resume their normal [sic] driving habits in half the time.
maybe that’s a good trade off. i suppose it depends on the road.
what i see more commonly on the relatively narrow roads i ride on is that the shoulder + lane or single lane on the uphill side is plenty wide for a car plus a bike with the requisite 3’ between them. riding side by side forces the car into the oncoming lane, or they just stay behind and get frustrated as more and more cars pile up behind them.
then the cars decide to pass when the cyclists are going really slow - uphill - which is inevitably exactly when a solo cyclist like myself is descending at speed in the middle of the downhill lane, because (at least around here) roads are built asymmetrically with the wider lane and shoulder uphill for exactly this reason. the speed difference between bikes and cars is much greater uphill.
i don’t see a lot of huge group rides. had a few close calls on descents for exactly the situation above. i didn’t think was any reason most pairs or sets of pairs of cyclists ride side by side other than to chat, but i could be wrong!