Originally Posted by
Reddleman
This may amaze the North Americans amongst us, but you don’t have to ride in the gutter with all the crap on the side of the road in the UK, which is why there’s no shoulder except on some dual carriage ways and motorways (the latter you can’t legally ride on anyway). Just stay a couple of feet off the edge of the road and take primary position in the centre of the lane when you need to, you’ll live. Drivers will just have to wait and overtake you safely when they can.
have to disagree with your take on it. I ride all the time in cities and I also drive a car regularly.
Taking the lane is something I only do in very specific circumstances, but generally feel that what you are suggesting increases the risk to the cyclist, and also isn't a good diplomatic thing to do or considerate for cars on the road who come upon a much slower moving vehicle like a push bike.
on paper or on the internet, taking the lane is a fine idea, but in my opinion, a cyclist also has to be situationally aware of the
specifics of a road situation.
Sure, Ive been on narrow UK roads where I had no choice but to impede car traffic, but there are many times when using my mirror and common sense, I just pull over for 5 seconds and let cars or a truck safely go by when there is lots of oncoming traffic also.
for the vast vast majority of my riding and touring years, this has worked perfectly fine and suggesting that one rides a few feet from the edge of the road is not the best solution.
you too might be flexible in your approach to riding on the road with cars, or you may be inflexible in your views, I can't know.
safe riding