Looks like a perfectly maintained road, including the bike lane. But large groups of racers or would-be racers like the group pictured are prone to clogging roads deliberately, even when there's a good bike lane at hand.

Many years ago, I was on a group email list that announced when and where informal training rides would take place. One day, the guy who maintained the list forwarded an email from a motorcyclist that had been forwarded from the Baltimore Bicycling Club.

In it, the MC guy said that he'd had to take evasive maneuvers when he came around a blind corner and saw, with a second or two to spare, that a group of racer-looking guys were spread across the road and over into his lane. He wanted to point out how dangerous such riding was and suggest that the riders be more careful.

Jeering replies to the MC guy were sent from some of the riders who were on that ride, including the guy who maintained the list. Example: "I guess he needs to take some motorcycle handling courses if he doesn't know what he's doing!"

I thanked the MC guy and agreed that I'd seen such behavior many times and had stopped riding with the group for that reason.

Reply to me from the list maintainer: "Were you there?? Did you see what happened?" Imbecile.

Before I could reply, a rider jumped into the conversation to say that she too had stopped riding with the group because of the unsafe practices of the riders, especially on the twisty, narrow two-lane roads in northern Baltimore County.

"I didn't care if they get hit, but I was afraid an oncoming car would swerve to avoid them and hit me!," she said.

She was a very successful racer who was well respected in the local racing community, so that turned the tide.

I took the opportunity to suggest diplomatically to the ride leader/list maintainer that, since everyone in the group respected him, he should set the conditions for all of the training rides regarding road safety. He ate up the flattery and proceeded to set the rules for subsequent rides.

I emailed the motorcyclist separately, thanking him for his email and apologizing for the rudeness of the others. In his reply he thanked me for steering the conversation and said, about the rude replies, "Boys will be boys."