Originally Posted by
joejack951
...My gut feeling is that the cyclist riding over that bridge was probably riding too far to the right and letting motorists squeeze by on his left. He may have swerved a bit to the left at the wrong time while this guy was passing and got hit. By riding so far right, motorists coming from behind were not likely to notice him as he wasn't causing traffic to change lanes...
I was thinking the same thing. If that was the case, I recall an incident a day before RAGBRAI 2000 or 2001 when a rider got too far right. He caught a pedal on the curb which threw him instantly into the path of the vehicles he was making room for. Unfortunately for him and the cager the vehicle was a semi. Except giving a whole lane width clearance before passing there wasn't much the cager could do. Of course in this case hindsight is 20/20 in the cager's case, but in his mind "the rider DID show intentions that he was making room and must have been okay with an attempted pass".
Good reason to take the lane or get up on the sidewalk. Decisions, decisions...