Originally Posted by Treespeed
I don't see any contradiction between being a skilled cyclist and using facilities.
Nor do I.
Originally Posted by sbhikes
You can be a skilled, experienced cyclist and use the facilities--even enjoy the facilities. It's not mutually exclusive.
Indeed, when the bike lane location happens to coincide with where I should be on the road given the current conditions and factors, I use it, and, if by chance it happens to be relatively free of debris, I even enjoy it. Though I would prefer for the stripe to not be there so that I had the right-of-way in the adjacent lane.
Originally Posted by sbhikes
And if you claim to be a vehicular cyclist, and you say that being "vehicular" means you adhere to the laws regarding vehicle traffic, then you too are (or should be) using bike facilities when they are there because that is the law.
First, I do adhere to the laws (and take advantage of all the loopholes in 21208).
Second, "adhere to the laws regarding vehicle traffic" is not the same as "adhering to the rules of the road for drivers of vehicles". Again, a subtle difference, but very significant in terms of understanding what "vehicular cycling" means.
This is re;ated to why I threw "skiing" into the title of this thread, and opened with the example of the relevance of right-of-way to skiers. The rules of the road (and the rules of the ski slope) are ultimately based on common sense. Sure, you have to toss a coin on some things (keep to the left, or keep to the right; is red stop, or is green?), but for the most part the vehicular code is a formalization based on the common sense "rules of the road".
Bike lanes are an exception.
In many ways, bike lanes, and the rules governing their use, violate the common-sense vehicular rules of the road. In CA, some of the most blatant exceptions were technically eliminated with the little-known exceptions in 21208, thanks to some vehicular cyclists who were present in the formation of that law. But the legal technicalities aside, the guidance indicated by bike lanes are very often contrary to the vehicular rules of the road.
Originally Posted by Treespeed
It is my experience that most cyclists position themselves in the middle of the bike lane, not at the left edge.
That's odd. We'll have to agree to disagree on that. Whether cycling or driving in your car, if you haven't already, please try to pay attention, perhaps particularly to road bike cyclists with 700c tires. I find that they almost all universally ride near the left edge.
Years before I learned about vehicular cycling and when I had just started commuting the following email was posted on a cycling list at work (this is from 2/5/2001):
Originally Posted by some email
Why is it whenever I encounter cyclists on the road and there is a bike lane, the cyclists almost always ride on the white line instead of in the middle of their bike lane? They have this lane all to themselves but they have to ride right on the line or right on the edge of it. Please explain this to me.
Another cyclist (who by the way, is a huge bike lane proponent) at the time responded with the following:
Originally Posted by another email
Interesting question. Reasons that come to mind, I cc'd the local
alias so others can comment as well:
1) junk on the road gets swept to the side due to the wind generated
by traffic. It really doesn't get pushed that far, so the bike
lane is _much_ cleaner near the white line - less gravel, etc.
It doesn't take much at 25mph to generate a flat or a spill.
2) The quality of the pavement goes down towards the edge of the road
(away from the white line). Initial construction of roads as well
as when they maintain the roads, the quality is much better near the
line vs at the very edge
3) Storm grates usually are closer to the outside edge of the road
(away from the white line)
4) Broken glass from thrown bottles into the bike lane tends to move
toward the outside edge of the road (away from the white line)
5) Water in gutters, etc. is towards the right (away from the white line)
6) When approaching a cross intersection, if you are towards the edge
and away from the white line, you are less visible to the cross traffic
that wants to do a right turn or cross traffic right in front of you.
7) There often are huge heaves and cracks in the road at the seam where
the asphalt meets the concrete gutter/curb. This isn't fun to ride on.
Dropping a wheel into a crack (my wheels/tires are ~0.5" wide) will
results in a spill.
8) If there are parked cars on the inside of the bike lane, the threat
of an opening door is pretty bad.
9) Riding _on_ the line is generally much smoother - the multiple
applications of paint over the years fill in the cracks. My record
is 13 miles on a line before going off.
Despite how "nice" the bike lanes appear from a car going 40+ mph, they
are usually pretty busted up with lots of junk from the road in them.
Bike lanes seem to be a favorite place for trenching to install underground
cables. My favorite is when there is an automobile accident and they
sweep all the stuff off the road into the bike lane.
So long before I learned about vehicular cycling or the arguments against bike lanes, I learned about this particular aspect of them (that they encourage cyclists to ride near the stripe), and have assumed ever since that this was obvious to others.
But if you don't accept that bike lanes inherently encourage cyclists to do this, then, yes, the rest of my argument kind of falls apart.
Serge