How slow is too slow?
 

At what point do you feel like you need to pull off of the road because you're going too slow for traffic? Obviously lots of factors involved here, but imagine a 3 lane road varying from a 35-40mph speed limit, and remember some people will do 45-50 anyway.

I feel fine above 16 mph, but as soon as I dip to 15 or 14, I want to pull off on to the sidewalk and take a breather.

40 and below, I don't worry about it if there is another lane for cars to go around and traffic is not really dense. People change lanes to go around old ladies and semi trucks all day long, a bike shouldnt be any different. I generally avoid roads with only one lane going my direction and no shoulder unless there's a lot of lights to keep traffic slow.

Really, to a car, they don't see the difference between you going 12 and 18, you're still slow and annoying.

In general we have really good shoulders and bike lanes. The stretches where we don't, tend to be stoplight-to-stoplight and I can make those sprints the same as the rest of traffic anyway.

Oh yes and when passing lanes are present I also have a clear conscience.

Cannot agree more. It really depends on the traffic in the area. For instance, I commute to school on a 10-mile stretch of 6 lane with a limit of 45MPH. Now, during the times I travel (early morning) there is little to no traffic, and all of it is able to safely and properly pass me in the other two lanes. I never have to pull over, and if I do, it's because I caught the light and notice traffic build up behind me. At this time I turn into a gas station, wait for the cycle change, and continue with no problems. Fast forward to rush hour traffic. I have two options, luckily, the second being the trail (which I usually take). I tried doing a full commute back on this same stretch of road and noticed I was slowing myself down considerably by pulling over every other light. I usually check the other lanes when I commute. If I am holding up my lane of traffic and see two open lanes for them to pass, I don't pull over. If the lanes are pretty tight, I will. Really depends on the situation. You are always going to be going slower in the eyes of a vehicle, even when you go 25 in a 25 sometimes.

To be perfectly honest, I try to stay away from roads were traffic travels 45+mph (unless there is a super-wide shoulder, maybe). The way I think about it is, if somebody is texting etc and hits you from behind at that speed, it doesn't matter if you go 5mph, 15mph or 25mph.

???Pull off the road and wait in a service station or parking lot till the knot of traffic passes? I am just not understanding the o.p. or those who advocate vehicular cycling to the point of having to worry about the speed at which they are traveling is impeding traffic. I am never impeding traffic because I am never in its way! Nor do I ever use the sidewalk. I use bike lanes when a bike lane is going where I want to go, shoulders when a shoulder is available and I use parking lanes when parking lanes are available. If none of the above are available the road will not be a high speed arterial and traffic will be traveling at most 25mph. That is slow enough for them to squeeze by me in a single lane but most will edge over the center line as they pass. Even if there is oncoming traffic! Unerves me but that is how they roll (nyuk, nyuk) around here. On the two lane (in each direction) out of town I could, I suppose, claim the slow lane and traffic could pass easily enough in the left hand lane. Doing that would serve no constructive purpose so I use the shoulder. Even so about half the drivers that pass will pull into the far left lane and even those who don't will edge over as far as they can in the right hand lane. I am out on the road to get somewhere and every stop costs something in time. Some stops are unavoidable so I am not about to add any more than I have to by pulling off to let traffic by. Nor do I have to if I was never in the way of traffic to begin with. FWIW.

H

My most sincere apologies, Leisesturm. Not everyone lives in a city with roads with shoulders and/or bike lanes. There isn't a single route from my place to the university that doesn't require riding on a road where you have to mix with traffic. It's not a case of being an advocate for vehicular cycling, it's a case of getting from point a to point b by bicycle, via the least offensive route.

Again, this comes down to location. For myself, taking the quickest route, in my case, a main arterial, pulling over to let a backup of traffic is a very minimal wait time, and I never feel inconvenienced for doing so. I don't "worry" as you put it, it's simply what I feel is doing best/safest for myself and all motorists. If bike lanes were readily available here (which in the state of Florida is MANDATORY to ride in if available) then I would take them. You must have a much higher tolerance for shoulder driving, as I get squeezed, closely passed, etc. when I am on the shoulder of the road. Taking the lane has swerved me well, and the video footage my friend uses proves this (more space when passing, overtaking further away, etc).

Depends on things like how much traffic is backed up, how soon before they can get around, whether there's a good place to pull over, etc.

I almost never do, but occasionally I'll find that someone isn't passing me when they could and the traffic is piling up behind them. In that case, I will pull off to the side.

I make sure I ride on roads where there is either little traffic, or am very close to an intersection, and they should be slowing anyway.

And no, there aren't ANY bike paths or lanes where I live. None.

As long as you aren't wavering or weaving, I don't think it matters how fast or slow you go. I stay on the road 99% of the time. Only ride on sidewalks in unusual situations where the road just isn't safe and I don't need to ride on the sidewalk very long.

Luckily my current commute doesn't require taking the lane, but back when it did I felt best taking the lane when I was within 10mph of auto traffic speed. Many say to take the lane on 3 lane roads cuz the cars have two other lanes to drive fast in. No way in hell I'd do that in when I lived in PHX, though. That city is a grid of 3-lane roads and being in the lane is a nightmare. Luckily many residential roads went through.

My route also is nearly all on 50+ MPH two lane roads, most with no shoulder. Alternate routes are the same or worse. The only way for me to stay off such roads is to not go more than 1/4 mile from home.

If I have to 'engage' traffic, the limit is 40mph, and I'll pull off if I'm only managing single digits. Other than that, they can go around.

There's a state highway I use rarely (once a month during the warmer times of the year) that has a massive shoulder, so I'm E-Z there.

I totally agree. I'm in the Orlando area as well & commute from the south part of Casselberry bordering Maitland to the northwest section of Lake Mary/Sanford. I primarily ride on roads and take a good portion of the lane. A lot safer than hugging the shoulder as cars will then give me more room.

My slow limit is 3MPH,otherwise I fall over,and I don't care what the people in the cars think.

When I can't maintain a good line anymore. On most of my bikes that's around 8mph.

It doesn't really come up.

On a 3-lane 35 mph road, drivers can usually move into the center lane to pass with little delay if the lane is narrow. I am comfortable riding this type road at slow speed with my son on a trailer-bike behind me.

I used to bike commute almost daily on a 3-narrow-lane 45 mph road. I rode on the right side of the travel lane, just a bit to the right of the right tire track. Cars moved into the center lane to pass. I didn't feel the need to "control" my lane because the center lane was almost always available for passing, and drivers didn't seem to hesitate to put their left tires into the center lane. But at locations where the center lane was occupied by traffic or a raised median was installed, I moved into the center of my travel lane.

On 4-lane roads, I always control the rightmost lane if it is narrow. If it is wide, and I'm going a lot slower than other drivers, I ride the right side of the lane.

None of the busy roads on my commute have usable paved shoulders or bike lanes. The only time I ever pull off the road is if there is a 2-lane road with heavy oncoming traffic that has caused a lot of traffic to back up behind me for more than 3/4 of a minute. This happens less than once every few years because I try to avoid long stretches of narrow two-lane roads with heavy traffic so I don't have to deal with this issue.

13-15 on bike lanes
18-21 on roads. The fastest traffic I deal with is 55 MPH on Parades Line Road in town.

My ride to work includes a one miles, one-lane-each-way stretch that is IMHO adequately wide to share with cars. There also a longer stretch of 2-lanes each way. Cars seem to have no problem going around me, although I do get the occasional truck gunning their engine as they pass.

In my view, it's a city street and I'm paying as much in the way of taxes as many of those pickup drivers.... so I don't lose much sleep about blocking or slowing traffic.

I have ridden in a lot of places, and my speed has almost never been an issue. I do tend to cower in the gutter a little more when I'm climbing hills.

The only place I habitually bailed off the road in my commute was on a steeply climbing, completely shoulderless 4 lane arterial with major downtown traffic. I felt it was asking too much of other traffic to hold them to my 4mph speed while they were trapped by passing traffic in the inner lane and unable to pass me. In addition, there was the risk of getting rear ended just past the top of the hill by traffic that wouldn't see me in time due to the steepness of the hill. I took to the sidewalk for 1/4 mile, but have since found an alternate route that solved the problem.

I only pull off if I absolutely need a breather. Otherwise I stick to the road. No bike lanes here, and usually 1 lane roads 40 mph+. Guess I'm just lucky the drivers give me space and pass when they can. No incidents so far, even with snow banks everywhere.

If I need to be in the lane for my safety, or my route, it doesn't matter how slow I'm moving. If it's safer for me to stay on the shoulder, I will. On extremely rare occassions I may pull off the road and wait for traffic to subside.