RoboCheme

I can understand that riding on the white line is perfectly in your rights, but if the bike lane is clear and wide (as it was in this case), why force the issue? It seems like you're much more likely to get buzzed the farther to the left you ride. Also, there are plenty of inattentive or bad drivers and I'd like to give them as wide a berth as possible.

noisebeam

That old white line
is friend of mine
And it's good time
we've been making
Right now I'm rollin' down
the open road
And the daylight
will soon be breaking.

hhnngg1

This riding nearly in traffic is a weird yet regular occurrence on the Pac Coast Highway in LA.

The shoulders are often 15 feet wide (enough for 4 cyclists side by side!) in large sections, yet everyone rides almost completely into the road, despite 65+mph cars buzzing by.

I suspect part of it is the desire to avoid errant road debris that does build up to some degree on the 'safer' part of the shoulder, but i'm still amazed at the number of solo cyclists who ride literally on the painted line of that highway (I'd say most.)

2manybikes

Just don't do it in the ra........ Never mind.
Same for painted crosswalks, etc.

KevinSCo

My worst crash happened when I skidded on a wet paint stripe on a clear early morning. Water came from sprinklers or morning dew. I'm still amazed at how quickly I went down - absolutely no warning or chance to recover. No more paint stripes for me.

mkadam68

If we're talking about the actual road--no. In the real world, it's opposite: farther left ='s less buzzing.

If we're talking about bike lanes: okay, true. You'd have to be far right to not get buzzed. Any other left-ward position: the cars will buzz you.

curiouskid55

A white line on the right does not neccessarily indicate a bike lane . It usually indicates the shoulder. The shoulder is for emergency stops, parking and apparently dumping every imaginable piece of crap that has ever been part of or inside of a vehicle. I have a road bike not a shoulder bike.

mkadam68

True. But the conversation has become a bit muddied because the OP was referring to a bike lane.

dstrong 

Cars are going 60. This is where I ride (a little more to center in the first one than I thought...more my normal position in the second)

caloso

It really depends on the road, the pavement conditions, the sight lines, the amount of debris, the speed of the cars, the speed of my bike. No one size fits all.

That said, I tend to ride closer to the line on my rides.

RoboCheme

The situation that I tried to describe is similar to your first photo, except that it was only one lane in each direction, the road wasn't straight, the traffic was heavy, and the cars were going around 50. Again, no debris or cars or any other obstructions in the bike lane.

Doesn't seem worth going a little faster by riding on the line, but this thread has convinced me that everyone's risk reward ratio is different.

Davemutt

In a perfect world where all drivers are alert and focused on the task at hand, yes.

In the real world, a good percentage of drivers are impared by cell phones, steroes, cheesburgers, medication, blackberrys, kids in the back seat, etc...

mkadam68

Let's make sure we're talking the same language: in neither of the photos is there a bike lane. What's in the photos and apparently you're saying you ride on is the shoulder of the road. Cyclists in all 50 states have every right to ride in the road and do not have to ride on the shoulder. The guys you came upon weren't even exercising that right. Sounds like they were off to the side as far as they could go without riding on the shoulder. Now, do you have to ride in the road? No unless somebody really enforces that "rights & responsibilities of other drivers" clause. To each their own comfort level.

RoboCheme

I think that we are agreeing. You can call it a shoulder if you want; I call it a bike lane since there's are bike symbols painted on it at spots and there are bike signs. Anyway, I never argued that they didn't have the right to ride on the line. I was just asking why they feel that they have to when a perfectly good shoulder/bike lane is available farther away from the heavy traffic.

NoRacer

With high speed traffic and a constant flow of it, there's a "river of air". The closer to the white line, the stronger the flow. But, of course, too far left and you can become road kill, so pick the line that gives you the most safety, less debris and can take advantage of the flow of air from traffic--or not. Your choice.

[My bike commute is 50 miles per day with 90% of it on a road with high speed (55 MPH posted) limits. I've experienced this flow on roads like the one that I commute and ones with speeds posted at 45 MPH, as well.]