niceness and get off the road.
 

it's funny. it seems that most drivers are more repsectful of my cycling lately, but i've also noticed, for the first time, people telling me to get off the road. usually from a good distance away from me. sometimes even when we're going the opposite directions. anyone else noticed this?

It's kind of feast or famine. I'll go for months without a harsh from a single motorist. And, BAM, for some reason, I'll have all sorts of harassment, every day for a few weeks.

I can't explain it.

I am not sure of your location, but I grew up in the 60's-70's in semi-rural SE Texas, and my parents taught me, and motorists expected, cyclists to get on the shoulder of the roadway when motor vehicles were present. Paved shoulder, or unpaved, no difference. In the early 1980's, in larger cities such as Houston and Austin, I saw, for the first time, cyclists actually riding in the street, but even then it was somewehat rare. (I don't mean cyclists did not ride in the street before 1980, just that I was not in the big city to see it happening.)

No matter what the law says, culture and tradition take decades to change. Many of the people telling us to get out of the road probably think they are right, and we cyclists are wrong. I work police patrol, and am also an "FTO," field training instructor and evaluator. A couple of my recent rookies were rather surprised to learn, from me, that bicycles are vehicles, and should be ridden accordingly, so even the younger generation still does not get it.

Of course, some of the motorists yelling at us know we have a right to be in the street, and are simply equine posteriors.