As a FORMER hardcore cyclist, I can say that MOST riders have about as much respect for drivers as chickens do for the fox: NONE until the henhouse is breached, then they scream at the top of their lungs about how they must be respected. That they show NO respect to their fellow road users matters not, they are CYCLISTS!
Add in the entitled mindset of the millennial, and here we are.
Have to agree, I don’t ride on the road much anymore for just that reason. With older guys at least there is some caution but young guys just want to drop the hammer and “share the road” means they do what they want. Ironic to hear bitching about drivers while rolling thru stop signs, etc. I decided I didn’t have anything to prove and stick to bike trails and backroads nowadays.
Here in Oregon we have windy, narrow mountain roads with no shoulder, and jackass bicyclists who ride at 20 mph in the middle of the road, where cars and trucks are doing 55 mph, it’s complete lunacy!
I don’t know if that’s what happened here, but we need to start closing roads down to cyclists if there’s so little margin of error.
You describe what some refer to as Critical Mass-holes.
I was also a hardcore cyclist but I gave respect to cars. There was one short stint, maybe a half a mile on my normal commute to work where I had no choice but to take the lane. Even there I rode the white line as tight as I could to allow cars to pass. When safe I would wave them by.
Once an old man and his wife honked and screamed at me. We had a nice conversation at the light. I explained that he couldn’t see the gavel drop off at the road edge and that there was no way for me to stop. It ended with a handshake.
Skipping that road would add several miles to my 16 mile commute.
There was also a large stretch of 50 mph speed limit road with a full pave shoulder. I was doing about 25 when I got buzzed by a F150 driving several feet out of the lane. By buzzed I mean less than three inches.
Somehow I caught her at the light. I assume the dent came out of the hood