I live in a rural area with narrow, hilly, twisting roads, yet almost every weekend, I come around a curve at the recommended speed limit just to be confronted with a huge group of pumping butt-cheeks doing 10 mph.
I can understand why cyclists do what they do.....but they need to make sure the area is adequate for it and have their vehicles 'taxed' since they want to share the road.
Just my 2 cents.
Yet I routinely see cyclists riding on the highway shoulder anyway when they are 30 feet away from a dedicated, deluxe bikepath.
Also, near where I vacation, there is a sidestreet than runs for about 9 miles that is parallel to and one block over from a heavily trafficked four lane main road.
The sidestreet has only two traffic lanes because it has dedicated bikepaths running along both sides of the street for its entire length.
Yet the main road always seems to have a peloton of Lance Armstrong wannabes who are not interested in cycling on the boring sidestreet but want to weave through traffic.
I once had a very unpleasant incident with one of these geniuses which might have escalated to the level of this article had the offender not been shorter, tubbier and older than myself and smarter than the clown in this article.
When I go to the grocery store it is 2 lane, hills and curves with double line no passing all the way for 7 miles.
Without fail half way there I wind up having to follow some spandex clad faggot doing 10 mph for 3-4 miles.
They don't have sense enough pull over or even ride on the edge of the road to let you pass.
It's enough to make you want to start chewing tobacco again, so you can really soak them down when you do get to where you can pass.
“...they need to make sure the area is adequate for it and have their vehicles ‘taxed’ since they want to share the road.”
Amen! Getting to my house requires driving 6 miles on a narrow road. It has a wide dirt shoulder, but of course people who dress like French transvestites don’t want that...they want the pavement. Add in lots of dips and some turns, and you can be stuck behind Mr “I’ve got rights” for quite a way.
Technically, I have the right to ride my horse down the road too, but I don’t. On the shoulder, but not on the road. It wouldn’t occur to me to ride her down the center of the road and expect cars to wait for a safe place to pass my horse. But I wear T-shirts and jeans, so maybe I’m not as special as a French transvestite...