Don Hanson

Good points about "taking a lane" to keep people from trying to squeeze past when there is not room for two cars and a bike, all at once. I do this too. That is normal self-protection, and yeah, the cars don't seem to mind much...I wasn't talking about defending yourself against whizzing cars on busy roads, though. I am talking about country lanes, lightly traveled roads that follow creeks around lots of twisty blind corners, go over hill and dale, and have very very few cars or harvest trucks...When approaching a blind narrow corner, if I hear a vehicle coming up behind..I'll move over to behave like I am a vehicle myself to prevent them from trying a 'blind pass'...But on a road that is essentially a single lane, it makes us enemies to ignore an over-taking vehicle when you can easily move aside to safely allow them past. That is what I was trying to pass on...leave the confrontational attitude in the city..Out this way, there are so few vehicles that it makes sens
e to work WITH them to get them past you so you can get back to enjoying your ride...But people don't..they just rap on, ignoring the 'local' behind them when it'd just take a second to 'single-up' for a few hundred feet and let the vehicle past to get on with their errand..
Despite what you may see in the cities, drivers aren't blind and/or stupid. They can see when you just 'blow em off' by not giving room when you can. They also see when, because you must, you take a full lane, and then as soon as you can see it's clear for them to pass, you wave them by and move over to help.....They see it and conclude that 'cyclists are _______' fill in the blank with your conduct as you ride..we all do.
Don Hanson