Quote Originally Posted by north woods gal View Post
Besides, the law states that bicyclists should ride as far right as possible when there is enough room in the lane to share. His intentions are good, but he's actually breaking the law if there is room to share.
I don't know if the law in Michigan states this or not -- but keep in mind every state has different laws. Indiana's laws say nothing about riding as far to the right as possible. The only thing Indiana law says is that riders shall not ride more than two abreast except on lanes and paths marked exclusively for bicycling use. Limiting people to two abreast implies that you'll be riding to the right, but certainly two abreast takes up room on narrow roads. Should you always ride two abreast just because you can? Nope. Especially not on those windy country roads.

I often wonder about this question as well -- I'm worried about getting passed when there isn't room on a blind hill or curve so I'll ride far to the right but I do wonder if, when I do that, I'm facilitating passing and contributing to the problem. I get passed a lot more closely than I often feel comfortable -- and I wonder if I took the lane if I would cut down on that too. I've actually had the mirror on my handlebars clipped and taken off by the rearview mirror of a SUV, and I've been within inches of being hit by a truck trailer (I think some people with big cars or trailers don't have a clue how wide they really are).

Then again, we have a whole lot of angry drivers (almost always in huge trucks) that have fun passing us as close as possible. I usually err on the side of making sure I don't get hit, hope that if I'm being passed on a blind curve and it causes an accident that it misses me, and I stay to the right.