Mary, I'm proud of you. It takes a whole lot of courage to take the lane. You had every legal right to take the lane if you felt you needed too. Engineers never make bridges wide enough so bike lanes and side walks often disappear on bridges. It's also a tough decision to make when the speed limit is 45 mph. That's right on the cusp of too fast for a bike to take the lane. Once you take the lane, you're committed. You wouldn't want cars to pass you, because there's no room to share the lane and that was the reason you took the lane in the first place!

In California, if there are more than 5 cars following, a slow moving vehicle is required to safely pull over for other cars to pass. Meaning, if the safest place to pull over is when you get to the other side of the bridge, then that's where you pull over.