Quote Originally Posted by caligurl
both rides in question.... the roads were 2 lane... one lane of traffic in each direction....

i have to disagree with the more than one lane thing though.... the highway that goes between our town and the next two desert towns and continues on "down the hill"... i would NEVER EVER dream of riding IN the righthand lane... which is what you propose... suggest.... IF i even ride on that road... i ride TO THE RIGHT and to the right of white shoulder marking line, if possible... AND every other rider i've seen on that road does the same!

the rules of the road (at least here in california...) don't say you can "take a whole lane" they say ride to the right as safe as practical or something to that effect....

laws/rules of the road must be different in texas than cali... cuz i've NEVER heard of taking the middle of the lane as being legal...?????? haven't read it here... or on other forums... of course... i'm open to reading it if you provide links! cuz gawd knows... i don't know ALL the rules... but i know "I'M" not riding down the middle of the road and getting myself killed!!!!!!!!!
OK, a Highway situation is DIFFERENT. My directions were for city streets with NO shoulder. I never ride on highways, and only did it during the MS150 both years, and I rode on the shoulder the whole way.

But, on city streets, where there are 2 lanes going the same direction, and cars can pass on the right safely in a full lane, then the rider in the right lane needs to HOLD HIS/HER lane. This is how I was taught.

Let's think about it... if we are like cars... would 2 cars share a lane? No. If there is a slow moving car in the right lane, cars go around in the left lane. They don't pass the car, in the right lane.

I also don't want to share a lane with a car, if the car has a full lane to pass me on the left side. It's just dangerous. If I am inches from the car and it hits a pothole, I could get knocked off my bike. Why risk my life, if they can pass me safely in the left lane? So, I ride in the middle and hold my lane. They can see me, don't try to share the lane with me, and can safely pass me in a full lane on my left side.

Then again, I typically ride in groups of 10-30 riders. We take a full lane. Sure, we should ride single file when there is one lane going one direction.. otherwise, we fill up the right lane. I have ridden alone on city streets only 5% of the time, and that's because I am inbetween groups.

I'm all for not getting in the way of cars and giving them the room to get on their way... I am also all for making sure I live.