[eagsalazar2]

Regarding the cases where people in cars are yelling at you, are you riding slower than traffic in the car lane when this happens? Doing so defensively away from curb to avoid being door'ed but at the same time blocking cars from passing you?

Not agreeing with drivers, just guessing as this does attract a lot of driver rage.

[liability]

I think there are two schools of thought here: cyclists who say "we have every right to this road, the same as any car." And the upset drivers, who say "If you were in a car going this slow, I'd still be pissed off."

Me? I have a bike and a car in Seattle, but almost always walk or take public transit. It's low stress that way, which I like. At intersections, cars and cyclists both hassle pedestrians in their own way. The cars, because they are too accommodating and make you feel almost obliged to run across the street when they stop for you even though they could have easily kept going without coming close to you. And the cyclists, because a horrible minority of them are totally blind to pedestrians in a way that drivers in Seattle aren't. Most cyclists are fine, but you've got to stay on your toes for the few that aren't.

[eagsalazar2]

Also fwiw, I rode daily all over Seattle for several years and had this happen to me exactly zero times. I've never met someone who, unprovoked, would yell at or menace a cyclist and have a hard time imagining someone who would except a rare crazy or 16yr old idiot trying to impress his friends. I have however talked to many people who are driven nuts by cyclists who obstruct traffic (in their opinion)

[InitialLastName]

FWI(still)W, from talking to cyclists in my area (NYC and surroundings) whether somebody gets yelled at depends on a lot more than how they're riding. As an example, the women I know who ride bicycles (just as competently) get menaced a lot more than the men.

[outerspace]

Usually this happens on weekends when I go on long rides. Smaller roads without a bike lane are worse than bigger multi-lane ones. Places outside Seattle proper are the major offenders: Bellevue, Issaquah, Renton, Enumclaw, to name a few. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m wearing a cycling kit that ticks people off.

My commute to work is usually uneventful, about 10 miles mostly on dedicated bike paths along with many other commuters. It’s a few miles longer than it should but it’s definitely the safest route to work.

[eagsalazar2]

No shoulder?

[Arainach]

Shoulders are full of glass and other debris that makes them an intense hazard to ride in. That's why they're the shoulder, not a lane.

In plenty of the areas mentioned (Issaquah, Renton, etc.) there isn't much of a shoulder to speak of. When I take a longer loop around Lake Washington+Sammamish, here's one of the roads I go down:

https://goo.gl/maps/t9bsNVpJGvFP2sa27

[eagsalazar2]

Looks like enough room to scootch over into if you have cars behind you (just like drivers do for each other). Not saying you don't do that but going back to ggp post, I think it is obstructing traffic that causes the rage. Being flexible can go a long way. If you do make such an effort on your rides, what is your experience with getting yelled at?

[Arainach]

Huh? There's perhaps a foot of pavement there. I'm wider than that. My bike is wider than that. There's no room for safely passing in the lane - drivers can go into the oncoming lane to pass just like they would for any other vehicle.

[resonantjacket5]

You're supposed to ride in the car lane if there's no bike lane.

And take the car lane fully not half way.

It's technically illegal to ride on the sidewalk

[gedy]

I see people do that riding slowly uphill in two lane 35mph+ streets, and it's just very obnoxious when there's a line of cars behind them and no attempt is made to let them pass. People get very enraged..

[eagsalazar2]

Parent and gp posts are the problem in a nutshell.