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Intetesting. I would call out the spandex-clad roadies as the worst of the worst. There's some hills with two lane roads by me. They like riding down hill in the street rather than the bike lane even though they are much slower than cars. I get stuck behind a line of cars following spandex man. I wish those guys were ticketed and had to go to traffic court.
Kids are mostly fine. Maybe ride too fast on sidewalks sometimes. Particularly recently with surprisingly fast electric bikes. But they generally don't suicidally shoot into traffic and they've avoided getting too close to me when walking. They slow down and carefully go around me and my family. Spandex man could learn a lot from middle schoolers how to navigate the world as though other people also occupy it.
Maybe this depends on your local demographics? Around here (historically known as a cycling-friendly locale), the average roadie is mid-20s to middle-aged, out for some exercise, and seems pretty interested in making it home safely. I've been one in the past, and the most dangerous stuff I've seen them do was (actual sanctioned and mock practice) races on open roads, where the biggest risks were clearly to each other, and the serious folks were pretty loudly insistent about actually yielding at yield signs where legally required and watching for cross traffic.
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As an actual spandex-clad roadie, I don't get lines of cars behind me. They just pass, generally. Probably just NJ aggressiveness, but it works out fine. If they don't want to pass when there's plenty of room, that's their problem; if I could go faster I would and I'm not going to stop because they're timid. There's one hill with a 4-lane (2 each way) road where sometimes they'll get pissed instead of using the empty lane to their left; I'm not sure what about that road is special.
I'm on the West coast. The road I'm talking about is hilly and 2 lanes. It is not safe or practical to pass on it. Instead we get a line of cars following a bicyclist. Not that often really. Not a great burden on me. But that road has a proper bike lane. These people chose to obstruct traffic.
It's not safe or practical to pass a bicycle on it, particularly when the bicyclist is going slow on the uphill parts? Or drivers are just too timid to do it?
The problem occurs downhill. Every now and then someone goes downhill really fast and partially blocking the road, but not as fast as the cars.
There is a bike lane here. If they kept to the middle or right side of that there would be no problem. But some ride at least part in the road. I don't see this behavior on other bike lanes. This hill has some deranging affect on some people.
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