CWC, Shoulders, and Motrorist Behaviors

While pedaling, a cyclist gets to observe a wide variety of driver behaviors.  Generally speaking, it would seem most drivers are C.W.C.  (Courteous when convenient).  If there is no oncoming traffic, or if there is more than one lane of travel in your direction, then most drivers tend to move left and give a little safety margin to the cyclist.  With the majority of drivers, this courtesy immediately goes out the window as soon as the most minor of inconveniences presents itself.  If there is oncoming traffic on a two line highway, or if a driver wants to pass a slow moving vehicle, then the cyclist becomes as relevant as a discarded shopping bag blowing along the shoulder of the road.  Watch your mirror, get as far right as the pavement allows, grip your handlebars tightly, and hold on!  They are coming through and not giving you an inch!  Some even speed up and belch exhaust on you as they pass.  If it is a larger vehicle or tractor trailer, then you are likely to experience vacuum turbulence trying to pull you into the roadway as the vehicle passes.  In heavy traffic this momentary instability causes your bicycle to waver and you may get an annoyed horn blast from the next vehicle blowing past you.  This all makes for very tense and unnerving bicycle travel.

As a cyclist you have to remain constantly vigilant and anticipate driver behavior in order not to get squished.  I find myself contemplating what is going through the minds of these drivers as they make the decision to ignore my presence on the road and endanger my life.  I look at the disfigured and rotting remains of deer and other critters on the shoulder and half expect to see a mangled bicycle and the rotting remains of a cyclist among the road kill.  If a driver hit me would they even stop?  "Oh damn!  I hit another cyclist. * Sigh... another trip to the body shop... Aaargh!!!" 

I have come to the conclusion that quantity and speed are the top priorities of the American population.  Do as much as possible as quickly as possible.  If there is a cyclist in the roadway and no oncoming traffic, then a wide berth is warranted to prevent damage to your car without sacrificing speed.  Got to get to the store and buy those cigarettes RIGHT NOW... No time to waste!  If there is oncoming traffic or a slow vehicle ahead, the only option is to hit the gas pedal and thread the needle.  "Tough luck cyclist!  Sucks to be you!"  That pedal to the left of the gas pedal (known as the brake pedal) is never an option.  That would cost you invaluable seconds! 

You often 'feel' the proximity of a passing vehicle more than see it because you are so focused on maintaining a dead straight line on the 6" of asphalt you have been afforded to the right of the fog line at the edge of the road surface.  You can feel the turbulence caused by the truck mirror zipping by your head at 70+ MPH.  You catch your breath and wonder what the hell is so damn urgent to that driver that my life becomes irrelevant?

I have seen some cyclists attach a 3' dowel rod with a red flag on the end to the back rack of their bicycle sticking out perpendicular into the lane of travel to encourage drivers to give them what is the legally required clearance in most states.  I have not done this as I believe this would anger many drivers and create an even worse animosity towards bicyclists. 

Speaking of legalities, drivers do not seem to understand that a bicycle is considered a vehicle and is allowed to occupy the lane of travel.  Some states stipulate that a bicycle should not take up more than the right third of the lane of travel.  The fact that cyclists move to the shoulder is a courtesy to the motorized traffic and not a legal requirement.  I cannot even imagine the level of hatred that would result if I were to exercise my legal right and not move to the shoulder. 

With all this in mind, the subject of road shoulders is a popular one amongst cyclists.  We become experts on shoulder widths, repairs, maintenance, and rumble strips.  A good road shoulder can mean the difference between an enjoyable and safe ride, and a white knuckled dash of terror to the next county where you hope the shoulder changes for the better.  A wide, paved shoulder is not necessarily always the best.  This accounts for some of the biggest misunderstandings of motorists.  "Look at that fool bicyclist out in the roadway!  He ought to be over there on the shoulder the idiot!" (Insert loud blaring horn as motorist passes cyclist).

There are several shoulder factors that motorists do not consider.  The shoulder is where all the road debris ends up.  We see every description of litter, debris, carcasses, and hazards you can imagine.  The shoulder debris endangers our travel and can cause flat tires and bicycle crashes.  The thin wires from steel belted tires are often the culprit when we have a flat tire.  These strands of wire are nearly invisible although the chunks of tires from which they originate are quite visible.  I have seen discarded diapers, lost spatulas, hammers, thousands of bungee cords, screw drivers, glass, fast food containers, bolts, screws, machine parts, dead cats, turtles, frogs, snakes, and a menagerie of other animals on the shoulder.  The list could go on for pages.  I could open a variety store if I collected the stuff I have seen on the roadside.  All of these things are dangers to the cyclist and have to be avoided.  To avoid them often means going out into the roadway on the left side of the fog line... enter the harried and impatient motorist... "GET OUT OF THE ROAD YOU MORON CYCLIST!!!"

One of the taboo topics between Jerry and I is the subject of flat tires.  I feel I am risking a flat just writing about it here!  The reason it is taboo is because on our trip across the country in 2014 neither one of us had a flat tire.  That is unheard of for a cross-county trip.  As we approached the half-way point in 2014, we gradually stopped talking about our uncanny luck as we heard other cyclists talk of their numerous flat tires.  Good tires and skillful avoidance of road debris are an important part of avoiding flats, but I attribute the bulk of our good fortune to not riding on the shoulder except when necessary.  While the shoulders contain debris, most roadways stay clear of hazards.  That is our strategy.  Ride in the roadway, monitor traffic closely, and dive onto the shoulder when traffic requires it.  The success of this strategy depends on a number factors.  How wide is the shoulder?  Does it have a rumble strip?  Is it a continuous or segmented rumble strip? Is the shoulder in good repair or a disintegrating mess? 

Our favorite shoulder is a wide clean shoulder with a segmented rumble strip.  The rumble strip encourages motorists to stay in their lane of travel and and the segmentation allows for the cyclist to dive off the road onto the shoulder without hitting a rumble strip and knocking a filling loose.  Our least favorite is no shoulder with a continuous rumble strip that forces the cyclist to stay in the roadway.  There are inummerable other variations and poor road or shoulder maintenance just adds to the complications.  When you see a roadway that has expansion cracks running across it with attempted repairs in black tar, take pity on the cyclist.  Every crack results in a spine-jolting 'thud-thud' bump as we cross it.  I calculated approximately 10,000 'thud-thuds' that we endured on one 20 mile stretch of road in North Dakota.  And it did not matter if we were in the roadway or on the shoulder.  Enough to drive one insane.

Okay... I have rambled on long enough.  I hope this long post did not bore you to tears and might even help to spread the word amongst motorists as to why that silly bicyclist is out there in the road and not on the shoulder where he belongs....

Here is a medley of photos that illustrate a fraction what we as tour cyclists have to work with as we travel...

A nice wide shoulder marked for cyclists.

Narrow shoulder with guardrail insuring that you are on the fog line or in the lane of travel

 

Ride the fog line and don't waver!

Another nice wide shoulder in good repair. 

Only a segmented rumble strip would make this better!

 

Yuck!  No shoulder here!  Must compete for road space with the motorists.

 

Unusable narrow shoulder due to rumble strip

Useless shoulder... motorists probably do not even see this. 

They only see that you are not on the shoulder.

Wide and clean shoulder with a continuous rumble strip - nice!

 

 

A nice wide shoulder... but with a surprise in the center every 30 feet or so. 

 

The same shoulder with yet a new surprise... a wider rumble strip! 

Had to thread the needle around these and hope for no debris.

Sometimes veering left, sometimes right... what is that crazy cyclist doing??

 

A good shoulder with a segmented rumble strip. 

See that gap in the rumble strip up ahead?  The rumble keeps motorists in the lane of travel,

the gaps allow cyclists to dart in and out of the lane as necessary.

 

An example of poorly repaired expansion cracks.  Very common.

These cracks beat you up with a spine jolting 'thud-thud' every time you cross one.

The cracks in this example ruined what could have been a relaxing bike

trail experience off the roadway in Minnesota. 

We ended-up going back out to the road as it was in better repair.

 

 

What looks like relatively minor shoulder debris is a real hazard for cyclists.

Pieces of retread strewn along the shoulder are common and the tiny strands of metal wire frequently cause flat tires.