Why I ride where I ride

From time to time, I'm asked why I choose my lane position as I do. Many motorists simply don't understand my reasoning. Too many are not interested in dialog--one presumes they are afraid they will have to learn something that will change their outlook and cause them to change their behavior, but they are mostly just in a hurry.

I occasionally have discussions on the topic online. I have a couple of links I like to provide when that happens. One is on the Commute Orlando site, and is titled "Helping Motorists With Lane Positioning." Another is on a related site, Cycling Savvy, and it titled, "Why do you ride like that?" If I need to expand on either essay, I might toss out links to the Commute Orlando post titled "Widths and Buffers," or the Cycling Savvy post titled "You Lead the Dance."

A more recent post was published by Ian Brett Cooper, who blogs as "The Desegregated Cyclist." His post, "Why do Cyclist Behave in Ways that Anger Motorists?" has some gentle rejoinders addressing misconceptions held by many in society.

I sometimes use the term "anti-cyclist" to describe folks who seem almost violent in their insistence that cyclists don't belong on the roadway. Such folks would likely not let their anti-cyclist attitudes be swayed by the writings linked above, but some will--at least begrudgingly--acknowledge some points made in these links with regard to how the law treats us currently.