I have found road bicyclists are often snobbish and elitists. To put it nicely.
They quite often do not obey traffic laws. Don't know how many times I have been say at a 4 way stop intersection just to see them go on through. And have seen when they do this, if the car that had the right of way proceeds after stopping, they get flipped off by the bicyclist because they proceeded even though the bicyclist should have stopped. They run red lights. It's like they use traffic laws at times for their convienence to the point of indignation and when traffic laws are inconvenient for them, they disregard the traffic laws and they are ok with it. It's seems as though they see themselves as "special" because they are on a bike.
And those wide shoulders along a road they are supposed to ride on. You know, the ones they get to ride on paid for by fuel taxes which of course that bicycle didn't pay for. You know, even when they have that say 4 to 8 foot wide shoulder, they still ride next to the white line. When I ask why they do that, they say it's because the shoulders have small rocks, debris, and broken glass. So they call the local transportation department to clean the shoulders more often sometimes requesting it weekly. And you guessed it - those shoulders are swept with funding from that fuel tax again. They get the benefits of all these shoulders but pay for none of it.
And let's not even get into why bicyclist ride several abreast beyond that shoulder area to the point they are riding out in the travel lane. And get pissed off if you go around them kinda close. As mentioned, they are "special" so we should all yield to them.
Mountain bikers are a little better, but they too their own set of issues. I don't know how many times I have nearly been run over while hiking because some mountain biker didn't want to yield to a pedestrian. Yet pedestrians have the right of way. Across many places, they have restricted motorized travel (say a quad), but are creating mountain bike trails. Yet actually those mountain bike trails are often very destructive to the environment because they cause erosion - the same erosion that Is cited by environmental groups saying quads cause erosion and are therefore restricted. The ground pressure by a bike tire is much much more than a quad with its ballon tires. Those bike trails can get feet deep in spots causing altered water flow and scour. Yet mountain bikes can go wherever they want to go in a forest. And yep, as mentioned above, they don't pay for any of those trails.
No, generally, don't think much of bicyclists.
I'd feel better about bicyclists if they would pay their way for what they are using and also abided by traffic laws instead of flipping back and forth with those laws depending on their convenience and with their attitude of "I'm special so get outta my way."
What makes you think bicyclists don't pay their way? Local and county roads are built and maintained largely with the ad valorem taxes cyclists pay. Gas taxes have fallen way short of funding state and federal roadways for many years. General tax funds, which bicyclists pay, fund much of roadways these days.
I'll use Crested Butte CO as an example. The Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association built and maintains hundreds of miles of multi use trails. The trails that are in the worst shape are the ones motorcyclists and ATVs use. No motorcycle or ATV group does routine maintenance on the trails. Hiking groups do very little. Almost everywhere I have ever been mountain bikers carry more than there fare share of the maintenance burden.
On roads that are so narrow that a passing motorist has to enter the oncoming lane to pass a cyclist at a safe distance, it has been demonstrated that it is faster for motorists to pass them if they are riding abreast rather than strung out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NGdQDEkWCE
