Or the woman today, walking down the center of the trail with her back to me yakking on her phone, not hearing me as I ride up behind her saying "passing on your left" until I'm actually passing on her left and she pivots to the left right in front of me so I had to lock up both wheels and skid off the trail.
I passed the same woman on the trail yesterday. She gave me the stink eye but I noticed she was walking over on the right side and giving riders plenty of room to pass. Good on her.
I noticed a couple questions come up about riders and I'd like to shed some light on those for those who don't ride. The first one was "why don't cyclists ride as far to the right as possible?" The answer is twofold, potholes and debris on the shoulder. Potholes in the driving lane get fixed pretty quick, on the shoulder not so much. Then there's the debris on the road--gravel, nuts, bolts, nails, broken hose clamps, you name it. Debris in the driving lane gets kicked off to the shoulder. If you ride on the white line there's no debris because vehicles keep it clear. But get a few feet off to the right and you've got all kinds of schit that will puncture a bike tire. I've had two flats in the last two weeks.
The second question or comment rather was about bikers on trails riding fast and "pretending they're Lance Armstrong." Personally my top speed is around 23 mph so there are no time trials in my future. But I guess the question is, "why do you have to ride fast?" My answer is, if I give pedestrians the right of way and avoid hitting them (I do) why do you care how fast I ride? Also, the reason I ride is to get a workout. You can't get a workout on a bike unless you push yourself and if you push yourself you'll be moving at a good clip. If I wanted to lollygag along at 5 mph I'd get an ebike and be done with it. The thing is, if others using the trail exercise a modicum of courtesy, riding fast is never a problem. Last, there's these things called "hills." If you're riding downhill two things will happen in short order: 1) You'll get to the bottom of the hill; and 2) you'll start back uphill. I tell ya, it didn't take me long to figure out the faster you're going when you start up a hill the easier it is to get to the top. So yes, when I'm going downhill I take full advantage of the physics.
Last, I'll make a comment about a group of trail users that needs to clean up its act---dog walkers. You're in the middle of a thousand acre park with wide open spaces all around and you not only let your dog schit on a paved trail, but you leave it lay there?
And every single one of 'em drove a vehicle to the park.
So I guess the point of all this is: vehicle drivers, your schit does in fact stink.
More on why riders don't hug the right on the road. VISIBILITY. That's the primary reason. The overwhelming majority of the time a car crashes into a cyclist in an at-fault accident the driver says "I didn't see them." Studies have been done, and my own experience bears this out. You draw much more attention and are much more likely to be seen out in the travel lane. You are also much more like to be processed and treated as traffic when you behave as traffic.
By hugging the right, you invite a squeeze pass. I honestly don't mind letting someone squeeze by when I know that they have seen me and they have backed off the throttle a bit.
My tactic is to put myself out in the lane. If someone approaches from the rear, and I am confident they see me, and it is safe for them to pass, I move over.
I have said this often on these pages. Unfortunately the protective measures cyclists use to enhance their visibility (riding in the lane and riding with others) are often points of consternation with motorists.
For reasonable motorists, all of this makes sense. For those that feel like they are so important that they should never have to let off the gas or move over, no amount of reasoning will sway them. To me, it's a dance of give and take, and when motorists and bicyclists are cooperative in that dance it works beautifully.
I'll offer something for your consideration about passing speed. When I pass pedestrians or other cyclists from behind I slow to pass with minimal disparity. I cannot tell you how many times I have had pedestrians loop a 180 without looking or cyclists drift over unwittingly. On crowded paths, this can be a PITA, but it's the right thing to do.
Dog walkers with 20 foot leashes warrant tremendous caution. I pass with minimal speed disparity.
