I was referring to the motorists...
I know, I was just messing with you. But I do think there's a level of sociopathy among cyclists who knowingly impede vehicle traffic, or choose to ride on roads that are known to be particularly dangerous or difficult for motorists and cyclists to share. We do have roads with shoulders or bike paths, and even hundreds of miles of local railroad bed converted to cycling paths, connecting many of our towns and cities. Most cyclists use them (heck, I cycle on them myself at least once per week), but there's always a few who choose to do otherwise, despite knowing the trouble it causes for drivers just trying to get through their daily commute. They are unnecessarily choosing to create a dangerous situation for others, which is sociopathic.
This happens to be one of my peeves. If it bothers you that the bicyclists are riding two-wide, that means that there must be oncoming traffic or a lack of visibility that is preventing you from passing in the oncoming lane. That means that you must want to pass the bicycles in the same lane. Unless you have very nice and wide roads, that isn't safe, IMO.
Bicyclists refer to this act as "taking the lane." It is designed to prevent impatient motorists from unsafe passing.
This is going to be hard for those from states with better roads to even understand, but the hilly parts of PA are made of tens of thousands of winding farm roads, that are now heavily trafficked, but never upgraded. No shoulder, two lanes of varying width and sometimes barely wide enough for two trucks to pass, and rarely a straight section of road more than a few hundred yards long. The result is that on many of the roads I drive on a daily basis, there is simply
no safe way to pass cyclists riding two-wide, as there are no safe passing zones. Your choices are very often between "unsafe passing" or staying behind them as they climb a hill at 1 mph, or sometimes for a several miles of mixed terrain, until you reach the next straight stretch of road that permits safe passing in the opposing lane.
When riders fall into single file, I don't pass them close, I still give them a wide berth. But I do it with the knowledge that any surprise appearing around the next blind spot ahead can still be safely passed by all of us, even if some puckering is involved. When they're two wide, there's just no chance for that.
If a vehicle has to go into the opposing lane to pass some cyclists "taking the lane", and the next hump or bend in the road reveals an oncoming truck, the result is nearly always going to be some dead cyclists. Those cyclists may have been "right", but it doesn't matter, if they're dead. Few drivers are going to drive into oncoming traffic with some softer targets to their right.
