in traffic

i often ride a bike in traffic. people who ride bikes in traffic know what the vulnerabilities of cyclists on the road are.

so a few days ago i was on route 13 in ithaca behind these two guys on bikes and i wasn't going anywhere fast on account of all the traffic lights so i rode guard on these two guys which let them move over to the left lane hassle free.

when you're driving you can ride guard on cyclists or any other vulnerable users of the road by simply blocking other traffic from passing them too close. you can give them the room to take the whole lane if they need it. it's mostly about paying attention.

you wouldn't ride guard on them like that if they were slower than traffic, but with the lights set the way they were and the traffic the way it was, i wasn't getting anywhere fast anyway.

and when the guys pulled into the lane next to me, they were able to look over and see who'd been riding guard on them. they saw my bike racked on the car and gave me a thumbs up.

"nice bike." the guy nearest me said.