There's a stretch of road I ride regularly where I take the car lane despite there being a bike lane for reasons that are probably opaque to drivers: * It is a

There's a stretch of road I ride regularly where I take the car lane despite there being a bike lane for reasons that are probably opaque to drivers: * It is a long, straight, very slightly downhill segment with long sight lines and no intersections; one of the few safe sprint opportunities on my rides * The bike lane surface is sloped slightly towards the outside of the road * The outside half of the bike lane has several storm drains, and often some dry leaves in it * The car speed limit is 30 mph. All this combines to make it a fast segment where it really only feels safe to go that fast in the car lane. I'm going the car speed limit so in theory it's not slowing traffic. In practice drivers perceive the speed limit to be the minimum they are entitled to and I get punish passed all the time there.