There's a bike lane there? Anyone have a link to a Google street view showing this alleged bike lane? I hope we all distinguish bike lanes from shoulders, though even cops have been known to conflate them. But we shouldn't.

If there is no bike lane, but there is an unreliable rubble-filled shoulder, what do you expect the cyclist to do? He can take his chances riding in that shoulder, or ride next to the stripe where every third or fourth car will result in a close and dangerous buzz pass. Or, he can do what he did. He can take the lane causing motorists to have to change lanes and pass him with plenty of safe passing distance. Maybe they'll even have to stop texting pay attention and slow down for a few seconds! Oh the horror! Seriously. He's an asshole for making you change lanes?

You even we're back together at the next light. What is the big rush? And honking? You're THAT guy calling the lawful cyclist an asshole? Wow.

Why don't we have this same mentality when in our cars, and we see other drivers doing stupid-ass stuff? Like I see every single day on my drive to work?

We somehow manage to understand that one single driver doesn't represent all other drivers as a class.

Why should that be any different for bikes? yes, I know that people will come up with all sorts of explanations for this. I won't argue with that --- what I'll argue is that we should change that mentality. (it's the same mentality that results in all sorts of stereotyping).

Disclosure: I am the President of Velo Club La Grange, one of the largest (if not the largest) cycling clubs and racing teams in Southern California. We are sponsored by Helen's Cycles, and I count the owner and many, many of the folks that work there as friends. The rider you describe is on another (much smaller) team sponsored by Helen's. I know of all of their riders and several of them are good friends. And I know the rider you are referring to and discussed this with him.

Question to the OP: Are you from SoCal and do you ride "Hwy. 1 in Malibu" often? I ask this because there is not a single local rider that refers to this road as "Hwy. 1" - instead, it is universally referred to as "PCH" by local riders. BTW I am originally fron NorCal and this is one of those things that distinguishes the two regions, similar to the way those in SoCal say "the" before freeways while those in NorCal do not. E.g. "take the 101 to the 405" vs. "take 101 to 405."

I ask this not to suggest that an outsider's opinion is invalid, but instead to suggest that perhaps those that have logged thousands of miles on this road may have a certain set of experiences that result in their "taking the lane." And it is worth noting that PCH is a 4-lane road (2 lanes each direction), so as a driver you always have the ability to change lanes and move around and slower traffic occupying the right lane. Now reasonable minds can certainly differ on the proper use of PCH as a bicyclist, but here goes:

As I said, I talked to the rider. There are two sides to every story after all. I have known him for several years and he is a no-nonsense guy. And here is his account.

The incident happened coming down "Pepperdine Hill" (eastbound/northbound PCH) this morning. The rider was descending what is a pretty steep hill, it hits minus 7-7.5%. You can get a lot of speed here. I know, as I have the Strava KOM for a segment that includes the descent (https://www.strava.com/segments/2576864). No, I did not create this segment nor do I particularly care who holds the "record" on Strava. I include the link so that you can see for yourself the area of PCH in question and the grade involved.

Now let's be clear about something. That stretch of PCH does NOT feature a bike lane. Yes, it has a shoulder, but is is littered with road debris. And I checked the rider's Strava data for this ride. He hit a top speed of 42.9mph coming down that hill. And his average HR was 123bpm, so he was not hammering. You do tend to pick up speed on tailwind descent, after all. I don't know about you guys, but I don't descend through a glass, rock and timber-littered road shoulder (yes, there are actually branches in the shoulder there) when descending over 40mph.

As a side note, there IS a bike lane on PCH now (recently unveiled), but it covers only a 2 mile stretch of the road and many locals have expressed the opinion that it makes riding on PCH much MORE dangerous, as it places riders in a clear door zone with respect to parked cars. See for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0-MjRJ7fPo

OK back to the incident. The rider tells me he was definitely in the lane, but more to the right side of it. Make no mistake, he acknowledges "taking the lane." For the reasons noted above. He then reports that the OP didn't simply honk after he passed, but instead laid on the horn as he passed. The rider didn't react, just let him go. The OP then got stuck in traffic at the red light at the bottom of the hill and the rider passed the stopped traffic on the right. Again, I see the Strava file and this was at 20mph - not hammering. The OP then caught up, rolled alongside the rider and began lecturing the rider about how to ride his bike. At this point, the rider tells the OP to "fuck off." The OP give the rider the finger, and then the rider gives the OP the finger.

Note that the rider hasn't constructed a story where he is a blameless angel. He admits to cursing at the driver. But this was only after the driver laid on his horn while he is coming down a very fast tailwind descent and then pulled alongside to lecture him. I would certainly counsel my rider friend to not curse at drivers in the future, but I can also 100% understand where he is coming from, having been harassed by the OP for justifiably taking the lane. I suspect it angered my friend to find out that the driver was a "fellow cyclist" than if he had simply been another clueless driver.

Moreover, the OP's post and the "yeah, what an asshole!" comments are in respect to the rider's having taken the lane in arrogance. But it was completely justified and I would hope that if the OP ever has the chance to ride that section of PCH, that he will do the same for his own safety.

To recap:

Steep descent.
No bike lane, just a shoulder littered with glass and other road debris.
Rider hits a top speed of 42.9mph on the descent - rider takes lane in process.
Driver is "inconvenienced" by having to change lanes.
Driver instigates incident with cyclist.

Isnt that Snake Pass from Glossop?
Getting any kind of abuse when riding Langett Res to Holme Moss Snake pass Strines are badges to be worn with pride. ;-)
And he's not kidding about living on the hard shoulder, there are whole communities doing that over here!!

I am born and raised in Santa Barbara ca. I referred to the road as "hwy 1" because most people who read ST wouldn't know what PCH means. I personally use "PCH" "hwy 1" and "the 1" interchangebly. I do not ride on this stretch of road because I have no reason or desire to do so.

I do drive on this stretch of road quite often (several times a month over the last decade). I have never seen a cyclist do what your friend did.

As for the incident in question, there is no way that you can convince me that the rider chose the safer option. Is the (very wide) shoulder/bike lane (for the record it doesn't say "bike lane" on the road there but it is for all intent and purpose a bike lane) bumpy? Yes it's not as smooth as the road. Maybe a cyclist should not go 42 mph on that section (he wasn't going that fast as I approached him). His bike has brakes, no?

As I have stated previously in this thread I understand taking a lane. I would, however, never ever take the lane where your friend did.

As far as "laying on the horn" I'm not really going to get into varying descriptions of how I honked. It is entirely possible the the vehicle behind me (tan truck) honked at him as well. In my rear view mirror I saw your friend gesturing at that person also so it appears there was an exchange of words/hand gestures between them as well. I don't know for sure.

I did honk my horn and I did see him in my mirror giving me the finger (in addition to some kind of gesture to the guy behind me).

You might want to let your friend know that he should not only ride in a safer and more considerate manner, he should also think twice about flipping the bird and telling people to fuck off. He really has no idea who he may be dealing with. Words and gestures like that can quickly escalate into physical contact. He endangered himself by riding the way he did and he endangered himself again with his words and gestures aimed at a man that he doesn't know anything about.

He would be wise to be more careful and considerate in the future.

Thank you for speaking here on his behalf.

Cars have a naturally tendency to pull to the right.

Huh?

He's not wrong - roads are usually crowned so that rain will get pulled towards the ditch, and that'll tend to make your car very slightly head to the right.

Whats with everyone hating on the horn?

In Europe this is the way they build roads and if you want to be a cyclist you have to ride on them. But there is much more understanding between cyclists and motorists in Europe than there is here and for the most part, everyone is respectful of each other. I always felt very safe in France and Italy on roads like this, even with lots of cars around, and the cars did not seem upset with cyclists at all. They make the pass when they can, and cyclists stay all the way to the side when they can.