The applicable Florida law (paraphrased):

A bicyclist who is not traveling at the same speed of other traffic must ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway. A bicyclist may leave the right-most portion of the road in the following situations: when passing, making a left turn, to avoid road hazards, or when a lane is too narrow for a bicycle and a car to share safely.
Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles. Persons riding two abreast shall not impede traffic when traveling at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions existing, and shall ride within a single lane.

Interpretation comes in when deciding when we are impeding traffic and when we ARE the traffic. For most of the time during a ride in the countryside, our ten to thirty vehicles clearly constitutes the major traffic on the roadway. And in any case, motor vehicles can get by very easily as there is little other traffic to prevent them from doing so.

When we are closer to town, we need to be careful that we don’t impede other traffic, since there is usually a lot more of it than out in the countryside. Circumstances will vary considerably based on the roadway. When we can fit a double line in a bike lane, it is clearly OK to do so. When one of the lines must ride in the traffic lane, a double line would be OK only if it is a four lane road with light traffic. A single line should be used on a two lane road with no shoulders and traffic, unless the lane is so narrow that we want to ensure that no motorist attempts to share it with us.

It is not a good idea to conduct group rides that go into highly congested areas. Taking a group down Archer road next to Butler Plaza during rush hour is asking for a tragedy, or at the very least a lot of unpleasantness.

Roger Pierce

Gliders Group Captain, Gainesville Cycling Club

http://gccfla.org/

-----Original Message-----
From: George McKenzie [mailto:wonkieye@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 8:19 AM
To: huan_dinh@xxxxxxxxxxx; GCCMail@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: GCCMail: Critical Mass Rides

For those in the know....and for my own edification, I have a question about this statement posted by Huan: ..... We ride in double paceline just any normal GCC rides and follow all traffic laws.

Where and when are double pace lines legally riding within the law, and when are they not?

I believe this is the crux of a lot of motorists angst.