Cyclists who ride next to one another when there’s not a bike lane

Now, I know there are a lot of Southern California motorists who, while driving anyway, HATE cyclists. They hate that cyclists get in their way when they’re trying to turn right on red, they hate when cyclists cut across lanes like a car to turn left (even though it’s totally within the rules of bicycle riding), they even hate cyclists riding nearly in the gutter when there’s no bike lane because the lane is too small for them to drive around. Surprisingly, I am not one of those people (I know, right?!). How can I hate a cyclist for reducing their carbon footprint along with traffic by not being another car on the road, not spending over $4 on gas, and getting exercise all at the same time?
 
What I am supremely annoyed by, however, are the cyclists who ride side by side. Cyclists are supposed to ride single file, not next to each other. Aside from the fact that side by side riding is ILLEGAL (yup, I just looked it up to check), it really does jeopardize both their as well as drivers’ safety. Now, maybe I am more sensitive to this now that I’m in San Diego. While there were a fair amount of skinny, shaved men and women riding around in their Lance Armstrong-wannabe jerseys and pointy aerodynamic helmets in LA, their numbers are nothing compared to SD. I hardly want to drive through North County on Saturday or Sunday mornings because there are packs and packs of cyclists riding together like they’re training for the next Tour de France. And the problem is, they ride side by side, like they’re going to pedal their bikes right up the ramp of Noah’s ark or something to make more cyclists.

Here’s the deal, cyclists riding side by side – buy some walkie-talkies, or put your cell phone in the pocket in the middle of your back you use for Clif bars and use a Bluetooth headset, so you can ride one behind the other and still get your conversation in. Then you can even draft off one another, just like Lance!