Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
Speed is the main thing. The less time spent on a busy roadway the fewer passes you endure. That said, in my city grid, if for some reason I can't keep up with traffic even in their draft, or stay ahead of them, I generally use red lights to my advantage. I either run the light early on to ride in the gap created by the light as it stops traffic behind me, or I wait after it turns green for all the cars to go through the intersection, then follow the last car through. Or use a better street and avoid the ones I can't keep up on.
Makes sense. I already wait at fresh green lights until the traffic passes. No use in making them all pass me seconds later.
I'm not downtown, so the streets here usually flow pretty well with speed limits at about 35-45mph, giving me no chance to stay ahead. Alternate streets can be tricky here since they usually don't go through, but I of course try to choose the less busy ones and/or ones with wide bike lanes/parking lanes.