Taking Pole Position on a Bicycle

What is it?

This is a cycling dick move.  It involves stopping in front of the cars at a set of traffic lights.

This applies whether there is a marked zone for bikes or not.  Some traffic lights have a marked spot for bicycles to stop:

Sitting in front of the van in the picture above when there’s no other cyclists around is a dick move.

Why is it a Dick Move?

Because you’re getting in people’s way for no other reason than you can – generally speaking you’ll be slower off the line than the car you’re sitting in front of.  It feeds a feeling amongst drivers that cyclists have a sense of ownership over the road.

Stay out of the way.