For instance, for a long time educators noticed that girls did at least as well as boys in math up to a certain age, at which point their performance dropped precipitously.

I knocked the ball out of the park in my math classes all through high school. I blew the curve on every test. I was the kid in class who just *knew* the answer but was totally unable to explain how I arrived at the conclusion, it was just so obvious in my head. My (female) math teacher wanted to send me to the advanced math classes, but I -- foolishly -- didn't go because that teacher was a jerk and all his students hated him.

I was also openly mocked by my classmates for being so enthusiastic about math, so about halfway through the year in my Trig class (junior year) I just stopped talking. I aced every test, but I never opened my mouth again in class, and certainly didn't pursue any relevant math or programming classes in college (much to the dismay of my nerdy dad who, presciently, thought it would be a good idea if I took some Comp Sci classes about three years before the Internet exploded into public awareness), except for my senior year elective of Calculus for Non-Science Majors (i.e. Calc for Dummies) -- where I proceeded to blow the curve on every test I took, even though I spent the entire semester sitting in the back with the two other smart people (both guys) gossiping and talking about everything *but* Calculus. People in my class were getting Ds on tests that I was scoring 100%+ (extra credit!) without even trying.

I definitely took a wrong turn somewhere; it would be easy to lay the blame on "sexism" in the educational sphere, except that the teacher who was encouraging me to really push myself in mathematics was a woman (and just a great math teacher at that), and since I didn't push myself for more out of timidity I'll never know how well I would have been received in tertiary-level math or programming classes as a female.

woman who bikes up Hawthorne at 4:30 in the afternoon at 7 MPH in the center of the lane intentionally holding up traffic

What does the shoulder look like? There are two spots on my route to and from work where I have to be towards the middle of the lane or risk either bending a rim or going over my handlebars because the shoulder is either full of potholes or full of crappy patched repairs to potholes. Suffice it to say, the $330 I spend to have a saddle on shocks was a worthwhile investment.

Also, is there a line of parked cars? Maybe she'd like to avoid going over a door. Three years ago a woman keeping to the striped bike lane went under a *bus* because some clown in an SUV opened her door into the bike lane without looking to see who might be coming down the road. The lady on the bike swerved to avoid the door and wound up under the rear wheel of a city bus.

Or, maybe she needs to turn left so she sticks to the middle to be able to make the turn without getting run over.

Of course, she may also just be an idiot.

Yeah, or maybe she was just trying to block as much automibile traffic as she could. Which would explain the car sized wire frame she had hung on her bike while she peddled up one of the busiest streets in Portland in the middle of the afternoon rush.

OK well you didn't mention that part. That's just a dick move, no matter how you slice it.

Me, I ride well over to the right unless its full of potholes, and then I ride just far enough into the lane so that I won't wipe out on the holes/patches and have a minimal effect on traffic. I do also swing out if there is a line of parked cars, since I ride on the same road as three bus routes and the lady-under-the-bus story looms large in my mind, but other than that I stick to side streets with minimal traffic, and cut across to the bike path on the river just before I get to the busy section of town.

She doesn't "deserve" anything.

Don't bother yourself about Laurel, this is just one of many chips on her shoulder; she also resents single people, married people without kids, and slender people. She seems to view living situations that don't mirror her own as a personal affront.

I live in an urban area with pretty good bike paths and drivers who are used to seeing bikers all over the place, and have an office in the same complex as a gym with showers, so I bike to work when it's not pouring rain, and drive a 2004 Honda Civic with excellent mileage when I have to go long distances, buy lots of groceries, or when the weather is to crappy to bike.

If I lived in the country or anywhere where I couldn't reasonably bike to most places, I'd probably buy an old diesel vehicle (speaking of which, isn't VW supposed to start selling diesel Beetles here this year? I thought I heard that rumor...) and convert it to a greasecar.

The point is that if you can make reasonable changes within your circumstances, you might as well do it. If you can't, you can't. It's not a value judgment.