I do most of my riding separate from traffic. I am lucky to have two river trails I can ride to the beach. On the occasion I ride on the street, this sort of thing happens about every third ride. On this particular incident, I did slow, but she came to a stop. I made eye contact and assumed she was letting me pass. She wasn’t.
Unfortunately, assumptions can be dangerous if you are counting on the other person to do the right thing.
Why would anyone let a bike pass, only to have it hog the road and create another dangerous situation all over again?
If I have to choose between wiping out a schwinnster or a minivan with a family in it, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll take out the spandex clad schwinnster. A lot less total damage, and I’m much more likely to drive away without much more than some broken plastic parts.