re: I almost killed a cyclist

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And people still choose to ride bikes in traffic...pretty stupid.

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Where do you ride then? We've already established that walking/bike trails can be dangerous. I live in The Woodlands. There are bike trails everywhere. I originally thought I could do a lot of my riding there. No way I could do that. When you are riding 18-20 mph, you would easily hurt someone on those trails. There are quite a few roads with minimal traffic here that have lower speed limits and are sufficiently wide. I both drive on those roads and ride. I've never had a problem getting stuck behind other riders and I've never held up traffic myself. I'd personally pull off the road if I saw that traffic was building behind me and couldn't pass.

I do think it's the responsibility of the cyclist to make sure they are doing everything to be safe and aren't doing anything unnecessary to inconvenience drivers. You should wear bright colors, obey road laws, and go above and beyond to stay out of a car's way. You shouldn't have the attitude that you own the whole road for you exercise trip. And you shouldn't ride on certain roads (narrow, high traffic, high speed limit, etc.)

But at the same time, some drivers have the attitude that they can do whatever they want, because cyclist shouldn't be on the road. If a cyclist is in the middle of a lane, by all means lay on the horn when passing them by a safe distance. They are being a dick (but again, at a safe distance, because is it really worth risking a life). But if they aren't impeding your driving in the least, why go out of your way to be an arse (many people do this). If you pull out and cut off a car, you'd probably give an apologetic wave, but if you do that to the cyclist, he is an a-hole that shouldn't be on the road.

And as far as cycling or cross fit being worse, you should look up cyclocross. It's a real thing

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the amount of hate for cyclists on the OT always astounds me

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I think this might stem from the cyclist I've encountered around BR when I was in school. They did tend to ride on roads that would annoy the crap out of me as a driver. You'd get stuck behind a group for a mile or two before you could pass. I still bitch when I get behind someone in that situation. You shouldn't be riding there at that time if you are constantly facing those issues as a cyclist.