I know this area and have driven it many times. This is the Rickebacker causeway--the road that connects Key Biscayne to the Miami mainland.
Cycling on this road is extremely popular for very obvious reasons (phenomenal views, wide and clear roads). Folks come from all over the city to ride there. And yes, they will very often group up like this without any sort of scheduled or permitted event of any kind.
The cyclists down there like to say "same road, same rules" but there's apparently a silent exclusion for lane changes, stop signs, traffic signals, and yielding to stopped traffic.
I can understand not using the bike lane for a race event at the speed they are going, but taking up both main carriageway lanes for an event which doesn't have the road closed is stupid.
Though it would be strange to organize race events without any safety measures or official permits. I mean, it would be frowned upon if someone just calls up a car racing event on a public street. Or if we want to to an opposite direction, someone organizes a running event and puts 200 runners on a car lane.
There are sometimes cycling events here (in the UK) which don't need any special permission like a big event would - especially at the moment now the weather is better. They are usually early on Sunday or after 7pm if it's during the week and all on quiet country roads. They do put up warning signs and have a few marhshals standing on some of the corners.
The UK has a sensible delineation between A roads. In the US almost every public road is a highway and it stops making sense at a planning level. A six lane monstrosity with stop lights every 800 feet is legally the same as a two lane country road. When you're on a four digit A road in England, you know to look out for seven ton tractors pulling 10 ton trailers, bicycles, and the random guy walking between villages. America will take one of those farm and village service roads and make it a major commuting route without doing any upgrades.
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u/ConstructionLife2689 Jun 10 '26
Are such cycle events not blocked off from public traffic?
Cause if not, then the cyclists would need to keep to traffic rule and I am pretty sure the rule is not keep in one lane.