Giving up riding on the road
Originally Posted by
Hiro11
After about 30 years of riding on the road, I'm seriously considering giving it up. Several things have given me pause:…- Getting hit by a car two years ago...
- Increasingly dealing with narrow misses due to oblivious / distracted driving on most rides
- Jerks deliberately driving dangerously on most every ride
- The availability of good alternatives: extensive limestone paths around my house, single track, gravel roads etc. I enjoy running, I enjoy swimming.
- General responsibilities of being a father/husband/main earner.
- I live in an area not very conducive to riding anyway: terrible weather, lots of traffic, limited route options etc
Overall, I also have a general sense that I'm "swimming upstream" by riding on the road.... .
So, I think I'm done here. Anyone else feel similarly?
Originally Posted by
jon c.
I'm fortunate to have endless miles of low traffic roads at my doorstep. So I always enjoy riding.
If I had to endure conditions I didn't enjoy, I consider doing something else.
Originally Posted by
wolfchild
For commuting I am lucky to have different options which allow me to avoid having to ride on busy dangerous roads...
For recreational riding I do gravel roads/trails, rural roads with little traffic and singletrack trails...Distracted drivers and impatient drivers are the No.1 enemy to cyclists and it has gotten worse over the last few years.
Originally Posted by
OldTryGuy
Risk vs Rewards
Each of us must weigh the two and find a balancing point. If there is no happy equilibrium to be found then it's time to find something else.
Originally Posted by
indyfabz
If I stopped riding on roads I would lose my primary form of transportation during acceptable weather.
My vacations would also be a lot less interesting, although I have been incorporating more and more lightly travelled dirt roads into my tours.
Originally Posted by
wipekitty
I ride on the roads for transportation as well as recreation.
IMO, a big issue (in addition to distracted driving) is that there are more people and more and larger vehicles. Infrastructure just is not keeping up - a quiet country road is great until there are half a dozen subdivisions, and a narrow shoulderless city street is fine until there's a traffic jam. I don't like sitting in traffic, either. Cyclists are an easy scapegoat.
I can certainly see why more people are driving further out to find quieter roads or taking to gravel, MTB, and even indoor riding. It's not my thing, but I respect it.
Honestly, the biggest hazards I've encountered in recreational road riding are squirrely group members. I love the rush of a fast paceline as much as the next person, but I choose my riding companions very wisely!
I have previously posted to this thread:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
"Enjoying a nice little back road." ...
I have described probably similar “nice little ("enchanted") back roads,” akin to a classic “nice little black dress” in the fashion world.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
All my cycling as a decades-long, year-round commuter and occasional centurian in Metro Boston ranges from dense urban, to suburban, to exurban, but no rural. I'm goal-oriented, be it miles or destinations, so I take the Road as it comes, to satisfy my Goal.
Over the years, I have described roads, so for this post I compiled my descriptions [of paved roads] in order of cycling pleasure- Enchanted
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...There are certain roads I have discovered, unfortunately usually short, that I describe as “intimate,” or “enchanted”; so serene and peaceful, shady, lightly traveled, and without shoulders...
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
- Exurban (no residences, no commercial buildings)
- Residential: Urban (dense, multi-unit dwellings), Suburban (single unattached homes)
- Light commercial (storefronts close to the sidewalk, street parking)
- Heavy commercial (shopping malls, driveway accesses, parking lots)
- Industrial: (dreary vistas, rough roads, debris-strewn)
- Downtown (the urban canyons and narrow, often-crowded streets of Manhattan, or the Financial District of Boston
Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I'd probably flip the order between industrial and downtown because downtowns can actually be interesting and fun rides/destinations, and I'm generally not as concerned about getting mugged in the event of a flat as I would be in an industrial area, but otherwise would mostly agree with those categories as general .
I'd also break down the category of exurban a bit more. Big state roads have a very different appeal than the "intimate" road you have pictured, they're great for fast uninterrupted riding between distant points.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I was hit from behind by a “distracted” (? inebriated) hit and run driver on an otherwise seemingly safe and peaceful route.
By good fortune, I’m alive and relatively unimpaired.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...So even a "nice little back road" requires vigilance.
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 12-22-19 at 05:10 AM.