Amt0571

Risk.

I'm not in the USA, but here in Spain I don't see all that people driving with the cellphone. There's the occasional one, but it's not that common. I'm more worried about impatient people who try to pass when there's little visibility of oncoming cars, which usually leads to not leaving the legal separation of 1.5m. To prevent this I usually take the whole lane when I don't want anyone to pass me and it usually works.

I must admit that I avoid traffic as much as I can, but my commute, which I do in my road bike, includes parts with quite heavy traffic that I can't avoid. I always ride defensively and try not to hesitate. If a driver feels you are in doubt, lots of them will try to take advantage from it. Sometimes putting you at risk. I don't trust yield signs, as drivers tend to loosely respect them when the incoming vehicle is a bicycle. I also never ride on the door zone. If a cycle path is on the door zone, I'll ride on the road instead.

Another thing that minimises risk a lot is planning. I always use street view to analyse where I'm going to ride. I try to avoid uphill roads with heavy traffic, especially if there's no shoulder. This means there are roads that I only ride while descending, and I take an alternative if I have to climb them. I regularly put my road bike with road tires on short stretches of unpaved paths as sometimes, riding 200m of a dirt path can allow me to avoid a road including a 2km climb with no shoulder. I also tend to pick safer but longer routes. I enjoy being on the bike, so the extra km and climbing don't bother me.

Gravel.

I like gravel bikes, but don't have one. Here it's hilly and I feel there are little places where a gravel bike is worth it. If you're going to ride on asphalt, a road bike is better. And if you're going to ride unpaved trails a mountain bike is miles ahead (climbing is too hard on gravel gearing, and paths here are too rocky to comfortably ride without suspension). There's little people riding gravel bikes here, as you're really limited to where you can ride since there are few moderately smooth gravel paths.

Cost of admission.

I started riding on the road 6 years ago. I previously only rode on a mountain bike. I bought a 400€ bike from Decathlon. Microshift 3x8 gears, steel fork, alu frame, no brand wheels (the worst part of the bike), 10.5kg. It worked flawlessly and could keep up with other riders with no issues, although I admit it was a crappy bike with low quality components. Last year I replaced it with another Decathlon bike. This time it was still alu frame, but carbon fork and seatpost, 2x11 sram rival, hydro discs, Mavic Ksyriums and 8.5kg. I paid 1100€ new for it.

I don't feel the cost is all that high compared to MTB. Part of the problem is that equipment in cycling is overrated. Lots of people ride on professional bikes when they're not professionals. Here I see lots of people struggling uphill with a 53/39 and 25 or 28 sprocket when even pro cyclists during "La vuelta" use compact chainrings on some stages. Wouldn't it be better to have adequate gearing on a cheaper bike instead of being broke after buying a top of the range carbon bike to look like a pro?