ebawho

What are the road conditions like where you guys live? (e.g. cobblestone, ****ty pothole filled pavement, dirt, etc.) if you commute whats that like? what surface do you hate the most? how do you cope with these different conditions?

I'm in germany for a year and its mostly 1000 year old cobble stone or paved, about half my commute to school is bumpy as **** roads, but its okay... id rather have that, with bike lines, and respectful drivers than nice roads and horrible cars.

obstacle

cobble stones are the most evil thing ever on a bike....

ebawho

and when they are wet they are slippery as hell.

roadfix

Mostly smooth western asphalt and concrete here in Los Angeles......except tiny chunks of broken glass are imbedded on Hollywood Blvd for glitter.

xylophonecks

pot holes. cobble stones. trolley tracks. streets in new orleans are horrible.

coping means finding other ways to get where you need to go. it's always a debate on whether i want to go a couple miles out of the way, or just suck it up and take the bumps.

666pack

pennsylvania has THE worst roads in the country.
lancaster has THE worst roads in pennsylvania.

with that said i ride on extremely potholed, narrow roads.

Moto74

Wilshire from Western to Miracle Mile is hell...potholes the size of tires, chunks of asphalt, mini moguls...craziness.

soyboy

lancaster's road's really aren't bad, also i might be headed there this weekend

obstacle

No way.....I grew up in the boonies of upstate NY. The roads up there were hardcore in the winter and then in the spring even worst due to the frost going out and all. By the time they fixed all the roads again winter was back and the cycle repeated, never ending.

NYC, specifically Manhattan and Brooklyn have the worst roads ever. You need to bring your bike handling skills big time here, mountain bike backgrounds help....and then add in the whole knowing how to ride in traffic on top of all that.

Narrow, shoulderless, even dirt roads are not a big deal compared to NYC.

CdCf

Asphalt in various conditions. Some roads are terrible, but some are wonderfully smooth. The streets are pretty much uniformly average. Rough asphalt and a few small holes.

roughrider504

A big +1

zacked

The roads in <only place I have ever ridden> are the worst anywhere!!!!11

Brooklyn's roads are hilarious. They fill all the potholes, but they never bother to smooth out or repave the streets, so instead of potholes you just have potbumps.

mavimao

Columbus is mostly asphalt. Downtown is pretty smooth and well kept. Passing gay street was a pain in the *** for a while there, but now it's all good. German village is nothing but wavy brick roads and you really feel your bike shake with thin tires.

polarcreamsoda

boston has the worst ****ing roads in the whole country. one of the oldest cities in the country and it seems like they never re-did the roads. no bike lanes, giant potholes everywhere, some streets are cobblestoned, and worst of all we have some of the worst drivers in country.

obstacle

fixed it for ya.

deathhare

Roads all over the country are more or less crap in the cities. A few cities ive been to have great roads though.
America is pretty much broke. I give it 10 years.

vasracer

I think theres more potholes than asphalt on the streets here in NYC. It's true was zacked said, If repaired, the pothole are never smoother out so you either have a huge pothole or a huge speed bump.

BigBoss

Definitely. I'd have to say Brooklyn's road are a little worse than Manhattan especially places flatbush avenue, church avenue and there are some others but those are the worst. If you don't have basic biking skills and ride out in Manhattan you will get yourself killed there is no other way around it

bbattle

The roads around here are covered with these moving obstacles that get in my way and cause trepidation.

Sometimes I forget about pedalstrike on a fixie when I'm riding. Today I zoomed into a tight right turn, pedal hits the pavement WHACK!! and I careen into the left lane, narrowly missing the curb and a squirrel.

Wet railroad rails that aren't othogonal to the road have caused grief in the past. I usually bunny-hop them now even when they are dry.

colnago57

I've got a 24 of Western Pilsner that says we have the worst roads in Canada. Other than that, when I lived in Niedersachsen the cobbles were super sketchy, especially during the winter when everything was wet.

In Absentia

Denver's roads aren't too bad. They're by no means smooth, thanks to our wildly variable climate, but there aren't too many potholes, just lots of rough, wavy asphalt.