randallr

“My need for speed, it made me bleed"

axelwik

Agreed. On my motorcycle on the street I ride a max of 60 to 70% of my racetrack pace. Too many uncontrolled variables on the street, and too many things to run into. Of course 60-70% of my racetrack pace is still at "extra-legal" speeds!

Cornering technique can also come into play. There's a lot one can do to minimize the risk when cornering fast such as hanging off a little to the inside (keeps the bike more upright and more rubber in contact with the pavement), corner entry point (late turn-in to ease corner exit and better view of the corner), etc. These are motorcycle techniques that might also apply to bicycling.

Carbonfiberboy 

78, riding for 71 years. I've had one bicycle accident that was my fault, just lost some jersey and skin. I was descending on a well-paved shoulder and suddenly saw a pedestrian maybe 200' away. I checked my mirror and merged onto the roadway by reflex, not taking into account that there was a section where the concrete roadway was 1" higher than the shoulder, so down I went but no big deal, just lost some fabric and some skin. That's it. I'm maybe the only rider I know who doesn't have bumps on their collar bone - I didn't put a hand out, just stayed with the bike.

I think it helped a lot that I did a lot of road riding as a kid and then a lot of high speed motorcycle riding in Europe while I was in the Army. I spent a lot of time near the limit of adhesion and learned a lot about body position and setting up corners. I also went down the requisite 6 times while studying on this. I still descend fast, pass everyone but don't go down. I think it's kind of a 6th sense of where everything is, where I need to be, and where I need to be cautious. I did go down once in a corner, hit a rock that was in my line, nothing to be done, but no damage other than I needed a new tire, which I had with me of course. It was a right hander and I went off the road on the right side. I once overcooked a decreasing radius right hander on a road I'd not ridden before, but I got lucky, no oncoming. So some of it is just luck, but to some extent we make our own luck and to some extent it's just miles in interesting terrain. I've also skied Alpine a lot and used to train for downhill. I think that helped, too. Speed doesn't scare me, though it is said that it should.

choddo

I learned during one winter of 3 falls, one of which cut my face with the internal imprint of my Oakleys, what the wise margin of speed between confidence and physics was on various surfaces. I also came round a bend at 50kph+ to find an entire car being driven up my (the wrong) side of the road by a learner for no reason. I still don’t understand how I (and the guy behind me) avoided it. Braked so hard the back end came round and I almost high sided. That taught me why our highway code says “make sure you can stop in the distance visible”

and I have a scar on my left arm - intentionally sacrificed to cushion my landing and avoid breaking something but that was actually pretty unwise as the gouge was deep enough that the nurses were looking for nerve damage. I got lucky and it’s just a bit ugly. That was caused by looking over my shoulder casually with one hand off the bars just as I hit a well camouflaged tree root bump across half the road. I don’t make assumptions about the road surface any more.

Only had one collarbone break. Not my fault, a car pulled out on me, underestimating my speed. That’s the lesson we all get at some point about anticipating most drivers will make a mistake.

So far haven’t had any noticeable congnitive slowdown (mid 50s, still learning new stuff every day) so I think the wisdom increase is winning right now, but I know it will happen.

JoeyBike

I've toured across the USA five times including up the spine of the Rockies and Appalachians from start to finish. I most certainly came to the conclusion that downhill is far more anxiety provoking than struggling up the mountains. On the way up, If the road is too steep, you just STOP. If something goes wrong on a downhill...you're in God's hands.

Obviously on a cross country trip there is no opportunity to inspect the next descent. And I'm an idiot without any regard for heights and just tend to "let 'er rip" on big descents. I did have a couple of notable near misses but never a crash. The most memorable was on PCH where a chunk of tarmac was missing at the fog line, traffic overtaking me, so I managed to "bunny-hop" the crevasse on a loaded touring bike, front and rear panniers, weighing over 70 lbs and traveling at least 40 mph. Yeah, that memory is etched into my brain with a blow torch. Thankfully I wasn't pulling a trailer that trip.

Jimriides

Last week, while descending down an 8% grade at about 42 mph I had a School Bus fly by me at 70+, so close I was startled by the giant Tires six inches from my handlebars. Brick wall on the other side. My Bike went into a “Death Shimmy”, I started floating around, under what seemed to be no control. I was yelling “ Oh sh#$, Oh Sh#&, I concentrated on staying over the center of the bike and not going down. I reached the bottom of the steep grade and barely had any control as I glided to a stop. I got off the bike and layed down, shaking. Thankful to have not gone down at speed, I jumped up and tore off after the Bus. I knew a School was nearby. I made the same left turn as the Bus had done several hundred yards ahead. As I turned the corner I saw probably 15 of the same Bus. In my terror I had not seen the numbers on the Bus that swooped me. I slowly rode by looking at all the Drivers eyes. Couldn’t see any reaction. Perhaps they never knew that they nearly killed me. I don’t go that way any more. I took the bike in and had them go over everything. I had a few loose spokes on the front wheel. The general consensus was the Pressure Wave caused by the Bus had set me into that vibration. Be careful out there!

Clyde1820

In a place where I lived several decades ago, literally the only safe way to get from one town to the next via bicycle was along a short stretch of highway. 65mph speed limit, which basically means many drivers would go 10-15mph+ more than that.

Around 6mi in distance, with a (generally) fairly wide emergency lane, occasionally a big truck or bus would come along. Often, seemingly "riding" the white line along the right side of the lane. A flat-faced passenger bus or flat-faced older "big rig" truck would create such a wall of wind coming off that vehicle's front end such that a cyclist could get knocked off the saddle unless prepared for that blast.

Nasty section of road, despite the space. And it was only those "flat-front" larger vehicles that'd have enough push against the air to cause that blast. Never did like the handful of times I needed to make that journey. But the alternatives were even nastier, on two-lane winding country roads with zero shoulder, zero emergency lane, no thought of a bike lane, and no hope of staying out of the ditch or bay.

As you say: be safe.

choddo

That is now illegal in the UK. 1.5m minimum.

of course, some imbecile videod himself measuring the road where he was prosecuted for it, because he thought the 1.5m meant total space, not distance from the bike.

t2p

‘What I learned and adhere to is the mantra = 'speed may not be my friend'.


‘only go as fast as you are willing to fall’

.

RCMoeur 

When I analyzed bicyclist use of freeway shoulders for Arizona DOT a couple decades ago, wind blast from passing trucks was identified as one of the concerns; however, my recollection is that none of the (very few) crashes that occurred on freeway shoulders directly involved wind blast.

The current edition of the AASHTO Guide for Bicycle Facilities mentions wind blast effects on bicyclists, and recommends adequate usable shoulder width (e.g. not occupied by rumble strip or debris) to mitigate by lateral separation.

I've ridden a number of freeway shoulders, including fast downhills such as I-17 north of Phoenix, and in my experience wind blast is an annoyance but not as problematic as surface conditions, debris, or changes in usable shoulder width.

LeeG

I’m 68 and noticed my situational awareness for commuting took a nose dive about 15 yrs ago. Or what I noticed was the increase in near misses not the lack of awareness. I used to unconciously see multiple outs and threatening vehicles long before they became a problem and now it’s the cars seeing me at the last minute so I upped my visibility w lights and clothing. Now in a hilly rural region enjoying the lack of traffic but there’s no way around it, I respond more slowly and just don’t want to enjoy a crash and recovery.

LeeG

If this is a road bike have you tried pressing your knees together against the top tube?

noglider 

I am taking this thread as a warning. I promise I'm paying attention, and I hope to face facts when they present themselves. I'm 63, and so far, I'm still good at descending. I ride in New York's Hudson Valley where we have some steep and twisty hills. I descend at speeds that I don't recommend to others. So far, so good. My instincts have already made me just a little more risk-averse than before.

zandoval 

Some learn a little slower then others.
Ride on my friend.

For me the loss of proprioception after an ear infection ended with no more night rides. It has been a real loss as I really enjoyed ridding the back roads of our State Park on Summer Nights...

Calsun

Your speed and depth perception seem to be off the mark. When I ride an unfamiliar road I will go at a slower speed to be sure I make the turns. I would feel very stupid to have a crash as a result of my going too fast for my skill as a rider. One also does not know what oncoming traffic is going to do and I have seen RVs and sports cars take curves at too high a speed and had them go into the oncoming traffic lane. Drivers also pull out in front of other cars and cyclists and on a bicycle I would prefer to brake and get around the driver safely.