Winding Country Road or 50 mph Highway with Shoulder?
Originally Posted by
UniChris
I've become a creature of MUPs and similar who mostly avoids roads.
However, one of my paths has a couple of miles explicitly placed on the at least half (and often full) lane wide shoulder of a state highway signed at 50 mph or so.
Initially I hated this, but I've come to be reasonably comfortable there - speeds are fast, but someone would have be be negligently driving *fully* in the shoulder to put me in danger. And because cyclists are never "in cars way" there seems to be very little driver frustration on display - where there are two travel lanes many will even change to the left lane...
When I went looking on Strava,
it seems people take a winding, woods-edged country road instead. I don't think I'd be as comfortable riding that, as it requires drivers to recognize my presence, wait for an opening with good sight lines, and then pass with enough space.
This is mostly an academic question as I'm probably not going to ride either (especially as in the last 1/3 of a mile the country road stops and the highway loses its shoulder).
But is my thinking reasonable, that faster traffic not normally in the "lane" I would be riding in, is perhaps less of a risk than somewhat slower traffic traveling in the same space I would be occupying? I realize there's a lot more energy in being hit at say 60 mph vs 40, but I feel like the probability is much lower.
Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I regularly ride on both of these types of roads. Generally, if there's a routing choice, I love a fast road with a wide breakdown lane, because I can usually go flat out without interruption for hours.
I don't mind a lightly trafficked winding narrow country road, but if it's busy, I feel like it gets dangerous pretty quick. Also, around here, the narrow country roads are the last ones to get potholes repaired, so it's definitely slower going.
On the other other hand, the scenery on the winding road is usually a lot better, and it's often nice to hear birds instead of vroom vroom.
Many of my rides are a combination of both of these types of roads.
Originally Posted by
Greenhil
I take the winding country road unless there’s a fair amount of traffic, or there are some other mitigating factors.
My thought is the wider and straighter the road is, the more comfortable drivers feel to reach for their phones to check a text, etc. Like livedarklions, I like bird sounds more than traffic, so maybe I’m just rationalizing to convince myself the country road is safer.
I recently replied to this thread,
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
What road do you choose?
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 in order of cycling pleasure (paved roads only):
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...
- 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)
But,
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
… almost every road is a good road if you ride it early enough in the day.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
PS: It just occured to me, though I don't ride in the downtown proper, I should probably add a category of "Downtown," as typified by the urban canyons and narrow, often-crowded streets of Manhattan, or the Financial District of Boston.
Downtown riding would, IMO rank just ahead of "heavy commercial."
The de facto poet laureate of the Metro Boston thread posted:
Originally Posted by
sherbornpeddler
…Metro Bostonians have mastered a lot of the same roads. We all have very individual, favorite routes. I bet we could compile a list of favorite sections of roads where the sun, shade, swoops and turns fly by just right.
From this forum, we could rate roads with traffic and without, swoops, trails, water fountains, hill climbs, stops, historical, flora, fauna, mysterious tourists and places where they sell fig newtons.
+1 to this signature line of @
MNHarv, “
Just three paved feet to the right of the white fog stripe is all I need.”
Could well be the Road and Commuters’ motto, or even Prayer...
"Lord, Just three paved feet to the right of the white fog stripe is all I need.”