Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

I'm 77. I don't think it's so much bike handling . . . I'm not great at it but I've fallen twice in my life, no injuries. It's more being really particular about what's safe to do and backing it way off if I'm not sure. I'm just very careful. Paranoid is good. Maybe it helps that I ride my rollers a thousand or so miles a year, brush my teeth standing on one leg, and put on my pants, socks, and shoes while standing. Yeah, I'm a nut. But it's more about awareness and early action. It also helps to hold onto the bars when you do go down, never put out a hand or arm. Land flat.

So like I'm riding STP with 10,000 of my best friends. About 20 miles out of Seattle, while the bikes are still pretty thick, I see a stop sign a good 100 yards ahead. I move to one side and slow way down. A bunch of bikes go storming past me and sure enough, some think they'll run the stop sign and some prefer to stop, so there's suddenly all this metallic noise. When everything stops moving, I go to the stop sign, stop, and ride on. That's how it's done. When that's not enough, I rely on luck. I'm the world's luckiest man, just ask my wife.

....

So, stay back if anything looks dicey, don't overcook blind right handers, stay away from cracks and edges or at least cross them at a very steep angle, like tracks, don't watch your Garmin at the wrong moment and especially stop to play with its settings, don't pedal around sharp corners. Thinking of accidents I've watched. It doesn't hurt to dress while standing, either.