Giving up on road
 

Here’s the story. Went out for my birthday ride yesterday, beautiful sunny day, couldn’t have been better. Riding along enjoying life. The downside, I lost count of the number of times I got buzzed by vehicles. I really felt like some of them were just trying to see how close they could get to me.
As the ride went on with this happening I just kept wondering why am I doing this. I love riding but it just feels like it is getting more and more dangerous to be out there. Really thinking about going to mountain bikes.
Anyone else having this struggle and how do you handle it?

Most of my riding is on my trainer. I only go out on the road for randonneuring. I stopped riding in my mid 30s because of one particularly bad day out on the road, 2 fairly serious incidents in 10 miles. I was just out to blow off steam and instead I came back all pumped up on adrenaline. Quitting was a mistake, but I understand the impulse.

We also have particularly nice gravel near here. Haven't been riding on it recently, which is too bad. And the mountain biking features world-class trails. 4 years ago, I mostly rode gravel and MTB, and that was a really great year.

I've been there. The last couple of years I've had more and more close calls with people driving distracted on their phones (much more than in the past)...and this from people coming the opposite direction so I saw what was unfolding coming up = hence the term "Close Calls". It's the cars coming up behind me doing the same thing that I won't see coming that is unsettling. I haven't completely given up on road riding but I do find myself more and more on dirt and gravel roads as well as MTB'ing.









William









William

It’s all in your head.

Take a break, ride some mountain bikes or whatever.

I’ve done it before, you’ll come back to road and fall in love again when you’re ready.

I made the switch years ago to MTB. Just recently I took to the MUT on my road bike and that is a show in itself. Everybody has ear buds in and wanders all over the path looking at their phones. *** is it with people HAVING to be on their phones CONSTANTLY? Am I just missing something?

My weekday rides are generally 5am-7am or 9am-3pm. Weekend rides are completed before noon. I stay off the major roads...granted more stopping and starting but less traffic.

Dallas and North Dallas are not known to be particularly bicycle friendly. I really haven't had much trouble with cars.

Where are you riding? No shoulder, lotsa traffic?..Pick your 'battles', is what I do. I don't ride on certain roads, I never ride a road w/o a shoulder..never.

Does that make me a 'second class citizen'? So what, riding a toy..it's not worth it to be 'dead right'...

Here's how I get through this.

First and foremost, I gave up the right to change anybody's behavior. The only person I have direct control and a realistical chance of succeeding on changing is me.

Second, I paused and thought about this for a second and I realized something. For a million years, we, as a species, had been trying to figure out how to live in harmony and navigate through changes and negotiate about self and mutual interests. That's not gonna change any time soon. It's a work in progress. If we look back at our history, we had some major breakthroughs and some really gruesome and major fails, and everything else in between.

Third, back to my first point, I gather a list of things that I can personally put into practice that will increase my odds of success and they are :

A) use my local area knowledge to full advantage.
I know my routes and traffic pattern at different times of the day, all the short cuts, bypass, neighborhood back roads, transits, blind corners, high risk spots.

Equipped with that knowledge, I act or ride accordingly.

B) Variety is spice of life.

I understand that even in my best self and most positive attitude, there's only a certain mamount of $hit I can take in before I start getting mad at the world (which is pointless, go back and read my second point)...so what do I do?

I come up with "options" - some days, I ride solo, other days with a group. Some days, I ride my Road bikes, other days, I get on my gravel bike. Some days I ride in beautiful blue sky with the sun in my back, other days I am out on my fendered bike and riding in the rain, to remind myself, life is not always "good". You can't have everything. You have to learn to roll with the punches, take both the good and the bad. Some days, I take time off the bike completely to give myself a mental break, but I still get my bike "fix" by doing a bit of wrenching in the garage, that's a good time to catch up on maintenance and such.

See where I am going with this?

Choices.

You are in charge.

So take charge.

Life is a box of chocolates.

I think it depends on where you live. When I lived in the DC Suburbs I didn't ride a bike, no freakin' way. The roads were built for Ox carts and were only wide enough for two cars in opposite directions, a white line, and the na ditch about 3ft deep. My brother got literally blown off the road by an 18 wheeler that threaded the needle between him and an on coming car. That was enough for me.

But now out here in the mountains I can ride 40 miles and see a half a dozen cars.

So I hear ya. Some places are simply not safe enough to ride a bike.

I feel ya.

My solution - be seen. Buy lights for your bike, and not the crummy single-led blinkie ones. Get a cateye or something very bright. With very few exceptions, most people aren't trying to kill you, and the brighter/more obvious you are, the more room people give you. At least in my experience.

If you still feel like you're getting buzzed, change your roads. Find a route with ample shoulder and fewer cars. Also, join a club ride. There's strength in numbers.

And of course, no harm in getting out on the MTB or doing some nice gravel roads.

Good luck, be safe.

Strangely enough, those are the ones I seek out. It's actually pretty nice riding around here (NoVa). Like anywhere, I imagine, some times are easier than others. I don't do rush hours, avoid Saturday mornings, and overall do ok with it all. My "normal" route puts me on one of the busier roads around here (123/Ox rd), but the shoulder is wide so it's ok.

I wish we had gravel or dirt roads around here in LA. I see 20/30 even some early 40 somethings riding cross bikes on the trails I'm on my Potts 29er. But at almost 66, being primarily a runner, I'm not going ride a dropped bar bike on those highly rutted trails. I don't have the bike handling skills, especially on the steep descents of 2000' in 3 miles like Beaudry North in the Verdugos by my house..

I hear you though. It was the main reason I spent 9K on the Potts mountain bike as opposed to a road bike 5 years ago.

I have one road route that I ride on my old Litespeed Classic, and I really don't deviate from it. It goes up Hospital Hill on Verdugo, down through the Descanso/ Berkshire area in La Canada to the Rose Bowl and down to Mission at Trader Joes. This area is very popular with cyclists - so people are used to seeing bikes. Whether that makes any difference, it's just better for my peace of mind. And with the exception of a few dicey spots, I generally feel safe. That's basically why I don't deviate from that route.

I refuse to ride out on any major street in LA in traffic. The Valley, Hollywood, across town down to the beach in Santa Monica and back, even Griffith Park-- bwhahaha , forget about it !! I'm just not "into it" enough to risk the consequences.

Yes, I'd change your route. In my 40 years of riding and running on the streets of LA, I've become the Master of side streets. Best of luck and please stay safe.

I mostly mtb, but do my fair share of road rides.
I've experienced this in some of the rural areas I ride outside of Sacramento. Some of these folks just don't want you on their roads slowing them down, want to send a message. I find other rides that are safer.
I used to climb hwy 49 in Downieville CA to get my downhill ride, no more. Too many close calls with the locals, so I shuttle now or sneak on the PCT and ride a short way on 49 to get my downhill run.

Here in my part of the DC area, there's really no such thing as a road with a shoulder.

I live where the roads are, so all I have to do is pop out the door and I'm in (what was) farm country. I really don't like driving to go riding. Feels wrong somehow. ...so I ride mostly road with some gravel thrown in.

I also have a tendency to ride assertively when I'm on the little country roads that pre-date cars. Seems to help with the unsafe passes.

HTH

M

I agreed with picking the best time of day to avoid people and super bright lights. I have the Bontrag. flare R for the rear and in the day you can see it from over a mile away. Once I started using this light 99% of traffic either slows behind or gives tons of space, also a front flashing light for people looking to pull out in front of you.