On 7/4/21 4:48 am, jbeattie wrote:

No -- but if you're saying its because people are cowering in fear
because of safety inflation, then you're out of touch with the gym
scene. My brother went to spin classes with his wife, and he was a
fearless three state old-guy DH champion and went to worlds. I've
ridden many miles with him on the road. In fact, I rode with their
spin instructor who placed in LoToJa. Strong guy -- one of the
hardest centuries I've done in recent history. People have lots of
social reasons for living the gym life . . . although some may be
afraid of riding on the road. That has to be true statistically
because some people were afraid of riding on the road even before
flashers and helmets were even a thing.

And a lot of what you call safety inflation is people just not
wanting to deal with traffic. It sucks dealing with traffic,
dangerous or not. When it comes to picking routes, I take the one
with the least traffic. Who wants to breathe exhaust and deal with
the homicidal PU maniacs in the 'burbs. No amount of lane-taking
makes that pleasant. "Position one!" [cough, cough, gag . . . as
diesel PU number four passes within an inch, leaving a cloud of
smoke]. People may prefer Plan B, i.e., not riding on the road.
https://cloudfront.traillink.com/pho..._148788_sc.jpg
Or Plan C.
https://i1.wp.com/buckyrides.com/wp-...00%2C900&ssl=1
That also includes Plan D, which is usually low traffic.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/280/2...85fc52d273.jpg
That's a great ride.

Which reminds me, I was riding on that road in the last picture
(Marmot Rd.) with a friend of mine with whom I've been riding for 30
years. He now refuses to ride on Skyline because it is dangerous and
refuses to ride the foot of SW Terwilliger -- preferring the
adjacent path through the woods. https://tinyurl.com/85c27nx6
Totally reasonable fear. I now take the side path because climbing
in the middle of a road with a blind turn and posted 45mph limit
(actually 50) and twice the traffic of 20 years ago is objectively
scary. Why bother. And to be honest, I usually skip the side path
and go up a whole different road -- past the trestle house.
https://tinyurl.com/vt3z3x3w Anyway, its not just a bunch of scared
Nancies who want a facility or some option other than riding in
traffic.


Nope. Safety inflation is that single pivot rim brake calipers are not
as powerful as dual pivot rim brake calipers, so to be safe you need
dual pivot rim brake calipers - at least on the front. On the back the
dual pivots are far too powerful. Next minute the rim brakes are crap
and the only way to be safe is with the latest disc brake. Soon after,
cable operated discs are no good and only hydraulic disc brakes will do.
The next big thing supposed to save umpteen lives is anti lock brakes
for bicycle disc brakes. If you don't upgrade to those, you'll fly over
the bars and collide head first into a solid object and die - regardless
of whether you've got the latest helmet with MIPS technology that is so
much safer than last years EPS.


Same seems to go for lights. Sure it was a pain to have big battery
laden monstrosities that produced a candlepower for a short while, or a
dynamo that blows globes when you ride down a hill at night. Lights are
made with LEDs now that consume hardly any power to produce much more
light with far better reliability than the old filament globes. But
last year the be seen tail light that runs for 50 hours on a couple of
AA batteries got replaced by the uber bright epileptic fit inducing
rechargeable flasher that is the must have for safety - though there's
no proof that a lack of brightness was the cause of anyone getting hit
from behind last year. Headlights are similar. In many urban
landscapes it is possible to ride most places without a light and still
be able to see the road well enough at night (excluding being seen by
drivers) just from street lights, but we have to have the latest 5000
chilumen headlight now - to be safe. Last year's 4000 chilumen light is
just not safe enough.

Of course you can only be truly safe in a hi vis reflective jacket, MIPS
equipped helmet, helmet lights and cameras even in the daytime, and
strobe lights under the saddle and on the handlebars, plus a 120dB bell,
studded tyres and ABS disc brakes, etc. You get the picture.

--
JS