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Old November 1st 16, 12:33 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
NFN Smith[_2_]
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Posts: 33
Default AG: Riding on the verge

Joy Beeson wrote:

Always leave yourself room to dodge to the right (or left on the other
side of the pond) -- but there *are* times when you want to ride as
far to the right as possible, so how far to the right *is* possible?


This is part of why I get so annoyed at riders who ride against traffic.
If you're riding that way, then if there's obstruction in front of you,
there's often *no* escape route. If riding on a road with a curb, that's
usually enough to prevent you from getting to the sidewalk, and the only
other option is to move directly into traffic that's coming the opposite
way.

It's fairly obvious that you need to inspect the roadway ahead, and
have faith that it won't narrow suddenly, break up at the edge, be
covered with sharp debris, have potholes or deliberate holes or sunken
or raised drains and so forth, but you also have to be constantly
aware of what you'll land on if you fall off the pavement.


Yep. "As far to the right as possible" is a good guideline, but for
motorists that don't ride, often aren't aware of what kinds of hazards
lurk at the side (and away from where car tires normally go). The most
common is sand and gravel and glass, pushed by normal vehicle activity,
but there's a lot of other stuff as well. Rough pavement (including
bumps caused by heat buckling and tree roots) are there, stuff that's
more likely to be mashed down by the weight of cars, in the path of
normal motor traffic. And motorists generally have no clue about just
how evil drains are.

Another dynamic is the difference between paved and soft shoulder. Some
of the places I ride have gravel shoulders where there might be an inch
or two of pavement outside the fog line, and places where sand/gravel
overlaps the fog line, because the road isn't frequently swept. Rumble
strips and raised reflectors also add interesting challenges. One place
I ride has is improved one side of the road (in front of a subdivision,
where the developer did all the necessary improvements -- two lanes of
traffic, space in the middle for an eventual left turn lane, curbs and
even a bike line), but on the unimproved side, it's a single lane, a
soft gravel shoulder, and beyond the shoulder, a concrete irrigation
ditch (normally dry) that's fairly substantial. If you go off the road
there, you'll end up at bottom of the ditch.

A further challenge for a road like that is gravel driveways that are
perpendicular to the road -- for a lot of the driveways, exiting traffic
manages to push gravel from the drive out a foot or two into the road,
where it's necessary to swerve toward the center of the road to avoid
the gravel.

I also have occasional problems with sloppy landscaping -- trees or
bushes that aren't trimmed and overlap the bike lane. Yet another place
to move left, at least temporarily, to avoid a hazard.

[ ...]


If you fall off the road, will you roll down a 100% slope held in
place by head-size rocks, with a barbed-wire fence at the bottom?


Tumble-and-roll technique is something I've never tried to learn. And
there's a difference how you do it, depending if you have old-style toe
clips and straps (and how tightly you have the straps pulled, especially
if you have cleats underneath), and more modern clipless pedals.


A curb at the edge of the road should be given at least half a meter
of respect, a full yard if you haven't had a *lot* of experience and
some training. If you touch a curb, you go down. No matter how good
your bike handling is, a ridge that is almost parallel to your path
will steer the bike out from under you -- and there's no guarantee
that you'll fall *away* from the traffic.


See above.

As noted, there's a difference between the motorist's and cyclist's
perceptions of "as far to the right as practical", because there's too
many hazards that are real dangers to a cyclist that most motorists have
never considered.

Smith
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