Dangerous potholes

I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this. Another woman cyclist involved in the incident has a broken arm. First newspaper report he
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...cork-1.3646391

The further details I give are from a pedalpal who called me, who presumably heard about it on the local radio.

The incident took place at Gurteen Cross (photo in the newspaper article), a turning point at several of the figures-eight we ride around the town. Gurteen Cross is only about 4km from my house.

Take care of yourselves.

On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 8:00:21 AM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this. Another woman cyclist involved in the incident has a broken arm. First newspaper report he
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...cork-1.3646391

The further details I give are from a pedalpal who called me, who presumably heard about it on the local radio.

The incident took place at Gurteen Cross (photo in the newspaper article), a turning point at several of the figures-eight we ride around the town. Gurteen Cross is only about 4km from my house.

Take care of yourselves.

I didn't see any pictures of the pothole. I wonder if the council hasn't been using money for repairing the infrastructure to give themselves more gravy?

On Monday, October 1, 2018 at 7:55:46 PM UTC+1, wrote:
On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 8:00:21 AM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this. Another woman cyclist involved in the incident has a broken arm. First newspaper report he
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...cork-1.3646391

The further details I give are from a pedalpal who called me, who presumably heard about it on the local radio.

The incident took place at Gurteen Cross (photo in the newspaper article), a turning point at several of the figures-eight we ride around the town.. Gurteen Cross is only about 4km from my house.

Take care of yourselves.

I didn't see any pictures of the pothole. I wonder if the council hasn't been using money for repairing the infrastructure to give themselves more gravy?

County council chairmen dress too badly to be crooks. Any event, the national roads, including some pretty small ones, are the responsibility of a central national highway engineering unit with its own staff, not under local county council control. You have to keep in mind how small a place Ireland actually is. In your younger days you could have cycled the length of it in three days. (A cyclist I found on the road with a broken carbon seatpost and matching injuries, and took home to the surgery, despite the injuries did exactly that, and not even by the straightest route.) There are probably counties in the States that are larger than Ireland.

Andre Jute
Impossible to describe how much I hate chip'n'seal

On Monday, October 1, 2018 at 6:45:03 PM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
On Monday, October 1, 2018 at 7:55:46 PM UTC+1, wrote:
On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 8:00:21 AM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this. Another woman cyclist involved in the incident has a broken arm. First newspaper report he
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...cork-1.3646391

The further details I give are from a pedalpal who called me, who presumably heard about it on the local radio.

The incident took place at Gurteen Cross (photo in the newspaper article), a turning point at several of the figures-eight we ride around the town. Gurteen Cross is only about 4km from my house.

Take care of yourselves.

I didn't see any pictures of the pothole. I wonder if the council hasn't been using money for repairing the infrastructure to give themselves more gravy?

County council chairmen dress too badly to be crooks. Any event, the national roads, including some pretty small ones, are the responsibility of a central national highway engineering unit with its own staff, not under local county council control. You have to keep in mind how small a place Ireland actually is. In your younger days you could have cycled the length of it in three days. (A cyclist I found on the road with a broken carbon seatpost and matching injuries, and took home to the surgery, despite the injuries did exactly that, and not even by the straightest route.) There are probably counties in the States that are larger than Ireland.

Andre Jute
Impossible to describe how much I hate chip'n'seal

I have attended what was supposedly supervisors meetings. There was ONE supervisor and he seemed a very credible man. But he was one out of the entire Alameda County Supervisors. And I do know that our wonderful state passed gas taxes to "fix the roads" twice and that money went to increase the pay of cops and government officials. I wouldn't mind it going to cops if they did anything that was visible. There appears to be 5 cops in San Leandro that do anything but stay highly invisible until there is a shooting. Then they show up well after the fact to write up reports.

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:00:18 -0700 (PDT),
Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not
too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now
a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these
potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this.

I did a ride in the rain a few weeks ago, and rolled to a stop
with my front wheel coming up on what I thought was a puddle. It
turned out to be a pothole, and was deep enough that my forward
roll was brought to an abrupt halt. The bike stopped short, but I
did not. Luckily, I had slowed to the point that I only partly
went over the handlebars, going as much (if not more) to the side.
I came out with only bruises--to my body and ego both.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA

On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 8:42:45 PM UTC+1, Theodore Heise wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:00:18 -0700 (PDT),
Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not
too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now
a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these
potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this.

I did a ride in the rain a few weeks ago, and rolled to a stop
with my front wheel coming up on what I thought was a puddle. It
turned out to be a pothole, and was deep enough that my forward
roll was brought to an abrupt halt. The bike stopped short, but I
did not. Luckily, I had slowed to the point that I only partly
went over the handlebars, going as much (if not more) to the side.
I came out with only bruises--to my body and ego both.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA

Oddly enough, I probably know the pothole that hurt two cyclists, one very badly. I routinely ride through potholes at speed (though not at that particular place where I treat the crossroads with respect by slowing), but I run huge 622x60mm tyres operated at only 2 bar (29psi) on a bike with geometry designed not to be disturbed by any obstacle at whatever speed on alpine descents, and I suspect these riders who got hurt were on high-pressure narrow tyres and possibly on smaller wheels on bikes designed to be nippy. I ride every day over a small area relatively near my house, so I know every pothole and have a memory map of it, as I often ride at night and in the rain (I live in Ireland, where it rains often and long). Of course, if the pothole grew since I last rode over it... I described elsewhere how I came a cropper one morning before dawn riding on a road of which I knew every inch, except I didn't know that a heavy harvest machine or tractor or truck had broken off a piece of the road where I would ride to within an inch of the edge of the tarmac: I crashed into the ditch at such speed that a vintage block pedal's axle was snapped right off when we fell off the road. My helmet saved my head from the thorny hedge on the other side of the ditch, but the rest of me was punctured and bruised as I barrel-rolled along the hedge. I ride slower there now.

Andre Jute
Ouch

On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 2:34:49 PM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 8:42:45 PM UTC+1, Theodore Heise wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:00:18 -0700 (PDT),
Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not
too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now
a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these
potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this.

I did a ride in the rain a few weeks ago, and rolled to a stop
with my front wheel coming up on what I thought was a puddle. It
turned out to be a pothole, and was deep enough that my forward
roll was brought to an abrupt halt. The bike stopped short, but I
did not. Luckily, I had slowed to the point that I only partly
went over the handlebars, going as much (if not more) to the side.
I came out with only bruises--to my body and ego both.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA

Oddly enough, I probably know the pothole that hurt two cyclists, one very badly. I routinely ride through potholes at speed (though not at that particular place where I treat the crossroads with respect by slowing), but I run huge 622x60mm tyres operated at only 2 bar (29psi) on a bike with geometry designed not to be disturbed by any obstacle at whatever speed on alpine descents, and I suspect these riders who got hurt were on high-pressure narrow tyres and possibly on smaller wheels on bikes designed to be nippy. I ride every day over a small area relatively near my house, so I know every pothole and have a memory map of it, as I often ride at night and in the rain (I live in Ireland, where it rains often and long). Of course, if the pothole grew since I last rode over it... I described elsewhere how I came a cropper one morning before dawn riding on a road of which I knew every inch, except I didn't know that a heavy harvest machine or tractor or truck had broken off a piece of the road where I would ride to within an inch of the edge of the tarmac: I crashed into the ditch at such speed that a vintage block pedal's axle was snapped right off when we fell off the road. My helmet saved my head from the thorny hedge on the other side of the ditch, but the rest of me was punctured and bruised as I barrel-rolled along the hedge. I ride slower there now.

Potholes are uncomfortable but cracks in the road parallel to the direction of travel can be deadly. My bone doctor was descending Mt. Diablo with a friend. His friend caught his wheel in a crack and fell, broke his neck and is now a paraplegic. Two months later I was descending the same road and caught my wheel in it but was able to ride it out.

A week ago I was riding up Foothill Rd. in Pleasanton and not paying a lot of attention to the road because of passing traffic and caught my wheel in one. I did a slow motion fall while trying to maintain my balance and the wheel finally popped out of the crack at the last second and I caught balance.

I reported it to the County but it remains to be seen if and when they act upon it.

On Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at 9:56:45 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 2:34:49 PM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at 8:42:45 PM UTC+1, Theodore Heise wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:00:18 -0700 (PDT),
Andre Jute wrote:
I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not
too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now
a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these
potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this.

I did a ride in the rain a few weeks ago, and rolled to a stop
with my front wheel coming up on what I thought was a puddle. It
turned out to be a pothole, and was deep enough that my forward
roll was brought to an abrupt halt. The bike stopped short, but I
did not. Luckily, I had slowed to the point that I only partly
went over the handlebars, going as much (if not more) to the side.
I came out with only bruises--to my body and ego both.

--
Ted Heise West Lafayette, IN, USA

Oddly enough, I probably know the pothole that hurt two cyclists, one very badly. I routinely ride through potholes at speed (though not at that particular place where I treat the crossroads with respect by slowing), but I run huge 622x60mm tyres operated at only 2 bar (29psi) on a bike with geometry designed not to be disturbed by any obstacle at whatever speed on alpine descents, and I suspect these riders who got hurt were on high-pressure narrow tyres and possibly on smaller wheels on bikes designed to be nippy. I ride every day over a small area relatively near my house, so I know every pothole and have a memory map of it, as I often ride at night and in the rain (I live in Ireland, where it rains often and long). Of course, if the pothole grew since I last rode over it... I described elsewhere how I came a cropper one morning before dawn riding on a road of which I knew every inch, except I didn't know that a heavy harvest machine or tractor or truck had broken off a piece of the road where I would ride to within an inch of the edge of the tarmac: I crashed into the ditch at such speed that a vintage block pedal's axle was snapped right off when we fell off the road. My helmet saved my head from the thorny hedge on the other side of the ditch, but the rest of me was punctured and bruised as I barrel-rolled along the hedge. I ride slower there now.

Potholes are uncomfortable but cracks in the road parallel to the direction of travel can be deadly. My bone doctor was descending Mt. Diablo with a friend. His friend caught his wheel in a crack and fell, broke his neck and is now a paraplegic. Two months later I was descending the same road and caught my wheel in it but was able to ride it out.

A week ago I was riding up Foothill Rd. in Pleasanton and not paying a lot of attention to the road because of passing traffic and caught my wheel in one. I did a slow motion fall while trying to maintain my balance and the wheel finally popped out of the crack at the last second and I caught balance.

I reported it to the County but it remains to be seen if and when they act upon it.

I was riding on Mt Hamilton many years back while visiting family in California and about killed myself on crack-seal. California buys the version that gets extra-slippery when hot. You lean into a corner, hit that sh** and slip-out. More recently on a visit, I was riding down HWY 9 and got the same sensation. I used to do that descent with no brakes except for maybe the top two turns, but I got so freaked-out, I braked on all the turns.

Around here, you get wet pavement, moss, the usual road crap, but not much crack seal. The only place where I encounter cracks parallel to the road is here, and they're easy to avoid: https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/...82-800x600.jpg

-- Jay Beattie.

On Wed, 03 Oct 2018 09:56:43 -0700, sltom992 wrote:


I reported it to the County but it remains to be seen if and when they
act upon it.

Perhaps some "incentivation" is in order.

Over here, due to the cost of insurance through commercial bodies, many
local government bodies now "self insure". Their first defence is not
knowing of a problem, so you need to make them aware of that problem
PRIOR to any issue, or more relevent, any claim for damages/compensation.

Theodore Heise wrote:
:On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 08:00:18 -0700 (PDT),
: Andre Jute wrote:
: I have often mentioned that our roads here in Ireland are not
: too good, and published photos of potholes of amazing size. Now
: a woman cyclist has been seriously hurt by one of these
: potholes, and is undergoing brain surgery as I write this.

:I did a ride in the rain a few weeks ago, and rolled to a stop
:with my front wheel coming up on what I thought was a puddle. It
:turned out to be a pothole, and was deep enough that my forward
:roll was brought to an abrupt halt. The bike stopped short, but I
:did not. Luckily, I had slowed to the point that I only partly
:went over the handlebars, going as much (if not more) to the side.
:I came out with only bruises--to my body and ego both.

I did that last winter. About dislocated my left thumb on the handle
bar.

--
sig 4