podzol said:I am about to dig into serious training for the Tour Dad Yoop.
In the past two months in my area there have been two road fatalities,
one bicycle, on pedestrian. Suffice it to say I am spooked.
I would appreciate it if any more expereinced road riders would share
safety percautions they make to make uni-riding on roads safer.
Anything would be helpful from picking roads, timing, attire and gear.
Thanks so much.
You should be spooked. I remember driving by a nuclear power plant in
Connecticut that was having hugely public safety problems, with
investigations, a whistle-blower, the works. It was quitting time.
The feeling I got from the drivers was one of head-down desperation,
and it was a creepy dangerous feeling. The point here is that there
exist space/time-local psychological environments that are highly
dangerous, and there might be something like that in your area. Avoid
that kind of thing if at all possible.
Secondly, the rush hours are similar, though not as extreme. Drivers
are late or tired, the roads have more cars on them, the air is worse,
often in the morning there is dew, at both times the lighting can be
weird.
Riding style: practice being a car or touring bike for a while -
straight riding, on the shoulder if possible, give all signals, don't
wobble, give clear indications of your intent, ride single file if that
is relevant. Be aware of vision problems drivers might have - are they
staring into the sun through an icy window? If so, they are trying to
stay on the road, adjust the radio, defrost the glass with one hand,
and drink coffee with the other, and won't even see you.
Put a hugely bright flasher on the back of your uni and use it all the
time. This by itself will gain you at least two more feet of clearance
and 20 mph slower when cars pass you. I experimented with this last
summer doing the Alps Tour Training. Those two feet are huge. Before
I put on the flasher I was having cars pass within inches. At the
light-challenged times of day the flasher will make an even bigger
difference.
Wear a riding jacket or vest or safety vest, depending on the weather.
Make sure it is a bright color and has a decent amount of reflective
fabric on it. However, the flasher will be much more effective.
Get a local road map/atlas and make some xerox copies. Then drive
around one day and highlight all the roads that have a decent shoulder.
Highlight blind curves and hills. Maybe even mark where the accidents
were. Take down some mileages. Then go back and construct some routes
that follow the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff. The point here is
not to be afraid of the bad stuff; eventually you will have to ride
everything. The point here is a) to give yourself and the community
time to acclimate to your presence, and b) to play the averages, as it
were. You'll be spending a lot of time riding, often quite tired
and/or groggy, and why not make those times as risk-free as possible?
Finally, if you lose it on a busy road, there is a very good chance
your uni will get run over, and a smaller one that you will too. In
questionable circumstances, such as a hill too steep for good balance,
or a section that is really torn up, just get off and walk. There's no
shame in that, and it may help you to finish your ride on the uni, and
not in an ambulance.
Best to you in your training, Blake!
--
U-Turn
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-- Dave Stockton
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