Originally Posted by
a1penguin
As I age, I too worry about crashing and having long recovery times or permanent injuries. I spend a lot of time analyzing my ride as I ride. I also do this when I drive over the same roads. Looking for blind spots, seeing where I am not paying attention, etc and I feel this helps me improve my defensive cycling skills.
You seem to ride a lot and I also question your judgement to speed up with signs of miserable road conditions. This is not the decision an experienced rider would make. I think you should look for safety courses in your area or find and read online safety sites.
I have no dependents and I don't care if I die in a crash, but I do worry about major disability, brain injury or vegetative state. If I were to become afraid while riding the bike, I would stop riding. I don't know what your family situation is, but I think that discussions with them will help everyone.
Should you stop riding? Only if your doctor cites medical reasons for doing so.
Perhaps you should move this post to the 50+ forum.
Good post. I feel the same way about getting messed up versus dying. We are all going to die and sadly road bikers die probably almost everyday throughout the world...or we lose quite a few each year....including at the pro and elite level.
I mentioned about motorcycling riding and choose bike riding because I prefer it and I didn't want to get maimed mostly...or lose an arm or leg...or be crippled so I couldn't ide my road bike. Choices.
But to me, at 70 years old, the choice to accelerate versus slow down in a construction zone is just beyond the pale. The calculus that a road bike with narrow tires would be less affected by the surface by speeding up with unknowable terrain ahead just seems unfathomable....maybe something a 14 year old breaking out of puberty may try but not a 70 year old man with a lot of riding experience.
I too am safety conscious Pengiun and even still been bit a few times right out of the blue. Road biking has its perils for sure.
Ride safe everybody.