Originally Posted by TMonk

Losing races does make it tough. I've been racing road for about 10 years and have seen the number of events put in in SoCal (specifically San Diego) dwindle significantly. This comes at a bit of a poor time for me when my fitness is great and I'm actually trying to upgrade again. On that note both of my races this weekend were cancelled due to weather or other extenuating circumstances.

The biggest issue I have with road (riding or racing) is that it is just too dangerous. There are other cycling disciplines where that risk in minimized (relative to road) that are plenty gratifying, namely track and MTB (for me). You can train indoors and venture out less often to lower your chances of getting run over by a distracted driver.

Some guys are lucky and never get seriously hurt out there but that is just not me. My recent "lucky" crash at training camp came after years of tentative descending from previous crashes... I was feeling good and let my guard down and overcooked a corner. For me cautious/slow descending has to be a permanent mode and decreased in frequency.

That also isn't to say that track and MTB aren't without their risk factors either, someone died at the SD Velodrome a few years back. But no one can argue that the crashes are less frequent than road.

I am going to continue putting in my diligence with training and racing to finally earn that upgrade this year, but after that, I see myself taking a big step back from road. I will continue to train and race bikes, but the road fraction is going to go down, a lot.