Originally Posted by StephenH

One problem with making this comparison is that "road cycling" is poorly defined. It seems to me that in reading the Road Cycling Forum here that most of those guys think "Road Cycling = Racing" or at least training for racing. And so you tend to find younger men, not many women, not many older men. But if you get out on a bike rally or similar event, you find a lot of women, a lot of older men, kids, in short, a lot of people that don't fit the "road cycling" image but are still out cycling on the roads anyway. Most of the folks in the Commuting, Clydesdale, and Recumbent forums are actually "road cycling" for that matter, but don't fit the image portrayed here. In any case, it seems that the hazards associated with road cycling vary considerably depending on what exactly you're talking about. I hear of a lot of wrecks in pacelines, and hear of ninja bikers being run over at night on the roads, but you can do an awful lot of road cycling without being in either category.