DaveQ24

Our roads stink. My state spends the lowest per mile of any in the region, we have harsh winters and high weight limits on semi's. Notoriously bad, always a public debate but little gets done. When the do fix a road, it's shoddy. Main roads near my office were completely redone from April to November 2014, had major damage from freeze-thaw cycle the first winter and got repaired again. Typical. Another road in my neighborhood was repaired twice in 4 months - first job fell apart in weeks, rain opening up big potholes.

So, I found a good place to get a workout on my road bike - new shopping center only a year old with smooth asphalt and little damage from last winter so few patches at this time.

Perfect layout for sprints, the outer perimeter ride is 0.95 miles, up and back one row of parking spaces is .10 miles. One end flat, the other slopes. I did a quick 20 this morning - can't do my usual long Saturday ride, have to go to a wedding today.

Just venting about our roads here, but at least I found a decent place to do workouts.

10 Wheels

Please add your location in your avatar.

texaspandj

I would guess Louisiana. You could be blind and still know when you've crossed the Texas to Louisiana border.

gear64

Man, than's almost like being a caged animal. I would take up gravel grinding and master bunny hops.

RonH

Sounds like way up north to me.
Maybe its time to move — either to a nicer climate or a town (or part of town) with better roads.

Have you considered a CX or gravel bike? They handle crappy roads better than a hybrid or road bike.

bulldog1935

you just need some bigger, low pressure tires - check out the Recreational Gravel Grinders page for many tire choices

Panaracer makes Gravel Kings from 26mm to 40mm


38mm Barlow and 30mm Strada Bianca

DaveQ24

Great Lakes/Upper Midwest.

Yeah, I also have a Crux and a couple of Mt Bikes, and a Sirrus and a Crosstrail.

I like to switch it up. But gonna start getting back into better shape, put on a few pounds, wanna get back to my 160ish best weight and also back into tri's - my ultimate goal is an IM. My plan is to train all year, do winter biking when I can, treadmill, and some lifting. Then do a couple of tri's next year and go for the IM in '18.

Training is a blast, puts me into a great mindset. Just been riding recreationally/fitness a few years, and it wasn't goal oriented to make me keep the pounds off. Happy boy now that I'm back on a training plan.

Joe Minton

I no longer ride my excellent 2014 Cannondale Synapse; it sits in the garage. Instead, I ride a full-suspension 2008 Gary Fisher Hi-Fi Deluxe fitted with 50mm Schwalbe "Kojak" tires.

The Synapse or any similar road bike requires too much time looking for bumps, grates, potholes & rough spots. And, for a 'geezer' like myself (74yrs), these things are just more trouble than they are worth. I'll put up with the drag (both air and tire) of the mountain bike in return for being able to ride most anywhere and not have to spend much time looking at the ground just ahead for things to dodge. I did my racing 50 years ago ;o)

Joe

Retro Grouch 

I'm guessing Michigan. I remember the 42 wheel steel roll haulers.

Doug64

Maybe the UP. My wife and I did a 1000 mile loop around the Lower Peninsula a few years ago, and the roads were pretty decent. MI also has 1400 miles of rails-to-trails multi use paths. It was a great place to ride.

Moe Zhoost

Some of the roads on my commute are really crappy, but because of this, traffic seems to be more controlled. Although I enjoy a nice, smooth road surface, I find that when they pave a road around here motorists will travel faster with less awareness. Then the city installs speed bumps to control the more aggressive drivers. I never understood the logic of taking a bumpy road, paving it smooth, and then making it bumpy again.

OldsCOOL

Michigan roads in my area arent bad at all. I ride with a supposed butt-numbing Cannondale Criterium Series and 23's at 116psi.

ironwood

650Bx42 tires could help smooth the roads.

digibud

Consider going tubeless if you combine the largest tires your bike can't fit with tubeless you can probably significantly decrease your tire pressure and soften the ride.

VegasTriker

Some states in the Midwest have begun to undo what was done in the 1930s by unpaving rural roads and reverting to gravel. It's a shame as the "farm to market" roads are some of the best for riding in beautiful places with low traffic density. It's a combination of falling revenues from fuel taxes as vehicles got more fuel efficient, increasing cost for repairing roads, and a general desire on the part of many people to pay less in taxes. It's tough here in Nevada. There just aren't many people in rural areas to collect from for road repairs but there are many miles of roads. The urban areas have more success by passing special fuel taxes at the general elections. That money can only be spent on road repair and upgrades.

ltxi

Don't know where you are. Glad I don't live there.

BlazingPedals

OldsCool's area benefits from low road density and high tourist dollars. In the meantime, my county just chip-sealed over 50 miles of those farm-to-market roads. When they chip-seal, they spray oil, spread rock, and leave it for the cars. Bad on paint, windshields, and yes bikes.

canklecat

Bumpy roads are painful on my neck. That's why my first bike when I resumed bicycling last year was a comfort hybrid. Simple spring suspension fork, padded saddle, upright bars, wider tires i can run at lower pressure. I actually enjoy riding gravel and some bombed out roads.

I just added a rigid fork steel frame bike, but I'm hanging onto the comfy hybrid for bad roads and days when my neck is aching. Just a 14 mile ride yesterday on some moderately rough rodes with the rigid fork bike left my neck aching today, so it'll be mostly for smooth roads and short errands.

B. Carfree

I converted my wife's favorite bike, a 1984 Trek 720, to 650B this past year. Coincidentally, I put 42mm tires on and she just loves the change. Smooth and fast, just like predicted. I don't know why anyone would buy a frame that won't take at least 42mm tires unless it's to ride on a track.

CyclingTips Podcast, Episode 9: Rethinking road bike tire sizes and pressures | CyclingTips

OldsCOOL

I know why.

OldsCOOL

Bazinga.

I live in a biking dream area for Michigan.

Rollfast

A. I've gone to an alloy rim at the rear and will eventually do so up from on my Schwinn Cruiser SS.


B. I just going to go nuts with my Rollfasts and maybe add a torsion bar type springer or whatever on Tempest and an all chromed on Rosa... like this from eBay...

ltxi

Until I saw them mounting bolt holes at the bottom I thought i was lookin' at a knee replacement x-ray.

Cougrrcj

My work commute (12.5mi one way) has a really nasty patch of road for almost 3 miles. Even on 28mm tires it is enough to jar the fillings loose in one's teeth!

When I moved here 30 years ago, that stretch of road was a dirt/gravel road through farmland. A ten years later, they out some tar/cinders down - and about five years ago, they built a huge Del Webb community off that road -- 1000 or more houses. So we've had not only the construction traffic, but now the added traffic of the added 1000-home community beating that 'road' with no foundation to death. This in Northern Ohio - the home of potholes! Of course the city says they don't have the money to put in a 'proper' road...

TimothyH

Because the roads in the deep south are like silk sheets.