SylvainG

These are the baddest roads I take during my commute. How do they compare to yours?

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.50335...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.50163...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.44045...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43960...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43917...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43684...2!8i6656?hl=fr

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43394...2!8i6656?hl=fr

Flip Flop Rider

pretty rough, but at least it's not very crowded

SylvainG

Nope not crowed, when I'm sharing the road with cars and and not on bike paths, I get passed by 2 to 10 cars my hole 45 minutes commute, hence why I chose that route (plus it's the shortest).

mcours2006

I'd take those empty, crack-filled road over a busy, smoothly paved one any day. They don't look too bad.

JanMM

You're certainly not out on country roads; looks pretty pleasant to me.

Machka 

If I commuted, this would be my route ...

TimothyH

Machka, where is that?

I commute up my stairs to a spare bedroom/office.

Machka 

Hobart.

We live south of the city, close to the water, so I'd have to climb up and over that in heavy morning traffic to get into Hobart.

The bus does the job much more efficiently.

wipekitty

This fine quality Wisconsin road is part of my commute: Main Street La Crosse
It's not bad and low traffic, but has typical potholes and cracks. Since my commute is rather short and involves streets on a grid system, I can avoid most of the worst roads.

OTOH, Highway 162 is convenient for a lot of road cycling routes, but the descent makes me very nervous every time...

jamesdak 

Well, if I commuted I'd have to ride down and then back up this canyon each day. It's a narrow road with no shoulders in most places. On one side you have barriers and the river and on the other you have the mountain side and rock walls.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2535...2!8i6656?hl=en

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2379...2!8i6656?hl=en

Even once I reach my valley it's a wonderful view with low traffic volume but no shoulders at all most of the way and rough chipseal. I ride these roads everyday.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2807...2!8i6656?hl=en

The "major intersection" near the house...

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3048...2!8i6656?hl=en

drlogik 

SylvainG,

Which one is the bad one I'm supposed to look at?

Cougrrcj

I have three miles of this bad road on my commute - and it is worse than it looks in pictures. There are some missing chunks, so the holes are 3-4" deep, the cracks are about an inch across. The pictures also don't show the 1" deep herringbone pattern in the surface from when a farm tractor went down that road when it was soft and left permanent tire impressions. I ride on 27x1-1/8 tires (that's 28mm for you 700c guys) and the rough road has literally rattled my rear blinkie light to death!

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3537...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3619...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3650...7i13312!8i6656

This is through an industrial park:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3716...7i13312!8i6656

then there's the 'No pedestrians or bicycles' section that I have to ride for only a mile

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3799...7i13312!8i6656

Four miles of this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3963...7i13312!8i6656

and then the last two miles of my commute are:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4338...7i13312!8i6656

SylvainG

First one looks like it's rough like mine but the second one would make me nervous too. Highway, no shoulder and curving

Signs on the first says it's not recommended for pedestrian and cyclist. Shoulder doesn't look that narrow to me, but the second, wow. Nice road but not only no shoulder, I would be afraid of falling rocks! Third one looks peaceful but not when buzzed by cars and trucks.

I wouldn't want to ride on your roads if you don't find those I posted bad

Yep, first part is worst than mine but then, wow, smooth ride from there...

When I'm not on the road, these are some of the bike paths that I take.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4414...8!9m2!1b1!2i38

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4554...8!9m2!1b1!2i38

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4406...8!9m2!1b1!2i38

BlazingPedals

You need to ride a nice northern Michigan road. None of the patches shown are level, and they're enough to bounce a car off the road.

AlexCyclistRoch

Well, I see the roads around Gatineau haven't improved in the last 20 years.

SylvainG

Nope, but they did fixed many bike path

supton

Last weekend I did this stretch:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4821...7i13312!8i6656
Doesn't look bad here, 'cuz the map is old. It's way more cracked now. 55mph road, but with little traffic. This section is a 13mph grind going up and 20+ coming down. I spent more time dodging road cracks than pedaling...
Better shot: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4723...7i13312!8i6656

Machka 

I looked at three of them and wondered the same thing ... they look like normal roads to me.

This one here, for example, look really quite good ... complete with little shoulder. @SylvainG ... you're lucky!

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.43960...2!8i6656?hl=fr

SylvainG

And you're supposed to ride on that shoulder (I know I wouldn't ride on a 55mph road if it doesn't have a large enough shoulder)? That road is not cycling friendly that's for sure...

Didn't show the bad stretch. Here's a better view of it.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.44032...2!8i6656?hl=fr

But yeah, compared to others, I don't have it "that bad". I had no point of reference hence why I started the thread

supton

I ride as far right as possible, IIRC that's all the law says. Often that means I'm about a foot to the left of the white line, as the white line sometimes disappears... Traffic around here is usually pretty good about giving wide berth. Although one time I felt like I was run off the road: school bus came up behind me, I could hear it--and I could see an even larger truck coming towards us. Me being the most little fish in the pond, something told me I should steer into the dirt and just wait for 'em to pass.

There's another road with real 60mph traffic, and lots of it, and a nice 3' wide paved shoulder. That is a nicer road to ride on, of course, but with all the traffic... I tend to avoid. I'd rather have to deal with the occasional car and better scenery.

Machka 

This is quite a nice route, one we've done several times. But you've got to pick your times. It's not good to ride it during tourist season. I'm pretty sure the speed limit is 100 km/h.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-43....2!8i6656?hl=en


This is another route we enjoy riding, and it has the benefit of being remote enough to be reasonably quiet most of the year. Again, I'm pretty sure the speed limit is 100 km/h. It usually is when the road is paved.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-42....2!8i6656?hl=en


Many of our roads are paved for a while, then have a section of, perhaps, 2-7 km of gravel, then return to paved again.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-43....2!8i6656?hl=en


Or they start paved and then simply turn to gravel.

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-42....2!8i6656?hl=en

supton

That's a crazy smooth looking dirt road. Very nice.

Machka 

They can be ... depends what the weather has been like. If it has been raining quite a bit (i.e. winter) they can get pretty rutty. If it has been really dry for a while, the gravel can become rather like cycling in sand.

SylvainG

They repaved that road earlier this Summer and it's now very smooth pavement with a nice bike lane on each side

They're also redoing a boulevard by my place that I refused to take because it has no ridable shoulder and was in bad shape. They're adding a bike path so that first one I posted (the road that has the worst condition), I won't need to use anymore come September

alcjphil

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.45912...2!8i6656?hl=fr
Typical of the streets in my area