I just recently started riding a road bike. I find myself having to watch the road condition like a hawk all the time to avoid running into anything. Moreover, because of the dropbars, I find that I am unable to look farther ahead or my neck hurts. I must be doing something wrong. What obstacles are safe to run over? Acrons? Pebbles less than an inch? Uneven asphalt, particularly near the edge of the manhole?

Parked cars and fire hydrants should be avoided at all costs.

First, something is bad wrong if you can't look forward without hurting your neck. You may not be flexible enough for your bike, or your fit could be bad.

Second, avoid every obstacle that might harm you. Some obstacles in that set are the same for everyone (cars, people, walls, etc.), but others are specific to you. I can ride over a bunch of stuff now that used to threaten my balance.

Little Ol ladies crossing the street,,,

Broken glass.

1. Get your bicycle set up correctly.

2. Don't ride in the drops. Ride on the hoods.

Regarding the neck strain -- assuming the bike fits you appropriately -- you should work on neck and back strength and flexibility in addition to riding.

I need to do this almost every day, otherwise I'd never be able to ride a bike at all, let alone a drop bar road bike. Old neck and back injury and damaged C2 vertebrae from a car wreck umpteen years ago.

Just the basics to start -- neck rolls, shoulder rolls, etc. Gradually ease into strengthening. Stop whenever your neck is hurting and do some more stretches and massage the neck and shoulder muscles. I usually need to stop every 5-10 miles on the road bike to do this. I can ride farther with less discomfort on my upright hybrids, but I'm determined to get back into shape for the drop bar bike.

Regarding road hazards, avoid 'em all with skinny tire road bikes. They'll stumble over their own shadows, compared with bikes with fatter tires at lower pressure. A parking lot entrance ramp ledge that a 700x38 or wider tire would ignore might knock a skinny road bike tire off balance, if taken at the wrong angle. Ditto railroad track crossings, rutted and broken asphalt, etc. Avoid 'em all, if possible, or take the crossings perpendicularly at right angles.

And even puncture resistant road bike tires are vulnerable compared with puncture resistant hybrid tires. So avoid 'em all if you can.

That's why you need to work on neck conditioning. And don't just plow ahead with your head down when you're too tired to keep your head up. Stop and rest and massage the neck and shoulders.

Thank you for the helpful tips! I will admit the bike is an inch larger than my recommended frame size. I didn't think it would make much of a difference because I was ok during the test ride. Now that it's bought, I will just have to cope with it.

I'll second the suggestion regarding the fit and neck exercises.

Watch out for the basic road impediments (glass, sticks, rocks/gravel), but also be aware of longitudinal seams in the pavement. They can grab your tire and throw you for a loop! I usually find them where the road asphalt meets the concrete gutter.

Doors opening on parked cars.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sizes are somewhat flexible. My favorite bike is 58cm, technically slightly large for me (I'm 5'11", 33" inseam). I can straddle it flat footed but there ain't much room for Johnson and the twins. But with 175 cranks, a longer top tube, etc., it's like riding a sofa bike. I can ride it all day and night without getting tired. I suppose it would be closer to a French Fit if I used drop bars, which I might someday as my neck conditioning improves.

My new-to-me (going on three weeks and about 15 rides) road bike is a 22.5" 1989 vintage Centurion Ironman. Technically 57cm, although Centurion had no such official size in the catalog so it was probably rounded down to 56cm or up to 58cm. But it's very noticeably shorter than my 58cm Univega. It has 172.5 cranks, shorter top tube, steeper head tube angle, very "sporty" ride that translates into more neck pain. Took about three weeks to finish some 10-20 mile rides without stopping for a minute to stretch my back and neck.

BTW, if you're not accustomed to taking lane control where appropriate, start getting used to it.

I don't mean to get off into a digression about cyclists vs drivers. Not my point. I mean do what's necessary for your own safety.

That means do not ride in the gutter or "as far right as possible". That's not what any cycling law says -- it's "as far right as practicable". Totally different word and legal interpretation. It means you aren't mandated to ride in the rutted, busted up pavement, or in the broken glass and construction debris along the road side.

My usual practice when I need to share a lane with vehicles is to take the rightmost wheel track. This is usually clear of oil, debris, and is smoother from years of wheels rounding off those rough edges in chipseal (our atrocious rural Texas "pavement"). It makes me more visible and generally encourages considerate drivers to pass safely.

If I try to hug the edge, I'm constantly distracted by watching for busted up pavement and broken glass, when my attention should include traffic around me. And hugging the road edge only confuses drivers. They're not sure whether or how to pass us. And we're less visible in tricky lighting.

So make yourself safer by using appropriate lane control so you avoid most road hazards and also help drivers by making it clear that we're sharing the road. It may seem counter intuitive but most drivers will pass safely more often when you ride this way.

By my own recent experience, be aware of low hanging branches and railroad tracks. Crashes, concussions and expensive bike repairs were my lessons for not always keeping my vision on the road ahead.

"That means do not ride in the gutter or "as far right as possible". That's not what any cycling law says -- it's "as far right as practicable". Totally different word and legal interpretation. It means you aren't mandated to ride in the rutted, busted up pavement, or in the broken glass and construction debris along the road side."

And it should be noted the cyclist decides what's practical.

I've learned my lesson the hard way with low hanging branches as well. Luckily, I saw it at the last second and got my head down so my helmet took the hit. I was able to stay on the bike.

I've noticed that my helmet visors cut off a bit of my upper peripheral vision. So, the first thing that goes when I get a new helmet is the visor. Lately I've been wondering about eyebrows

One of my worst recent pinch flats was skimming the edge of a sewer grate at dark, there were some deep cracks in the pavement. At least that one, I look out for and avoid. I suppose avoid pavement cracks in general.

Things like 2x4s are good for giving you pinch flats. I try to avoid gravel, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

Moving cars? Trees? Mailboxes? Those garbage cans that people like to put in the middle of bike paths? Deer?

Be careful with edges, such as manholes and the junction between pavement and a bridge. If the edge is tall enough and you hit it with too much speed, you will compress the tire/tube against the wheel and get what is known as a pinch flat or snakebite flat. There will be two small holes on the inner circumference of the inner tube.

Don't run over plastic shopping bags, a/k/a Arkansas Tumble Weeds. They can get wrapped up in your chain/rear derailleur and bring you to a quick halt.

Watch out for sticks/limbs as they can get hung in your chain, spokes, and derailleurs.

Gravel on otherwise paved roads can be deleterious to control of your bike, especially in corners. Larger rocks can cause pinch flats.

As you get more miles in, you'll learn more about obstacles, what to avoid, and how to react.

When I look at cyclists passing me on road bikes, or coming the other way, typically their elbows are locked, meaning that their bars are too low for comfort. I suspect people are attracted to the look of super low bars, but that they aren't really appropriate for most of us.

I ride swept bars, with no shame. Comfort for miles and miles.

Oh,
And don't run over those little shards of wires thrown off by bald radial tires.

They're like hypodermic needles to bike tires.

Avoid everything you see, no matter how small, on a road bike. You'll probably be going too fast to accurately identify it, and it could be sharp. The 1/2" asphalt chunks up here, that are spewed everywhere when there is roadwork going on contain a lot of mica, which shreds tires. So avoid everything you can, but if you get a flat, don't worry: It's a good excuse to take a 10-minute break.

Be careful of other cyclists sneaking up from behind and passing too closely.

dont run over anything in corners, if you hit a nut on the front wheel youll most likely slowside in an instant

Simplest thing ... look ahead, not down. Learn to do that. if you are looking down you won't have time to avoid the little things ... and it won't matter because you will die.

Would ride as a passenger in a car with a driver who only looked ten feet ahead? Would you let your children (assuming you like your kids, of course)?

Raise the stem, shorten the stem if needed. Ride on the hoods or the drops, Practice. I am not joking. if you only look ten feet ahead you will be a statistic. At the speed things happen on the road, you need max field of vision.

On the way there i strongly recommend suburban neighborhood riding. you will see enough pavement cracks and storm grates, cars parked in the road, kids running out of driveways, to give you enough riding challenge to give you some confidence and also some safe miles.

"Bike handling" is a loose term that basically means "not falling over" and "going around obstacles without crashing." if I were you I would practice riding on smooth grass, smooth pavement, and also the transition between the two. I would recommend doing a few panic stops every day---practice stopping as hard as you can, see if you can lock up the back wheel ... you will develop instincts which could save your life.

I would practice doing tight-radius turns. Try to do a u-turn in one lane of a road.

Riding on grass and slightly uneven turf will help your confidence because the bike will bounce a little, and you will learn to relax and let it ... to Ride the bike, and not lock it in a death grip ....

You can also ride slowly on packed earth, even with really hard skinny tires. This is great because you gain confidence, and if the soil shifts a little, you will instinctively keep the bike upright and be thrilled at your own innate skill.

People nowadays have the idea that a skinny-tire road bike can only ride on smooth pavement. That's where they are best, for sure ... but you can ride them on all kinds of surfaces.

All of them if possible.

You really should learn how to ride across railroad tracks, metal grates, metal expansion joints, and grated bridge decks, to name a few.