Hello, is anyone else dealing with frequent flat tires? I tend to ride in the bike lane, a.k.a. the shoulder of busy roads, which has debris that I end up not dodging in time. Is there any way to prevent flatting or do I just need to be more adept at swerving around things? The most recent example was in the dark at 5 am (headlight only does so much), but usually this happens during the day.

Is it always puncture flats or is it pinch flats? What size tires and at what inflation?
If you're getting pinch flats and ride typical "skinny" road bike tires, like 25mm, max inflation can save pinch flats. If wider tires, then increase pressure until you stop getting pinched. But then with wide tires, the beauty is the smoother ride with less than max inflation.

If you're getting punctures from the typical road-edge trash, some people may suggest Continental Gatorskins. Personally, I've never ridden them so take that FWIW.

Someone will soon suggest going tubeless. I don't, and really know little about them so I cannot advise but what I do know sounds like if this is a constant and continual problem tubeless may certainly be worth looking into and may be your answer.

Yeah, bike lanes and wide shoulders get all the nasty stuff swept in to them. Nails, screws, nuts, bolts, wire, glass, underwear, diapers, road kill, etc, etc, etc.

Road shoulders and cycling lanes here that adjoin the road are notorious for sharp objects and broken glass that is blown from the roadway by faster moving traffic.

Don't ride in the shoulder of the road. Cars and trucks will go around you. I haven't had any issues riding in the traffic lanes. Though your area might have way more traffic and drivers that aren't as patient as I have here.

In that case, you might be a good candidate for tubeless tires if you have to stay on the shoulder. Though they will require you to learn some new ways. And will need attention several times a year. But at least that can be done at home and not on the side of the road.

Mostly 23 mm road bike tires, my other bike's tires are a little wider. Will keep in mind about tire pressure, thank you!

We all been there. My journey to get rid of flats (my tube record: 5 in one ride, hell, 5 in a 1/4 mile stretch !) includes:

1. Wider tires (ie: from 25mm to minimum 28mm)
2. Quality tires (Pirelli, I'm sure there are others, and trash those Conti 5000 tubed creatures)
3. Watch dat pressure - higher pressure for those pesky tubed ones. 75+ lbs for 28mm-30mm
4. TUBELESS for most of my bikes and pressures = 65 lbs for 30mm, 60 lbs for 32mm
5. Did I mention tubeless?

While I never had issues in the old days with Gatorskins, still have 'em hanging on the tire tree (23mm, 25mm, and 28mm), and they do reduce flats, there are many tall tales about their lack of grip in corners and the wet. If I commuted I might set a bike up with 'em though. Bit of a ***** to mount/unmount.

Normally I would suggest tubeless but at 23mm width, tubeless is no good. The pressure is too high and the volume of air is too little.

The OP specifically stated he rode in the bike lanes. I would think a guaranteed way to piss off drivers would be to ride in a vehicle lane with a bike lane next to you. If no bike lane, then you have a valid point.

I had the Schwalbe Green Guard in a 42-622 for my MTB-Hybrid. No flats in four years and about 8K miles before swapping for Marathon Supremes (no longer available). I ran over all kinds of debris including broken glass. The Green Guards do come in a 25mm. They are a robust tire but you will suffer a weight and rotational inertia penalty but I did not care as I ride for recreation only.

Maybe. But I haven't had any issues here. However, there are roads that I wouldn't ride on with a bicycle regularly. But I have ridden on some of them due to construction preventing me from going my usual routes. And despite the backed up traffic behind me, I didn't get any horns or angry shouts when I got to a section that traffic could pass me on.

So I will acknowledge that things might be different elsewhere. But I also think that people should find out by doing and not just assume it to be so.

My bike w 700x25 Gatorskins has not flatted out at all in the couple of seasons I’ve been using them. My other road bike w 700x26 Pirelli s has had 2 flats this year. Of note neither flat occurred from punctures that I was able to determine. It seemed the tubes just developed cracks one near the stem valve and leaked out. Most seasons I seldom get flats but I’ve been happy w the performance and ride of the Gatorskins although next tire change I’d like to move both bikes up to 28s.

Lots of good ideas presented. I'll add one major point. (which is actually 2)
Vision and sightline.
If you're having to 'swerve' around hazards, then you're needing to improve possibly 2 things - 1. Identifying a hazard earlier. If you can't ID the hazard then you're bound to encounter it.
Which means you need to 'recognize' that it's a hazard. And seeing it well ahead of having to do emergency maneuvers. To do that one needs to take direct attention away from the immediate front of wheel area and see more of what is well ahead of you. The further forward you can focus, the more comfortable margin you have to decide the avoidance measure. The faster you ride, the further down the road you need to See and identify. Really strong motorcycle riders develop that skill to a high level, or you're never on the bike long enough to become 'skilled'.
2. Sightline - is in conjunction with the Long vision awareness. Whatever limits you're sightline should also affect on how and how fast you ride. Idea is to never outride your sightline. So many things impact on sightline, obstacles, lighting, your own vision reality, your reaction abilities...
If it's dark, your sightline is limited by what you can see, usually what is well lit by your lights. You have to match your speed and skills to what you can see from your lighting.
If you're not happy with your night sight, get more or better lighting...
Most riding areas/roads are not homogeneous. There are bad, crappy sections and then those which are nice, smooth, clean. RIding aware is important, they require different attention.
As for tubeless - it's an option. For me anything 28mm or narrower tire/wheel, I would not rely on tubeless, too little air volume at too high pressure to be worthwhile if you get anything above a tiny pinhole puncture
More Puncture resistent tires - a good additional option, if the 'ride' quality works for you
Ultimately, SIghtline and A well developed ID/vision of hazards as early as possible will go a long way to reducing punctures.
Ride On
Yuri

That's a tough one.

If you know (or can make friends with) anyone in the highway dept., or on the town council, or even the police, then maybe you can ask them for help to get the bike lane cleaned better/more often. (For example: in elementary school my daughter was friends with the daughter of one of the highway dept. guys, so when he plowed our street after a snow storm, he would take a little extra care not to bury the end of our driveway in a big drift of plowed snow.) It probably wouldn't do any harm to go down to the highway dept. and ask someone there if there was anything you could do to get the bike lanes cleaned better/more often. At least in my town, those guys do want to help, as long as you frame it as asking for help instead of criticizing/complaining. You might learn something, too (for example, maybe they just don't have the equipment to clean the bike lanes) that could point you to another way to advocate for change.

You can also go to the town council meeting and raise your concern there - again, presenting it as something you need help with and not a knock on the people responsible for cleaning the streets. It may not help immediately, but at least if you raise the concern and something happens you have a record that you notified them of issues.

Otherwise, as others have suggested, Gatorskins/Armadillos/Mr Tuffy tire liners/higher pressure/better lights/etc.

I probably should have posted in the commuter thread because I ride along a 50 mile per hour road for a reason, though it may be crazy to some.

I've been running Continental Gatorskins and it does appear that I've been getting pinch flats, as an FYI, due to too low of tire pressure. I'm on it!

I bike commute daily and have been using tire liners for 14 years now. They let me run lighter, more supple tires. I started with Mr. Tuffy's, some of my bikes have slime and one other brand I can't remember
(Slime tire liner strips, not the goo.)

I ride Canton Parkway for a reason too. It's part of a long route that I do occasionally. This is one of the roads that has a cycling lane on the shoulder that is not used by virtually any cyclist due to trash. It's speed limit is 55mph. But many motor vehicles are going way faster than that. It's never terribly busy. Probably a car or truck is going by me every couple minutes. They don't seem to mind me or others staying in the traffic lane. They have the left lane they can use.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/j3jmDBQ18uiitgP28

Now Spillway road has nonstop traffic on it. Seldom is there not a dozen motor vehicles passing every couple minutes or so during the slow times. And bumper to bumper 60 - 65 mph traffic during the busy times. Even though it is also posted as 55 mph. Here, I will use the cycling lane. Though it has lots of broken bottles and broken auto glass in it. It's the reason I went tubeless recently. Could include it in my regular ride routes with out having to worry about flatting.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/heGk6R39Z1KaSBV98

The pictures of both might seem like the cycling lane is clean. However it is not. There is a lot of small debris and glass fragments that isn't in the road way for motor vehicles. As their speed creates enough air current to keep them swept clean and pushed into the shoulder/cycling lane.

Look for theses been around for decades.

Flat Stoppers, Tire Savers shout out

I'll just repeat what I always say about tubeless. My wife and I have 5-6 yrs with tubeless on 4 different road bikes. Zero flats.