I'm wanting to head a certain direction over spring break. About 40 miles of the highway is no shoulder 2 lane 55 mph road.

Do you guys shy away from highways like this?

Also, it looks like I'm going to have to at least hop onto a few 65 mph roads - and I understand some of those shoulders are chip seal (unrideable) - what about those?

Thanks for thoughts.

Here is what it can be like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgPlc...eature=related

I ride chip seal roads a lot, so when you say un ride able, I'm not sure what you mean. As for the roads with a 55 mph limit, well it depends on the amount of traffic, but yes I ride those as well. I have ridden the shoulder of interstate highways where allowed to do so in my area. I try of course to avoid those roads, but sometimes they are all that is available. Good luck, make sure you have a good mirror, or be prepared to look over your shoulder a lot. Lights help, even during the day.

Living in Texas, I ride a lot on the type of roads you describe, including lots of chip seal. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to ride at all.

Your best friend on no shoulder roads is your mirror and your ears. Chip seal is very noise so you can hear traffic way off. Be prepared to bale off to the side if conditions warrent, such as when it seems that two vehicles wil meet about where you are. Wear a colorful top and mount a slow moving vehicle sign, maybe even a blinking tail light. Be more cautious in sharp curves where a driver may not spot you from far off.

Not particularly relaxing if the traffic is heavy, but doable.

Riding frequently on chip seal, I purposely leave my tires a bit under inflated to smooth the ride a little.

No shoulder, two lane, 55+ mph?

Yeah, I shy away from those. I'm on vacation when I tour and there's nothing pleasant or relaxing about those kinds of roads if there's any appreciable traffic. Sometimes they're unavoidable for short distances and I suck it up and ride.

When I say chip seal is 'unrideable' it can be done of course, but it kills my hands.

Where I live, that would be suicide and Illegal.

If riding in town or otherwise in traffic, I always use a Super Flash blinky on the back of the bike. Bright clothes, mirror and a blinky, even during the day, always.

That doesn't sound like a whole heck of a lot of fun to me. But I guess it depends are the traffic.

Are you certain there are no back roads? Sometimes they take a lot more planning but worth it.

What? It's illegal to ride on a shoulderless two lane highway in NY? Interesting.

It's not illegal to ride on a shoulderless two lane highway in NY. They have some weird rules about riding on shoulders, but if they aren't ridable or don't exist, no prob.

It is so stressful. I would put on extra miles to find a different route. I ocasionally go out around home on 50+ mile rides and just wander about. Well as murphy's law would have it I get stuck on a two lane, no shoulder death maze and I hate it. I would not plan it or wish it on... not even on the people driving the cars passed me.

There are of course, places where it would be suicidal, tho not illegal, to ride on a shoulderless road. High traffic, or even low traffic with lots of semi's. Got sort of trapped in that situation one time.

We do owe it to ourselves to actively avoid such. For our own safety as well as the safety of motorist. Trying to avoid a cyclist could easily lead to a major accident, not to mention road rage. Fortunantly, where I live, sholderless two lane highways are nearly always low traffic.

Obviously I try to avoid it and rode 20 miles out of the way on a tour in CA trying to get out of the Central Valley so as to avoid one stretch. Other times I have chosen a permitted freeway with 70 mph and a shoulder over a busy 35 mph road with no shoulder.

If it has to be done though I get visible, do the safety triangle, get a strong flashing light and take enough of the lane to make sure they respect my right to be there. Fortunately no problems so far. I find that drivers will not try to squeeze through if it is clear they can't since if they hit a bicycle guy it ruins their whole day. I haven't had a situation where my riding was continuously holding drivers up other than a short 1 mile stretch of a commute I did near Plano, Texas a few years back. Them Big Texas Dually trucks are wide.

The slow moving vehicle triangle seems to help make people recognize that I have a right to be there and I am no different than a tractor or an Amish buggy. I actually have now bought a full size plastic slow moving triangle to further enforce that message to the drivers.

All this being said, I prefer an alternate route that is less stressful if I can and am not into making any kind of advocacy statement.

When on tour I encounter roads like that quite often. If traffic is heavy I prefer to find an alternate route, if not, I don't mind. The worst road I ever rode on was near the end of my Pacific Coast tour, headed inland in the California Central Valley. It was a 55 mph two-lane highway that started out with a nice wide shoulder. But the shoulder deteriorated until it was gone altogether, and around the same point a barrier was put in place along the center line to prevent vehicles from passing each other. Unfortunately, this also had the effect of preventing people from moving over to give me any room. Traffic was extremely heavy with lots of cars, semis, RVs, etc. To add insult to injury, it was over 100 degrees that day. It was a 20-mile-long nightmare.

Like Cyclebum, if I avoided all the shoulderless chipseal 60 mph roads around here, there wouldn't be a lot of places for me to ride. What makes them rideable is relatively sparse traffic. That, to me, would be the deciding factor in whether or not to attempt those roads. If there's a bike store in the area of that road, I'd try contacting it and asking for their advice on routing and the road's rideability.