Me too. When on tour, we tend to avoid cities like the plague, so are rarely in heavy traffic. But I live in a city and deal with heavy traffic a lot while commuting.

Left out of this discussion so far are the peculiar dangers associated with aging. Slower reflexes, poorer eyesight and hearing, cardiovascular compromises. They sort of creep up on us, then boom, can get you.

This was brought to my attention recently when I allowed myself to become dehydrated. In combo with a couple of other conditions of age, caused me to pass out while riding. Would not have happened maybe even 5 years ago.

No reason to stop touring for sure. Just reason to be more careful and more aware of your limitations.

Very good point - even though I wish it weren't so!

ENjoying it so much that I don't want to come home. ;-)

Seriously though - life is full of risk. When I'm touring I'm just trading one common set of risks for another. It all balances out in the end.

What typically throws off the balance--and thereby creates the greatest threat while touring--is poor judgement, often the product of vanity.

Possibly, though in my ( admittedly limited ) experience with bike tourists, they tend to be relatively level-headed people. Or maybe I'm just old and boring, and so are they. ;-)

Inattentive drivers is number 1. Texting and web-browsing from cell phones has increased risk to cyclists imo.

There really is no argument here. The greatest risk to cyclists is always traffic.

I think it depends on where you're touring. Many times, traffic will be a serious concern, but there are some beautiful tours along desolate rural roads where wildlife or serious mechanical failures can be serious.

Not wanting to go back home :-)

I hear ya on that one!

use a mirror on your helmet....
 

I can see a bad situation coming (trucks) when I have a mirror.
I don't use a mirror (or a helmet) around town. STUPID.

In Montana, where they have few shoulders on state highways I learned a trick from some Europeans.
When I see traffic coming up behind me at 60 mph I get out into the center of the lane.
They slow down to alot when I'm in the center of the lane, then I move over to the right and allow them to go around me. This worked great! It prevented cars or trucks from trying to sqeeze by be at 60 mph. Hugging the right side of the road increases the risk of getting clipped.

Yes, "taking the lane" on a busy highway is certainly the best way to avoid getting injured.

I imagine that the biggest threat to me in just about any situation is my own stupidity.

I've had all sorts of mishaps on the road. The most serious was running out of water on a hot day on a long climb. Next to that was a brake failure on a rainy day. A few times, motorists were a bit closer to me than I would have liked, but they still gave me some room. There have also been some minor problems. I've had to contend with flat tires, occasional broken spokes, a broken front rack mount on a couple of occasions, a faulty rear pannier, a broken chain once and other similar items. No dangerous wildlife. No urban gangs. No angry farmers with shotguns. No food poisoning. No flash floods or wildfires.

People, for sure. I'm a pretty defensive rider and I have no qualms about pulling off the road if someone is coming up too close. I'm never in so much of a hurry that I can't stop if I feel it would be unsafe to do otherwise. So long as I keep a wary eye on my rear mirror, I don't feel too threatened by inattentive drivers.

Intentionally malicious people worry me the most. I feel too vulnerable on my bike and I react very poorly to outright hostility. I had some rednecks in a truck follow along behind me and call me all sorts of crude unmentionables once, and I was worried they'd stop or throw something at me. As soon as another car approached, they left, but for the rest of the day I'd cringe a bit every time someone drove past. Even someone shouting the more common "get off the road" affects me more than it should, when I have only my own thoughts for company. My confidence in stealth camping faltered for a while after I got caught by a cop, who proceeded to talk down to me, accuse me of vagrancy, and berate me for traveling in such a way, alone.

Of course, for every bad encounter there are a dozen good ones. Even in the case of the ******bag cop, he ended up calling his superior, who told him to go away and let me sleep. He did. After the incident with the truck, I found a free campground with hot showers and was invited to a wonderful dinner with a couple of RVers staying there.

As far as other possible dangers... I've encountered a few black bears, but never felt too threatened by them. I've never been chased by a dog who didn't lose interest when I got off my bike. I carry more water then I need and a heavy duty tarp to protect my tent from hail. When severe weather is expected, I camp somewhere where I can get to shelter if the tornado sirens go off. Cold weather always used to intimidate me, but I have better gear for it this year, so maybe I can strike that off my list. I've gotten sick a couple times on tour, and quickly learned not to ride when I can't get food down, and that I'm not really better until I'm hungry. Catching a longer lasting bug worries me a bit, I imagine that would be pretty miserable.

Here is something I read on a crazyguy journal, which worked well for the author. Any time a vehicle slowed down to harass him, he'd start reading off it's license plate number at the top of his lungs. Pulling out a cellphone or camera would probably have much the same effect.

+1 My jobs are fairly high risk so touring with all it's "hazards" is comparatively relaxing.

It it no more dangerous to tour elsewhere than it is to cycle at home.


This is one of the reasons why I encourage potential cycletourists to ride lots in lots of different conditions at home prior to going on tour. Become familiar with what you might encounter elsewhere ... and deal with it.

Sunburn.

Speedo

chipmunks in the oatmeal, or equivalent. Carrier mosquitos. Sunburn is pretty pernicious though.

the risk of traffic is always there. Sometimes traffic or road conditions makes your tour like riding amidst a cloud of angry hornets and one just soldiers on thru.

I'm always more worried about the securing the oatmeal, or the mosquitos.

HA! I hear ya there!

((sigh)) Why don't more people get that???

I think one of the things that people don't get is the idea that my "foreign place" is your "home" ... your "foreign place" is my "home".

In other words, I live in a particular part of Australia. To me, this is "home" and I'm comfortable here. I'm comfortable going out for long bicycle rides, with buying food at the grocery stores around here, etc., etc. Meanwhile, you live in a particular part of the US. That's "home" for you and you're comfortable there.

If I were to pack up and fly across to your part of the US, that would be a trip to a foreign country for me ... a potentially scary foreign country. But if I were to tell you that your part of the US was a potentially scary foreign place, you'd probably laugh because it's your home ... you feel safe and comfortable there.

Same with people coming here to this part of Australia from a foreign country like the US ... they might feel that Australia is a potentially scary foreign country, and I'd laugh because it's my home and I feel safe and comfortable here.

Most places I have travelled or want to travel are someone else's home where they feel safe and comfortable, where they ride their bicycles, get groceries, go camping on the weekends, take in the attractions etc. etc. ... just like I want to do when I'm there.

And the thing is, with forums like this, many places I travel are places where people on this forum live and cycle. If people on this forum feel comfortable living and riding their bicycles around their homes, why shouldn't I feel comfortable riding my bicycle when I visit their areas?

I dunno... I honestly don't understand why people feel riding a bike somewhere other than "my" home is dangerous, even though those places are someone's home. And the funniest part is when people move and their new home suddenly becomes safe and comfortable to ride around whereas 6 months ago it would have been dangerous. I don't get it.

Many people, even in this day and age, are born, grow up, and remain in the same area all their lives.

I have a coworker here who is about my age and who has done just that. She has never lived anywhere else but this town, and aside from one trip up to Queensland once long ago, she has not gone anywhere. Camping trips for her quite literally involve packing up the stuff, driving about 500 metres up the road from where they live, and pitching the tent by the river for the weekend.

She asked me about the bears in Canada. She watches TV and has apparently seen shows where people get attacked by bears ... and came to the conclusion that Canada is crawling with bears and any encounter with a bear would end in death. So she wanted to know if I'd ever seen a bear, and how common they were. Obviously I'm alive so therefore, somehow I must not have encountered one. I told her that I've seen several bears in my life, some quite close up, and I did not feel that any of the encounters were dangerous.

Still, she made the comment that she was glad I was here in Australia now where I'd be safe. So I told her that the impression of Australia in Canada is that it is crawling with poisonous snakes and spiders, and that you can't go a day without encountering one and being in a life threatening situation. She thought about it a moment and then laughed.


When I lived in Manitoba, I encountered numerous people who were born, raised, and remained in Manitoba all their lives. It seemed that was a very common trait of many Manitobans. If they went anywhere it was to the cottage at the lake 50 or 100 km away, and that's as far as they went. When I talked to someone there, I could usually tell within minutes whether they were born-and-bred Manitobans or were like me (imported) based on their view of the world. The born-and-bred ones exhibited a certain degree of negativity and apprehension about anywhere outside of Manitoba.

The extent of this really surprised me when one of my older coworkers and I were talking about my upcoming first trip to the UK. He was very worried about me going there and didn't think I should because ......... of the war going on over there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! War?? In the UK in 2002????

But that's the sort of perspective many of them had about the world ... whatever little bit of information they got from TV, newspapers, old books, or whatever, and quite often that information tends to be a bit frightening.


We have a completely different perspective because we've lived and travelled in various places.