5/6/14 9:17 AM

Walter's thread brought up an issue I've been having trouble with.

2-lane country road, curvy and rolling. Quiet except for the "occasional" car or two, or three.

Where I live and ride, there're a lot of roads like that. If I carry the moomentum from the downhill side of the roller, I can crest the next roller with relatively little effort while on the big ring (standing if neccessary to push up the last few yards). I enjoy that kind of ride a lot, and that's why I ultimately choose to live at this spot of the county.

For a long time, I've been using the full width of the road, which means I move to the center or even the left side of the road when the road curve to the right. That gave me the best view of the how the road ahead curves or if there's any obstacle on the road, branches, sand, pothole. I can then adjust my speed to take it as fast as it's safe.

When there's no car, which is most of the cases, it work perfectly fine. But on those rare occasion there's a speeding on-coming car, things can get hairy real fast. I've had more than one close calls when the combined approaching speed was greater than our combined stopping distance available! So far, disaster were averted when, after realizing I wouldn't be able to stop in time, I swerve to the right and shoot throught the space between the car's left wing mirror and the right edge of the road, at far too high a speed for comfort. Early last season, I did a ride when this happened TWICE!

After a few too many of those close calls (specifically, the ride early last year), I stopped using the full width of the road but only stayed on the right half (or 1/4) of the road. The problem of doing that becomes, I have much worse vision of what the other side of the curve is like! It was part of the contributing factor in my crash last year, I didn't see the curve tighten up early enough to adjust my speed to match.

Seems to me, to survey the "static" condition ahead, I'm better off using the full width of the road (moving left on a right hand curve). But that puts me in harms way in the rare "dynamic" situation when there's a speding on-coming car who, not too uncommonly, choose to drive in the middle of a (very quiet country) road. The combine speed of car + bike may become too great for the reflex of the driver+cyclist.

Slowing down obviously helps. But let's face it, more speed is more fun! (not to mention it makes going up the next roller easy and speedy) So I'm interested in how others do and why.

5/6/14 9:50 AM

This is pretty much the only case in which I am a right-winger. Especially on curves such as those you describe, remember that the driver may be thinking the same thing as you are, and moving to his or her left at the same time you are. Bad combination.

I'm probably over-cautious, but I tend to stay 3' from the shoulder line (not from the edge of the pavement) and I head for the shoulder if need be (the exception is the long, straight descent where I'm traveling near the speed limit and drivers can see me--in that case, I'm in the middle of the lane to discourage the folks who want to floor it).

Country roads are hazardous because drivers enjoy them as much as cyclists, but they're juiced on horsepower and protected (or so they think)* by a lot of metal.

*Last fall, a kid in my church thought this, miscalculated on a curve, and ended up hitting a phone pole that went most of the way into the driver's seat. His passengers survived, but he became an organ donor.

5/6/14 9:55 AM

I would never stray into the opposing lane purposely.

I have one route that has a fast, tight blind right turn nearly exactly as you describe. Where I am going in with speed (off a hill) and opposing vehicles can be tempted to drift into my lane because it's a fast sweeping turn.

In that situation I ride tight to the right shoulder (there is a concrete barrier there) and perhaps scrub speed so I can further adjustment my line if someone is oncoming. Better than ending up in someone's grill.

5/6/14 10:36 AM

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I tend to stay 3' from the shoulder line (not from the edge of the pavement) and I head for the shoulder if need be

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5/6/14 10:49 AM

If the roads April are like what I think, they tend to have a big crown and broken pavement too, or not uncommon, yes?

I am with sanrensho pretty much.

But some roads are so un-busy you get complacency setting in. And the guy in the car does also, thinking no one is out here and I can play and go as fast as I want to... Back to Walters thread where the car/driver playing on the back road sees you on the bike as a squirrel/varmint etc on his road. ;O Small windows in time far apart from each other for big potential problems. ;) Or at least close calls...

Not sure I can suggest anything substantive in navigation/lines etc. Per circumstance at the time place I guess...

5/6/14 11:18 AM

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they tend to have a big crown and broken pavement too

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5/6/14 12:37 PM

I think that the takeaway here, for what it's worth, is to stay in an area that is unambiguously NOT THE OTHER LANE. This is especially true if there is no center line to indicate the lanes.

Note that I did not say "that is unambiguously YOUR LANE." There's a difference. You want to be in a place that an oncoming driver would feel positively uncomfortable being, and if that means close to the edge of the road, then that's where you have to be for safety.

Yeah, you end up going a lot slower. But your odds of survival are significantly better.

5/6/14 9:25 PM

When descending, I only use the full width of the road where I can see far enough around the bend ahead to know that I can complete the corner and get back onto my side of the road before any oncoming traffic could be a problem.

But even staying on the correct side of the road is no guarantee. A friend of ours was descending Bobbin Head Rd near Sydney a few years back - it's a twisting, winding descent through National Park - and coming round a blind corner found an oncoming vehicle completely on the wrong side of the road. He went right through the windscreen into the passenger compartment, but amazingly didn't break a single bone, in spite of a combined impact speed that must have been over 100kph. His injuries amounted to a collapsed lung and needing medial ligament surgery a few months later, and as he was unconscious for a fair while after the accident he spent a couple of days in hospital. But seeing the much more severe injuries that I've seen riders sustain just from falling off their bikes with no other vehicle involved, he got off remarkably lightly.

5/6/14 10:21 PM

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But even staying on the correct side of the road is no guarantee...

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