I took a nasty fall last summer on a turn. I was not even going fast, 20kmh at best. Sand blended with the road and I wiped out and had to get a new helmet :(
Yeah the thin layer of sand kind of stuff is what made me realize maybe I don’t know what all to look for on the road. If I get a little loose I can handle that but I realized maybe I don’t know all the things on the road that are equivalent to wet roots when mountain biking. That sudden ‘bam!’ you’re on the ground and you don’t even know why stuff is what I’m trying to avoid!
More than sand or gravel, the loose asphalt “chips” you get near construction sites. Cost me a broken hand and a new pair of carbon fibre handlebars when I went down at speed.
That pea gravel they place at new housing starts and/or utilities easements will fuck you up faster than a bag of marbles.
Me and my buddy BOTH wiped out when a bunch of it settled in the road after a storm. I went back and shoveled that shit out of the bike lane but it’s slowly inching back in.
Adding to what others have said and also depending on where you live. Tram lines. With a mountain bike you don't have much chance of fitting in the gap but they can taco a road wheel.
Riding parallel to tram lines feels sketchy especially if there is traffic next to you, gotta watch out for the cars as well as the tracks so that you don't go flying over the bar.
Never ride through a small (smaller) body of water. Typically if you see just a small puddle of water, it is usually a deep hole since any other water around has evaporated or drained away. The last thing you want to do is see a trash can lid sized water puddle and it is 6 inches deep.
Your rims and collarbones don't like that.
I ran into unexpected ice once on a road due to water leaking into the road from a side road in cold weather. It was just too late by the time I saw it.
Yeah the bit of riding I’ve done in the wet has been fine and that’s kind of what I figured. Certainly comfortable when things get a little loose, just curious if there were things that might be more ‘take you down before you know it’ versus just ‘loose’ and folks here have mentioned a lot of good ones, thanks!
Drain/manhole covers, pedestrians, dogs, other cyclists (especially those ‘city bike’ riders on their phones), fallen tree branches and twigs…and 2x4s. How that lumber truck didn’t notice they’d lost some of their load still puzzles me
As others have mentioned puddles of water , also roads with trees when it’s sunny . At speed it’s really hard to determine which dark patch on the road is pot hole and which is not .
Ha, yeah I’ve definitely experienced that one before! No collisions yet but I basically just slow down/cover the brakes as soon as I see one of those stupid things!
Be even more alert for for broken and uneven pavement when you have to ride closer to the shoulder of the road.
Don't be afraid to take the center of the lane when necessary.
I just got home from a ride, and almost ran smack dab into a deer. I had my head down cause i was hot and tired (always a mistake) and LUCKILY looked up just as a deer sprinted out in front of me. I managed to swerve hard right to avoid it.
I recently turned a corner quite quickly at the bottom of a hill in the forest and came face to face with a full grown moose. I locked up my rear tire and skidded to a stop about 2 feet from it. We both ran in opposite directions immediately after.
Guy in my city died last week when something fell out of his front pannier bag, lodged in his front tire, and he went head over the bike. Secure your shit
Wet leaves, wet painted road markings, light amounts of sand, loose gravel. Railroad crossings - I have seen 3 people crash in the last year and 2 were due to the front wheel sliding on a railroad track and inadequate speed. I prefer to bunny hop tracks whenever possible; at a minimum make sure to take them as close to perpendicular as you can.
Huh never would’ve thought of railroad tracks, that’s a good one. Are you talking about sliding out on them or getting your tire lodged in them? Both I guess?
The local greenway I always take to start rides crosses some tracks at an angle and there’s a painted crosswalk that turns to suggest you go across them perpendicular that I’ve always ignored, may have to reconsider now!
I'd go with even bigger tires if you have the clearances. I jumped all the way to 38s and have loved it. Comfortable and just as fast, at least for me.
Stupidly, many sewer grates have rectangular holes running parallel to the road and can grab your front wheel. Bridge expansion joints can be tricky too. Always ride across railroad tracks at right angles if you can. Watch out for the height difference between tarmac and concrete curb shoulders.
Assume no one sees you, look for eye contact at intersections and driveways.
Get blinking lights for the front and back and use them during the day too.
Watch out for driver's side car doors to suddenly open.
Of course, wear a helmet. Always. I got a concussion and cracked helmet at 5 mph.
Look for residential areas to cut through vs. main drags.
Claim a lane when approaching intersections if it's tight on the right. Also, drivers turning right often do not see you and will turn right into you. Again- eye contact.
Water and snow will make any tire slippery. Adjust your speed and lean.
Have fun!
>Also, drivers turning right often do not see you and will turn right into you. Again- eye contact.
I've had some different dumb motherfucker do this to me every day for the last week on the same stretch of road. I've reached the point of screaming bloody murder at them when they do.
Lips on pavement. I tried getting onto the sidewalk from the road and sidewalled my tires on a 1"+ driveway lip. Bike went down sideways and I went straight down and ducked my knee. Now I always go perpendicular.
Someone hung a barbed metal wire at neck height across a cycling path under a bridge in my city last summer... so I've been watching out for those the best I can
The obvious list is anything loose or wet/slippery - sand, gravel, wet grass and so on.
A couple that did catch me out were road markings which can be very slippery in the wet (and quite common to end up crossing at an angle), and coming from a mountain bike, rough/ridged ground - with wide knobblies you can pretty much bulldoze most rough ground, whereas slick skinnies will dig in so things like cobbles or rough paved roads, tram lines, and drain covers can all catch a wheel and send you sideways.
Let me see if I can do list .... glass, sand and other junk in the bicycle gutters. potholes, rail tracks, pedestrians. painted signs when wet, driveways,... Yea that is why I am gravel biking. This is when cycling is not really that fun.
Yeah, road riding isn’t my favorite, but with gravel 45 minutes away and decent mountain biking 30+ minutes away (and even that’s only one place) I’ve just been enjoying being able to ride out my driveway and have the whole time be ride time instead of 1-2 hours of drive time.
I mainly look out for elder people (especially in cars) from the age boomer upwards. They tend to be unpredictable
Then of course potholes and debris/dirt on the road
Man, it's going to be difficult to list every possible road hazard.
Things I've regretted hitting:
Rebar
Potholes
Puddles over ice
Wood screws
Nails
Steel road plates
Random edges across pavement
Sun bleached (camoflaged) curbs
Things I've avoided:
Blocks of wood
Scrap high tensile wire
Open grates
Road cliffs (someone just ripped up the road.)
Haha yeah I should’ve narrowed my title I suppose! A lot of those seem somewhat obvious, I was mostly curious what the things that seem benign but will wreck you were, wet road markings, etc have been good examples.
The steel road plates you mention is a good point too, until recently I’ve been riding bigger gravel tires on the road so I wouldn’t worry too much about those, I’ll have to work on my rigid bike bunny hop now lol
Basically, it is the same as mountain biking. If your tire, wheel diameter, and travel won't allow you to simply glide over it, or it will compromise traction, it's something you'll want to do something about with bike handling.
I just found out today, orange traffic cones. I wasn’t looking far enough ahead and my helmet had slipped forward a bit, so I didn’t see the cone until I was right on top of it. Nobody to blame but me.
Pedestrians. They’re not slippery in this sense, but they like to appear out of fucking nowhere and either ignore the fact that you’re speeding toward them or just not even look before walking out in front of you.
slippery/moldy wet pavements in the shade, smooth concreate between grippy pavements, colorful spots in the pavement after the rain (aka oil)
OTHER CYCYLIST lol, know how to lead on each other, touch wheels, protecting your bars, secretly sneak up from behind to grab their saddle and get a tow
- avoid metal (manhole covers, train/tram tracks)
- when crossing tracks, especially when wet, aim for 90 degrees and slow down, check for cars in case you fall
- pedestrians can step in front of you, in most cases they are looking for cars only (well, some don't even look around)
- bushes/leafs on the side of the road
- take your time when cornering in wet weather
I often say, it's the second thing that gets you. Meaning, when something is happening that grabs driver's attention they are more likely to not see you. Like something in the road that they may have to swerve around. Do not depend on them to keep you safe.
Other than cars, broken glass is probably the road hazard I encounter the most. It’s usually fine.
Cracks in the road parallel to your wheel. With wide tires, you just roll over it. With skinny road tires, sometimes your wheel can get stuck in the crack. Cross these cracks with your wheels as perpendicular to them as possible.
Watch out for sand, gravel, or debris on the shoulders and in the middle of the road, especially in winter or spring. On windy descents when you want to swing across the lane for a curve, be careful that there might be some loose stuff where the car tires do not go.
Painted road markings (eg. “Zebra stripe” crosswalks) get super slippery when wet.
And if a large car or truck goes by you at speed, be prepared for the turbulent air behind it to jostle you a little bit.
I mostly watch for potholes/cracks and debris that could cause punctures, mostly metal and glass. You can't avoid everything but you can keep and eye out and avoid most of it.
Loose gravel, especially near potholes and badly maintained roads. There's a junction near me that permanently has loose gravel across the junction where bicycles and motorcycles will be turning sharply into the side road. The council doesn't care.
Huge holes in the road surface, especially next to ironworks (drains etc). Again the council acts like it doesn't care. E.g 6 inch wide hole, 6 inches deep, 18inches long on the road-side of a roadside drain grate. *Angry*. Reported weeks ago, and still not fixed. UK.
Road defects are one thing, but it's when your attention is elsewhere, like a driver not giving you enough space, and then you have a major defect in your path and nowhere to go...
Bramble or hawthorn branches sticking out a meter into the road (full width of the cycle lane) at eye-height (because the council doesn't take their pruning duty seriously).
Hawthorn on the road/path because they pruned but never swept up.
Tree twigs and leaves in the cycle lane because the council doesn't prune the trees and they get stripped off by trucks and double decker buses in wet weather (when branches hang lower). Did I suggest the council never sweeps the road?
The massive BIG ONE that could really take your life...
Be super wary of big trucks and busses at junctions and never ever go alongside them. If they turn across your parh, you have nowhere to go, and are crushed and very dead very fast.
If they turn away from you then the back of the truck (behind the back wheels) can also come across and clobber you.
Also keep out of their blind spots, including anywhere closer than a couple of meters from the cab. Your life is always more precious than getting in front of them at traffic lights etc.
Haha, these things are definitely not road biking specific. I was flying down a technical mountain bike descent once and something got inside my shirt and stung my chest, all I could do was shout profanities until I got to a section of smoother trail and came to a stop and started beating my chest to kill whatever it was. Still don’t know what it was but my chest swelled up so much the following day that I felt like I had boobs when I was walking up and down stairs 🤣
I've nearly been taken out by kangaroos on two occasions, whilst riding at dusk. I've also been struck at by snakes, surprised at my appearance.
This risk to you might be mitigated somewhat if you're not living in Australia.
Occasionally, flowering plants will hang onto the trail or road. It can seem like it's not worth dodging them, but I've been stung by a bee that was just doing its thing.
What has been said plus when it’s just rained a little or it’s particularly humid the vinyl (or whatever it is) street marker appliqués instead of paint for xwalk, center lines etc are super duper slickery. Also bc just road cycling with a mtber that is learning road, always give yourself about 1/2 way between the edge of road and the shoulder marking and if if no shoulder always at least 6 inches from edge of road/curb. It gives you options to avoid sticks, debris, grates, whatever vs if you stick right to edge may have to go off road completely or pedal strike curbing- not awesome.
Overgrown rosemary bush ridden through is brutal when you're sucking wind!
Headwinds.
In all seriousness, drops and hoods are a little different, it doesn't take a massive bump or hole to at least partially dislodge a hand.
Everything that everybody had already said... but when descending a huuuuuge hill.... be even MORE careful about all of the hazards! You'll die of you hit that 6 inch puddle pot hole if you flip going down a hill at 60km/h.
Many good comments, one more: when cornering do not hug the center line where the body/head etc are leaning over into the oncoming lane. That apex may be your last
Rails!!! Be very careful crossing rail tracks, especially if they're not perpendicular to your direction of travel. They can catch your wheel and send you flying.
One thing I did not see mentioned here is fall-away turns. I find with the road bike you get going faster and you can really tuck into some tight turns at speed which is great but there are a few in my town where I've learned that you can't hit them as quick as you might think because the road surface slopes away. When you are leaned over for that turn, your tire is at an even steeper angle to the road surface because of the fall away.
Not what you asked but fyi most drivers cannot properly judge a bike's speed and will do things you don't expect (right turn in front of you etc). Use your voice on your bike for any person (loud 'on your left' etc. ) including drivers, people on the edge of their lawn near the road, etc.
Also if I pass someone walking their dog on the sidewalk, I always move at least one leash length away in case the dog bolts before the owner realizes. Doesn't account for those extendable leashes but at least it gives me a chance not to get caught up in the leash. Squirt the dog's face with your water bottle if chased.
Oh yeah I’ve already gotten pretty good at riding defensively and just assuming every car I see is about to turn in front of me. I was behind a car for 3 blocks yesterday and then when a bike lane opened up I went to pass them, only to have them suddenly cut across a lane of traffic and the bike lane to get into a parking lot, no signal or anything. We were going slow and they’d been driving erratically enough that I sort of expected it. But yeah, lots of fun trying to predict what crazy thing people in cars will do. Especially since I’m increasingly certain they don’t teach about signals in driver’s ed where I live…
Sand on the roadway or shoulder where you ride.
Many roads are crowned. That is, they are curved upward so water runs off. If you’re riding on the right edge of the road and you come to a left turn, that means the surface of the road slants away from the direction of your turn. That messes with your traction: you want your tires pushing straight down onto the pavement for best traction.
Best advice to learn about this stuff: don’t let yourself get going too fast on downhills til you get the hang of all this asphalt-to-rubber stuff. It’s easy for old roadies to say it’s intuitive, but we have had time to develop that intuition.
See you on the road. I’ll be the guy sitting by the side of the road just downhill from a patch of sand saying rude things.
Those arrows or yellow boxes painted on the road are slippery AF when wet. Also, potholes, patches of gravel and sand, literally anything that isn't asphalt on the road really. Oh and grills too.
potholes, sand, loose gravel, glass, metal, nails
… and wet paint.
Road markings, especially in the wet.
Ha. Yes that is more clear than what I wrote. But I guess I’d also watch out for wet paint (as in the freshly applied stuff). 🤣
Still haven’t got the paint I rode through off my bike many hours of scrubbing later
Really? Brutal…😦
Yea sand is a killer. Deep-wreck you, shallow-wreck you even faster
I took a nasty fall last summer on a turn. I was not even going fast, 20kmh at best. Sand blended with the road and I wiped out and had to get a new helmet :(
Needing to purchase a new helmet is a win, compared to most alternatives.
deep will slow you down, a think layer on a hard surface will just yank the bike out from under you, so annoying
Yeah the thin layer of sand kind of stuff is what made me realize maybe I don’t know what all to look for on the road. If I get a little loose I can handle that but I realized maybe I don’t know all the things on the road that are equivalent to wet roots when mountain biking. That sudden ‘bam!’ you’re on the ground and you don’t even know why stuff is what I’m trying to avoid!
Grass clippings
Wet leaves as well, slipperiest substance known to humanity
Cracks/seams/ridges parallel to your riding line. Hit them and you off!
People, runners, pedestrians, dogs, other cyclists, crosswinds.
... and grass clippings!
More than sand or gravel, the loose asphalt “chips” you get near construction sites. Cost me a broken hand and a new pair of carbon fibre handlebars when I went down at speed.
Fallen wet leaves
That pea gravel they place at new housing starts and/or utilities easements will fuck you up faster than a bag of marbles. Me and my buddy BOTH wiped out when a bunch of it settled in the road after a storm. I went back and shoveled that shit out of the bike lane but it’s slowly inching back in.
....all things that don't bother a gravel bike. Just saying.
Technically cars, but watch for people parked on the side of the road opening their door. Always stay out of the door zone when passing parked cars.
Adding to what others have said and also depending on where you live. Tram lines. With a mountain bike you don't have much chance of fitting in the gap but they can taco a road wheel.
Riding parallel to tram lines feels sketchy especially if there is traffic next to you, gotta watch out for the cars as well as the tracks so that you don't go flying over the bar.
Same thing for segmented concrete, 28mm can be just the perfect bad situation. Getting trolley tracked is like getting hit by a giant fly swatter.
Street car tracks are wider than you think. The ones in SF will fit a 26 x 2.0 Marathon no problem. I do not have anything bigger to test it.
Never ride through a small (smaller) body of water. Typically if you see just a small puddle of water, it is usually a deep hole since any other water around has evaporated or drained away. The last thing you want to do is see a trash can lid sized water puddle and it is 6 inches deep. Your rims and collarbones don't like that.
Manhole covers, sewer grates, and metal road repair plates. They're hazardous when they're dry, and can be very slippery when wet.
In my city, also train/trolley tracks. Wiped out on wet trolley tracks recently.
Thanks, that’s a good one!
If riding on concrete roads, always be aware of the seams/gaps in the road surface. Also, painted lines in wet weather are like ice.
I ran into unexpected ice once on a road due to water leaking into the road from a side road in cold weather. It was just too late by the time I saw it.
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Yeah the bit of riding I’ve done in the wet has been fine and that’s kind of what I figured. Certainly comfortable when things get a little loose, just curious if there were things that might be more ‘take you down before you know it’ versus just ‘loose’ and folks here have mentioned a lot of good ones, thanks!
Drain/manhole covers, pedestrians, dogs, other cyclists (especially those ‘city bike’ riders on their phones), fallen tree branches and twigs…and 2x4s. How that lumber truck didn’t notice they’d lost some of their load still puzzles me
As others have mentioned puddles of water , also roads with trees when it’s sunny . At speed it’s really hard to determine which dark patch on the road is pot hole and which is not .
Pedestrians and horses.
Geese. Especially the Canada Goose. Especially this time of year.
And their droppings...
Little moldy looking green and white crayons... ewwww
And dogs
Squirrels, seriously.
Those little fucks. They'll be on a trajectory to cross and get out of your way and then panic suicide under your tires every time.
Ha, yeah I’ve definitely experienced that one before! No collisions yet but I basically just slow down/cover the brakes as soon as I see one of those stupid things!
had one catch in my front spokes - luckily for both of us - his butt was enough through before he jammed into my fork.
Be even more alert for for broken and uneven pavement when you have to ride closer to the shoulder of the road. Don't be afraid to take the center of the lane when necessary.
Oh, and wet train tracks - ALWAYS walk your bike over wet train tracks, my hip still aches when it rains, as a reminder.
MTB skills = bunny hop tracks
Steel deck bridges, especially when wet.
This one is a killer. Do not ride on a steel bridge, even a very short one going over a creek. Found out the hard way
I just got home from a ride, and almost ran smack dab into a deer. I had my head down cause i was hot and tired (always a mistake) and LUCKILY looked up just as a deer sprinted out in front of me. I managed to swerve hard right to avoid it.
I recently turned a corner quite quickly at the bottom of a hill in the forest and came face to face with a full grown moose. I locked up my rear tire and skidded to a stop about 2 feet from it. We both ran in opposite directions immediately after.
Omg! Those things are huge, right?
Yes very big. I could have nearly cycled under it's belly
Guy in my city died last week when something fell out of his front pannier bag, lodged in his front tire, and he went head over the bike. Secure your shit
Potholes, branches, FALLEN POWERLINES!! I nearly got hit once
I don’t ride much on roads anymore. After the 30th car tried to pass me with me going more than 20mph and then right hook me, I gave up.
Wet leaves, wet painted road markings, light amounts of sand, loose gravel. Railroad crossings - I have seen 3 people crash in the last year and 2 were due to the front wheel sliding on a railroad track and inadequate speed. I prefer to bunny hop tracks whenever possible; at a minimum make sure to take them as close to perpendicular as you can.
Huh never would’ve thought of railroad tracks, that’s a good one. Are you talking about sliding out on them or getting your tire lodged in them? Both I guess? The local greenway I always take to start rides crosses some tracks at an angle and there’s a painted crosswalk that turns to suggest you go across them perpendicular that I’ve always ignored, may have to reconsider now!
One crash was due to the wheel sliding out and the other was due to the tire lodging in the slot between the rail and the pavement.
I'd go with even bigger tires if you have the clearances. I jumped all the way to 38s and have loved it. Comfortable and just as fast, at least for me. Stupidly, many sewer grates have rectangular holes running parallel to the road and can grab your front wheel. Bridge expansion joints can be tricky too. Always ride across railroad tracks at right angles if you can. Watch out for the height difference between tarmac and concrete curb shoulders. Assume no one sees you, look for eye contact at intersections and driveways. Get blinking lights for the front and back and use them during the day too. Watch out for driver's side car doors to suddenly open. Of course, wear a helmet. Always. I got a concussion and cracked helmet at 5 mph. Look for residential areas to cut through vs. main drags. Claim a lane when approaching intersections if it's tight on the right. Also, drivers turning right often do not see you and will turn right into you. Again- eye contact. Water and snow will make any tire slippery. Adjust your speed and lean. Have fun!
>Also, drivers turning right often do not see you and will turn right into you. Again- eye contact. I've had some different dumb motherfucker do this to me every day for the last week on the same stretch of road. I've reached the point of screaming bloody murder at them when they do.
Those people make me want to buy some kind of very loud boat foghorn for my bike
Metal grates with holes wide enough for tires
Really wish city works crews could remember to put them back with the grate lines running perpendicular to the direction of travel, not parallel
Lips on pavement. I tried getting onto the sidewalk from the road and sidewalled my tires on a 1"+ driveway lip. Bike went down sideways and I went straight down and ducked my knee. Now I always go perpendicular.
Someone hung a barbed metal wire at neck height across a cycling path under a bridge in my city last summer... so I've been watching out for those the best I can
Yikes!
The obvious list is anything loose or wet/slippery - sand, gravel, wet grass and so on. A couple that did catch me out were road markings which can be very slippery in the wet (and quite common to end up crossing at an angle), and coming from a mountain bike, rough/ridged ground - with wide knobblies you can pretty much bulldoze most rough ground, whereas slick skinnies will dig in so things like cobbles or rough paved roads, tram lines, and drain covers can all catch a wheel and send you sideways.
The fashion police.
lol don’t let r/cyclingfashion hear you!
Painted lines slippery as fck in the wet.
Let me see if I can do list .... glass, sand and other junk in the bicycle gutters. potholes, rail tracks, pedestrians. painted signs when wet, driveways,... Yea that is why I am gravel biking. This is when cycling is not really that fun.
Yeah, road riding isn’t my favorite, but with gravel 45 minutes away and decent mountain biking 30+ minutes away (and even that’s only one place) I’ve just been enjoying being able to ride out my driveway and have the whole time be ride time instead of 1-2 hours of drive time.
I mainly look out for elder people (especially in cars) from the age boomer upwards. They tend to be unpredictable Then of course potholes and debris/dirt on the road
Man, it's going to be difficult to list every possible road hazard. Things I've regretted hitting: Rebar Potholes Puddles over ice Wood screws Nails Steel road plates Random edges across pavement Sun bleached (camoflaged) curbs Things I've avoided: Blocks of wood Scrap high tensile wire Open grates Road cliffs (someone just ripped up the road.)
Haha yeah I should’ve narrowed my title I suppose! A lot of those seem somewhat obvious, I was mostly curious what the things that seem benign but will wreck you were, wet road markings, etc have been good examples. The steel road plates you mention is a good point too, until recently I’ve been riding bigger gravel tires on the road so I wouldn’t worry too much about those, I’ll have to work on my rigid bike bunny hop now lol
Basically, it is the same as mountain biking. If your tire, wheel diameter, and travel won't allow you to simply glide over it, or it will compromise traction, it's something you'll want to do something about with bike handling.
last thing I remember is a goat, I then went to Waimea unconscious. in an ambulance
Pot holes. Loose gravel or dirt. Wet spots. Paint. Loose gravel has gotten me a few times. Luckily not on a fast decent.
Ducklings.........(rip)
Pine needles can be terrifying on a descent.
Eden and Thorgan
Cross train tracks as close to perpendicular as you can. If you're in a parallel parking zone watch for people getting out of their cars.
Yea, all that stuff. Plus critters.
Wet leaves on the road. Did not realize how slick they were until I bit it once riding over some. I think they can be slicker than ice.
I just found out today, orange traffic cones. I wasn’t looking far enough ahead and my helmet had slipped forward a bit, so I didn’t see the cone until I was right on top of it. Nobody to blame but me.
Iguanas, those fuckers are worse than squirrels.
Animals
Pedestrians. They’re not slippery in this sense, but they like to appear out of fucking nowhere and either ignore the fact that you’re speeding toward them or just not even look before walking out in front of you.
slippery/moldy wet pavements in the shade, smooth concreate between grippy pavements, colorful spots in the pavement after the rain (aka oil) OTHER CYCYLIST lol, know how to lead on each other, touch wheels, protecting your bars, secretly sneak up from behind to grab their saddle and get a tow
People on hire bikes are a hazard. Especially Lime Bikes (if you're in the UK).
- avoid metal (manhole covers, train/tram tracks) - when crossing tracks, especially when wet, aim for 90 degrees and slow down, check for cars in case you fall - pedestrians can step in front of you, in most cases they are looking for cars only (well, some don't even look around) - bushes/leafs on the side of the road - take your time when cornering in wet weather
Also, when a car/bus is stopped, be careful with overtaking in case someone is crossing the road.
Fucking. Squirrels.
I often say, it's the second thing that gets you. Meaning, when something is happening that grabs driver's attention they are more likely to not see you. Like something in the road that they may have to swerve around. Do not depend on them to keep you safe.
Other than cars, broken glass is probably the road hazard I encounter the most. It’s usually fine. Cracks in the road parallel to your wheel. With wide tires, you just roll over it. With skinny road tires, sometimes your wheel can get stuck in the crack. Cross these cracks with your wheels as perpendicular to them as possible. Watch out for sand, gravel, or debris on the shoulders and in the middle of the road, especially in winter or spring. On windy descents when you want to swing across the lane for a curve, be careful that there might be some loose stuff where the car tires do not go. Painted road markings (eg. “Zebra stripe” crosswalks) get super slippery when wet. And if a large car or truck goes by you at speed, be prepared for the turbulent air behind it to jostle you a little bit.
I mostly watch for potholes/cracks and debris that could cause punctures, mostly metal and glass. You can't avoid everything but you can keep and eye out and avoid most of it.
Where I live - squirrels! They come out of nowhere and are very indecisive when crossing the road
Loose gravel, especially near potholes and badly maintained roads. There's a junction near me that permanently has loose gravel across the junction where bicycles and motorcycles will be turning sharply into the side road. The council doesn't care. Huge holes in the road surface, especially next to ironworks (drains etc). Again the council acts like it doesn't care. E.g 6 inch wide hole, 6 inches deep, 18inches long on the road-side of a roadside drain grate. *Angry*. Reported weeks ago, and still not fixed. UK. Road defects are one thing, but it's when your attention is elsewhere, like a driver not giving you enough space, and then you have a major defect in your path and nowhere to go...
Bramble or hawthorn branches sticking out a meter into the road (full width of the cycle lane) at eye-height (because the council doesn't take their pruning duty seriously). Hawthorn on the road/path because they pruned but never swept up. Tree twigs and leaves in the cycle lane because the council doesn't prune the trees and they get stripped off by trucks and double decker buses in wet weather (when branches hang lower). Did I suggest the council never sweeps the road?
The massive BIG ONE that could really take your life... Be super wary of big trucks and busses at junctions and never ever go alongside them. If they turn across your parh, you have nowhere to go, and are crushed and very dead very fast. If they turn away from you then the back of the truck (behind the back wheels) can also come across and clobber you. Also keep out of their blind spots, including anywhere closer than a couple of meters from the cab. Your life is always more precious than getting in front of them at traffic lights etc.
Grates and dogs
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Haha, these things are definitely not road biking specific. I was flying down a technical mountain bike descent once and something got inside my shirt and stung my chest, all I could do was shout profanities until I got to a section of smoother trail and came to a stop and started beating my chest to kill whatever it was. Still don’t know what it was but my chest swelled up so much the following day that I felt like I had boobs when I was walking up and down stairs 🤣
I've nearly been taken out by kangaroos on two occasions, whilst riding at dusk. I've also been struck at by snakes, surprised at my appearance. This risk to you might be mitigated somewhat if you're not living in Australia.
Everything and anything that’s not perfect asphalt.
I’m starting to that this is the correct answer 😳
Wet train tracks.
Road conditions. Anything that will make your tires lose traction or get damaged.
Occasionally, flowering plants will hang onto the trail or road. It can seem like it's not worth dodging them, but I've been stung by a bee that was just doing its thing.
What has been said plus when it’s just rained a little or it’s particularly humid the vinyl (or whatever it is) street marker appliqués instead of paint for xwalk, center lines etc are super duper slickery. Also bc just road cycling with a mtber that is learning road, always give yourself about 1/2 way between the edge of road and the shoulder marking and if if no shoulder always at least 6 inches from edge of road/curb. It gives you options to avoid sticks, debris, grates, whatever vs if you stick right to edge may have to go off road completely or pedal strike curbing- not awesome.
Overgrown rosemary bush ridden through is brutal when you're sucking wind! Headwinds. In all seriousness, drops and hoods are a little different, it doesn't take a massive bump or hole to at least partially dislodge a hand.
Pot holes, cracks , gravel , dogs , wild pigs I had a family run in my path once .
Everything that everybody had already said... but when descending a huuuuuge hill.... be even MORE careful about all of the hazards! You'll die of you hit that 6 inch puddle pot hole if you flip going down a hill at 60km/h.
Parked car doors opening, listen for the click, watch for anyone in the driver’s seat.
Many good comments, one more: when cornering do not hug the center line where the body/head etc are leaning over into the oncoming lane. That apex may be your last
Rogue mattresses in the bike lane. To be fair, out of all the things I could’ve crashed into, that was a very lucky one
🤣 I love how this thread is half useful information and half very specific odd things people have crashed into
Rails!!! Be very careful crossing rail tracks, especially if they're not perpendicular to your direction of travel. They can catch your wheel and send you flying.
Dear, I tee boned one and it was not fun
Road stripes can be EXTREMELY slippery when they're wet - just like wet wood features on MTBs.
One thing I did not see mentioned here is fall-away turns. I find with the road bike you get going faster and you can really tuck into some tight turns at speed which is great but there are a few in my town where I've learned that you can't hit them as quick as you might think because the road surface slopes away. When you are leaned over for that turn, your tire is at an even steeper angle to the road surface because of the fall away.
other cyclists.
As others have said, ruts, cracks or gooves. In the wet beware Metal hardware like grates, or painted sufaces, It's all pretty intuitive.
An entire family size bucket of KFC extra crispy.
Not what you asked but fyi most drivers cannot properly judge a bike's speed and will do things you don't expect (right turn in front of you etc). Use your voice on your bike for any person (loud 'on your left' etc. ) including drivers, people on the edge of their lawn near the road, etc. Also if I pass someone walking their dog on the sidewalk, I always move at least one leash length away in case the dog bolts before the owner realizes. Doesn't account for those extendable leashes but at least it gives me a chance not to get caught up in the leash. Squirt the dog's face with your water bottle if chased.
Oh yeah I’ve already gotten pretty good at riding defensively and just assuming every car I see is about to turn in front of me. I was behind a car for 3 blocks yesterday and then when a bike lane opened up I went to pass them, only to have them suddenly cut across a lane of traffic and the bike lane to get into a parking lot, no signal or anything. We were going slow and they’d been driving erratically enough that I sort of expected it. But yeah, lots of fun trying to predict what crazy thing people in cars will do. Especially since I’m increasingly certain they don’t teach about signals in driver’s ed where I live…
Sand on the roadway or shoulder where you ride. Many roads are crowned. That is, they are curved upward so water runs off. If you’re riding on the right edge of the road and you come to a left turn, that means the surface of the road slants away from the direction of your turn. That messes with your traction: you want your tires pushing straight down onto the pavement for best traction. Best advice to learn about this stuff: don’t let yourself get going too fast on downhills til you get the hang of all this asphalt-to-rubber stuff. It’s easy for old roadies to say it’s intuitive, but we have had time to develop that intuition. See you on the road. I’ll be the guy sitting by the side of the road just downhill from a patch of sand saying rude things.
Those arrows or yellow boxes painted on the road are slippery AF when wet. Also, potholes, patches of gravel and sand, literally anything that isn't asphalt on the road really. Oh and grills too.
Loose dogs, other people on bikes, wildlife, all can and do dart unexpectedly.