Potholes.

[Chargeride]

How is the road infrastructure surviving by you?
My own experience is the roads are approaching crisis point, main roads in many areas are approaching dirt track levels of disrepair.

The side road into a local supermarket has a pothole 14 inches deep and twenty inches wide, they haven't even marked it for repair, most cars would slam bodywork dropping into it.

I am now constantly steering around potholes that create huge bangs in the van if I fail to miss them, even the speed bumps are breaking apart.

Faster roads are kept in reasonable condition, but it appears there is no money for anything below 40mph or. country roads.

I might take some pictures, its quite horrendous, some roads everyone is doing 20mph and snaking from one side to the other.
God knows how road cyclists are coping

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

God knows how road cyclists are coping

If you put enough layers of a lycra over the potholes, a good roadie on an all-carbon bike can just trampoline across.
;^}

Sorry, I'll let myself out.

 

[Aushiker]

Pretty good in my neighbourhood. Frankly I am more concerned about the small percentage of drivers and their friend, the bicycle rider in hi-viz that want to take me out.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Living in Texas, I think about this a lot. Our roads are pretty bad, but not the in way that you might think. We likely have fewer potholes. The issue is we have too many coarse washboard roads. They are called Chipseal, which is essentially an unfinished road, lacking the smooth top layer.

Austin voters just approved a $233,000,000 bond for construction and maintenance of roads far outside of the city center. The I-35 expansion will cost 6 billion, not including the caps which the city must pay for and upkeep to the tune of $48,000,000 per year.

We just have too much sprawl and too many roads to maintain. Car-centric design is unsustainable.

 

[indianajo]

Not too bad in So. Indiana. The worst deteriorated berm, Ste Hwy 3, was repaved last summer. Nicely matched gravel edges, also.
Frankly I would like to see less spent on pavement and more spent on locking up and caring for crazy people. I do not have a problem here but I had to abandon Texas due to a schizo ex wife. I know guys here that moved away to deal with the same problem. Spouses do not go crazy until the mid twenties.
Also we need more outdoor cameras and recorders, to locate people and cars 24/7. To deal with the murders. 7 children shot in a mall district in Indianapolis yesterday and the police do not have a clue. Philidelphia solved a similar incident last month due apparently to cameras in city busses.

 

[mschwett]

…
God knows how road cyclists are coping

no problems at all out here. never hit a pothole anything like what you describe. we do have a few roads which are rough-ish in spots, easily dealt with by slowing down a bit and loosening the hold on the bars. I run around 60psI on 28mm, tubeless.

 

[Rome]

Wow 14 inch deep. I don't think my Fox Shocks can handle an unexpected drop like that it's a sink hole. Here have to be very familiarize with which route I ride.
After heavy rain fall I was riding on rail trails. I hit a dip on the trail cause by water erosion nearly lost my balance

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It is very hard to find a bad road where I live (Mazovia, Poland or the neighbouring Land of Łódź). Perhaps it has something to do with my country being a member of the European Union? Whatever it is, there has been ongoing reconstruction works for many years with local roads being covered with new asphalt, bike paths being built, and many new roundabouts in the places where dangerous road crossings were before constructed.

I'm going on a ride today; it's not Warsaw or a significantly important area, no. I will bring some pictures just to show you how some tragically bad roads of the greater neighbourhood have changed here since 2021

 

[Chargeride]

It's ramped up massively in the last two years, theres a sense of complete despair in Britain thesedays, its the endless topic of conversation.
They always just blame brexit, when it's clearly a far deeper malaise.

We seem to be following the States into societal breakdown, a nearby old mill town called St Helens was always poor, a recent visit we found tents in roads and the mentally ill shouting and threatening the public, this was unheard of for my entire life.

This is why I comment on how beautiful Poland looks, it seems like you care, just recently we seem to have given up.

We lost our Queen

 

[Chargeride]

Googled it.

Road maintenance in England dropped by 45% in 2023 compared with five years ago, suggesting our roads are becoming increasingly unsafe for motorcyclists. The report accompanies news that road resurfacing now takes place once every 116 years on average according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance.

 

[Chargeride]

No, it would probably end up like this.
And don't say that is Stefan.

Video Unavailable

This video is unavailable.

streamable.com

 

[mrgold35]

The roads are in pretty good condition in ABQ, NM. Pretty much all neighborhoods have level/unbroken sidewalks with ramp curbs at intersections or "share the road" bike lanes with a buffer space. The city is now including a bike lanes on main streets near neighborhoods with road repaving when they have the space. Most roadways with +45 mph speed limits have a single or double-wide sidewalk to ride instead of in the roadway. We also have a lot of dirt or paved irrigation and drainage channels running around the city with improved dirt or paved bike/walk/jogging paths beside them. I have the option with our Class I/II ebikes of riding on the sidewalk/bike only paths if there isn't a bike lane available +90% of the time (28 mph Class III road only; but, bike paths riding if you are under 20 mph).

I've hit a few potholes or broken pavement on the roads at times. Having 4" fat tires and suspension seatpost does help smooth out the ride up to max 20 mph speed. Zero damage because of the fat tires at 20-30 psi. My biggest issues are from road debris being pushed into the "share the road" bike lanes causing flats (nails/screws, parts from car accidents, goat head stickers, broken glass, etc...). I ended up with goat head stickers sometimes if I avoid high road debris areas and ride the sidewalks. Bike/walk/jog only lanes or double wide sidewalks seems to be the best routes to avoid issues.

 

[Brian-s]

It is very hard to find a bad road where I live (Mazovia, Poland or the neighbouring Land of Łódź). Perhaps it has something to do with my country being a member of the European Union? Whatever it is, there has been ongoing reconstruction works for many years

Here in the States everything is looked at for capitalist gains, and road repair brings no direct revenue to anybody so very low on the priorities for most. And the big businesses that would benefit like trucking companies are shielded from taxes to help pay for such things too. At least that's my opinion.

 

[Roamers]

They just put cold patch in the potholes in the neighborhood today; now there's little sticky pebbles all over. Worse in my opinion.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Here in the States everything is looked at for capitalist gains, and road repair brings no direct revenue to anybody so very low on the priorities for most. And the big businesses that would benefit like trucking companies are shielded from taxes to help pay for such things too. At least that's my opinion.

I am not well versed in how the system here works, but this is my understanding:
There is the EU financing (the VAT income of the member states is re-destributed). The central Government uses part of its budget for local projects, too. Then we have local governments, and various authorities down to the county and borough level with their own budgets. However it works, it does work.

Probably the most shocking example. I took the top photo on Jan 22nd, 2021. The village name is Boża Wola (God's Will). The road there was one of the most dilapidated I could find in my greater neighbourhood. It took a year or two, and now there is a perfect new tarmac road with a bike path in Boża Wola. (Yes, those two trees have been cut down). Note: The place-name sign is exactly the same as it was in 2021.

The "six digit road" (310104W) is a road of the least importance (it is a borough road). The Sunny St. in my direct neighbourhood was a terrible potty gravel road not a long time ago. The borough authority decided a city bus should serve several tiny villages, so they secured the central Government financing of 1 million EUR. The 3 km long road got paved in a week and completely reconstructed in some 3 weeks. Now, there is a 1 km totally unimportant segment that was not included in the project (see the bottom photo). I hope that the last segment would be paved one day, too, so my rides westwards would be greatly facilitated. Usually, a sign naming the project sponsor, the project purpose, and the financing sum is posted near the reconstructed object, so I know who financed the works and with what money (centre).

Top: A relatively new bike path. See what happens to the adjacent field to understand why the bike path was so important to build it.
Centre: A brand new railway stop.
Bottom: The country road 4107W should have been completed before Christmas last year. There are still several unfinished short stretches but generally the road is good to go.

Also, see cyclists in the pictures. Cycling is the thing in Poland nowadays!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

How is the road infrastructure surviving by you?
My own experience is the roads are approaching crisis point, main roads in many areas are approaching dirt track levels of disrepair.

The side road into a local supermarket has a pothole 14 inches deep and twenty inches wide, they haven't even marked it for repair, most cars would slam bodywork dropping into it.

I am now constantly steering around potholes that create huge bangs in the van if I fail to miss them, even the speed bumps are breaking apart.

Faster roads are kept in reasonable condition, but it appears there is no money for anything below 40mph or. country roads.

I might take some pictures, its quite horrendous, some roads everyone is doing 20mph and snaking from one side to the other.
God knows how road cyclists are coping

Here in coastal California, we don't mess with potholes. We go big.

We don't get freeze-thaw cycles, but we do have (a) many coastal highways perched on the edges of sea cliffs, and (b) powerful, cobble- and sand-laden winter storm waves working hard to over-steepen or frankly undercut the bases of the cliffs year after year — especially at high tides.

Two recent-looking reddish tan slide scarps just feet from the Coast Highway (US 101, aka Carlsbad Boulevard) some 2 miles north of our house. At current rates of sea cliff retreat along the San Diego County coast, its years are numbered. Rising sea level and intensifying Pacific storms will only hasten its demise.

Gullying of the cliff edges is accelerated by the wave mayhem below. This active gully has also come within feet from the road.

Wide gravel path marking just one of several stretches of abandoned Coast Highway in Carlsbad alone. Current roadbed is to its left.

The state has strong economic incentives to repair or move these coastal highways as quickly as possible, and they don't mess around. But it's dangerous, tricky, and very expensive work and often takes months to complete.

Aside from that, our roads are in great shape!

 

[Chargeride]

I'd ride that road, its only a 50ft drop into the sea

 

[Chargeride]

Have I posted this?
Just a cool, relaxing track modified ebike video on the California coast disused railtracks, for some reason everyone loves it.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Have I posted this?
Just a cool, relaxing track modified ebike video on the California coast disused railtracks, for some reason everyone loves it.

Fabulous adventure and video! Just wish he were kinder to the trails.

Left this comment:

Superb video of a superb adventure! Very impressive camera work — especially with the drone. Great composition and narration, too.

But PLEASE be kinder to the trails. Rooster tail = trail damage, plain and simple, and there's simply no need for it.

Here in Carlsbad, CA, ALL ebikes have been banned from many fine trails — in part, because high-powered e-dirtbikes like yours have been tearing them up.

Regulators tend to lump your ebike with all others — including my 500W hybrid commuter with no rooster tail capability. Nothing against your kind of ebike per se. But for the sake of everyone's long-term trail access and enjoyment, we all need to ride responsibly and respectfully. Keeping damage to a minimum is part of that.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I'd ride that road, its only a 50ft drop into the sea

Plenty high enough to give me the willies close to the edge. But for you, probably no scarier than stepping off a curb.