Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Herring
No disrespect intended mate but how do you not see a pothole big enough to have you off? I was only slightly tongue in cheek with my earlier post, I do wonder if we're going just a little bit to far with this trend to absolve drivers and riders of all responsibility for their own safety. We all know the roads are traditionally worse at this time of year, we also all know that potholes are not being fixed as quickly as we like. It follows that we should be driving and riding with that in mind and acting accordingly.
It may be that my view is a little distorted having grown up and learnt to drive in South America in a time and location where tarmac on the road was a real bonus, or it may be the thirty years I subsequently spent listening to all the excuses people offer as to why it wasn't their fault they crashed, but I'm definitely not as sympathetic to these issues as some would like.
Rather than jumping up and down and firing off e-mails every time you hit a pothole why don't we just tell ourselves what a muppet we were for not paying attention and resolve to do better next time. It's generally a whole lot more rewarding an approach! I particularly enjoy seeing the hole early and then deviating at the very last moment so the plonker tailgating me gets it full on......
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None taken Red, it was a stealth pothole but in the lanes I ride, they can appear without enough time to react. I forget the exact circumstances as to me hitting it, but on 25mm tyres it doesn't take much to cause a crash. I had a double blow out, which were both pinch punctures caused by the sharp edges of this particular pothole.
Believe me if I could have avoided the pothole and subsequent trip to hospital, I would have, bicycles don't have suspension to cope with potholes.
Those potholes that are under tree cover can't be be seen on dull winter days.
Many potholes are in the cyclists line on the road, so can't always be avoided with a quick swerve, as you've got a car blocking you swerving space, we get enough hassle from drivers if we ride too far from the curb.
Plenty of drain covers with collapsed tarmac round their edges, which are especially deep, and just perfect to catch a Cyclists wheel and send them flying.