Off Road = Much harder than on road!

[Norm]

Ride on the road to get fit.

Get fit to ride off road.

Please explain how it can possibly be safer to ride on a busy road with vehicles trying desperately to get past you, than it is to ride on a trail or cyclepath.

Anecdotally, I've only come off twice in 20-odd years, both times when away from tarmac on slippery mud and stalling when climbing and hitting a tree root. I've been smacked on the head by a tree branch on a cycle path, which doesn't often happen if you follow a bus route. So there's three.

 

[simon.r]

Thats because he couldnt interview the 100+ riders who are killed by vehicles every year.
Please explain how it can possibly be safer to ride on a busy road with vehicles trying desperately to get past you, than it is to ride on a trail or cyclepath.

In certain situations it can be.

Part of my regular route has a cyclepath alongside a busy 40mph dual-carriageway. My most recent accident was when I was hit by a driver coming out of an entrance to a commercial premise and crossing the cycle path that I was using. I suspect, though I've no way of proving this, that had I been on the road she would have seen me, as she was so focussed on looking for a gap in the traffic on the road that she ignored the traffic on the cyclepath.

I wouldn't advocate always riding on the road, but using discretion as to when and where it's safer to do so seems to be the sensible thing to do.

 

[Peteaud]

Ride on the road to get fit.

Get fit to ride off road.

+1

 

[Red Light]

Thats because he couldnt interview the 100+ riders who are killed by vehicles every year.
Please explain how it can possibly be safer to ride on a busy road with vehicles trying desperately to get past you, than it is to ride on a trail or cyclepath.

I can assure you he has been involved in investigating or as in expert witness in cyclist deaths. The reasons they are more dangerous are poor surfaces, not cleared of debris, ice etc, non-priority crossing of side roads, drives, entrances, collisions with other cyclists, pedestrians, animals etc. In the UK there are about 7,500 emergency hospital admissions of cyclists from road accidents, two thirds of them involving no other vehicle. There are also about 6,500 cyclists emergency emissions for non-road accidents. There are many more cyclists who cycle on the road than off so off-road accident rates are far higher. And the emergency admissions from cyclists having accidents involving no other vehicle massively outweigh (79%) those involving another vehicle (21%)