Coaching Smarter Triathletes

Picking a Safe Cycling Route, Part One

Friends Don't Let Friends Do The Coast Ride

In San Diego--as well as most cities--you can find a few wildly popular cycling routes infested with all types of riders.  The coastal highway north of San Diego is a classic--mostly flat with drop-dead gorgeous views of the Pacific, and pleasant weather most days of the year. Weekends bring out parents towing bike trailers, seniors on hybrids, couples on tandems, small groups of triathletes riding in aero bars, multitudes of clubs riding in pelotons and shooting nasty looks at anyone who interrupts their cadence, and triathletes riding in pelotons in their aero bars (yikes!)

Unfortunately, on this route you'll also find an injured cyclist virtually every weekend day.  It seems that most weeks one of the 50-ish people just on the triathlon club ride alone has a wreck there. 

Yes,  statistically speaking we're likely to find more accidents on a popular route (ie: If the accident rate is xx injuries per million miles ridden, a million cyclist miles will be reached more quickly on a popular route than on an empty route). But the accident rate on this stretch of highway seems much higher than in other areas I'm familiar with.

All the Biggest Cycling Hazards in One Convenient Location!

I'd guess I've been on a bicycle 7,000 - 8,000 days over the past 35 years.  I've learned a lot of situations that are dangerous, and I try to avoid them.  Here's my list of the biggest hazards, in no particular order:

• Roads with a lot of stop signs or traffic lights.
• Roads with cars parked along the shoulder.
• Roads with a lot of driveways and parking lots (ie: a lot of turns onto and off of the road).
• Congested parking areas where drivers are focused on finding a parking spot.
• Busy roads with narrow shoulders.
• Roads with a lot of cyclists of varying speeds (ie: cyclists are passing a lot of other cyclists).
• Scenic views that distract drivers from watching the road.
• Lots of tourists who are distracted from driving.
• Riding in a peloton with more than 5-6 people.
• Riding in a group with more than a few beginners.
• Riding in low-light conditions, fog, or rain.
• Riding directly into or away from the sun when it's at a low angle in the sky (and blinding drivers).
• Riding with cyclists who are not very aware of their surroundings, or who don't have good bike-handling skills.
• Riding in an area where drivers are drinking alcohol.

Yes, it's a long list.  But the wildly popular coastal ride has all of them along it's entire length--except for the narrow shoulders part (that's only sporadic).  I think it's no coincidence there are so many accidents there.

So, What is a Safe Route?

In my opinion, having few vehicles on the road will almost always make for a safer ride.  My ideal ride from a safety standpoint?

• Rural roads, with very little traffic.  The width--or even presence of--a shoulder becomes almost irrelevant when there are few motor vehicles.
• Riding with a handful (no more than 7-8) of experienced cyclists who travel at the same speed.
• Lots of hills so there's not the temptation to bunch up into a group and draft for a few hours.

But aren't Rural Roads Dangerous for Cyclists?

A lot of people are scared to ride on rural roads.  We've all heard stories of drivers throwing beer bottles and of pickup trucks running cyclists off the road.  We have stereotypes of "rednecks" and how much they hate cyclists. 

I've spent the past 20+ years riding on both extremely rural roads and bicycle-commuting daily on congested city streets.  And I'll pick a rural road with no shoulder over a busy road with a wide shoulder any time.  Yes, a couple of times out in the sticks I've been called a "faggot in spandex", and have been majorly creeped out by a few situations.  But I can't count the number of times my heart has nearly stopped at some near-incident on busy roads where a driver didn't see me and pulled/swerved right in front of me.

I'll write more about riding on rural roads in a future post--but trust me, they're worth learning to love.

Sprintman--Triathlon Champion Of My Block

Don't Worry, It's Parody In Good Fun

It doesn't take much time around triathletes to know that sometimes we take our sport and our participation in it a little too seriously.  I've done it myself, but usually manage to step back and laugh at myself.  Apparently it's a habit of mine to poke fun at things that seem a little pretentious, as I've been nominated as Chairman Of Irreverence (or Chairman Of Irrelevance, take your pick) of our tri club. 

I'll first note that some of my best friends do ironman races, and are quite good at them.  They devote incredible time and energy to training, and at races find themselves on the podium earning trips to Kona.  It's important in their lives, and I'm proud of them for setting high goals and reaching them.

But triathlon doesn't define their existence.  They're well-rounded individuals who balance racing with family and friends and work and manage to not take themselves too seriously.  

Anyway, one day we were laughing about the debates that go on in forums at places like slowtwitch over topics like: Who can legitimately get an M-Dot tattoo? (Only those who have done an "official" ironman? What if you walked the whole marathon?  What if it took you 16:30 hours?  What if it was "only" an Ironman 70.3? What if you don't have 6-pack abs and an aero helmet?).  It all seemed rather silly to me.

I remarked that since I was never going to be in the world championship for anything and really don't foresee myself ever doing an ironman, could I get an S-Dot tattoo? 

Team S-Dot

Really, we're not mocking people who do ironman races.  Only those who take themselves too seriously over it and think that it's the end-all and be-all in triathlon.  And we're certainly not mocking those who don't race any further than sprint distance.  For many people, doing their first sprint race requires overcoming more hurdles (physical and mental) than it does for a veteran athlete to train for an ironman.  And training for that distance allows them to still race while juggling family, school, work, etc.

In the year leading up to my first triathlon I lost 25 pounds, ran the first mile of my life, and swam the first lap of my life.  And was darned proud when I finished that race.  And, looking back, that year was much more challenging than anything I do now, even though I train longer hours and am way faster than I was.  The grand irony, of course, is that I'm not even the Champion Of My Block, as I have two neighbors who are retired pro racers...

We all have different reasons for racing--and as long as there's not too much ego wrapped up in them, most are reasons to be proud of.  

If you want to be part of Team S-Dot, we can hook you up with apparel.  Right now there's some logo wear on Cafe Press, but to be honest it's kind of pricey.  I'm putting together an order for shirts and bike bottles that will be be much cheaper.  Shoot me an email if you're interested.

You can be a Sprintman Fan on Facebook. And, yes, stick-on tattoos now exist.  We wear them with pride.