8 miles into town

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I ride on mountain roads all the time and never feel I have a problem. @Nickt919 there's this great device you can see what's behind you, it's called a mirror. On a standard lane road (11') where the shoulder is narrow and/or wide but lots of debris the safest place for you is in the center of the lane. This is called Lane Control.

Riding to the far right in standard lanes encourages motorist to do a squeeze by on you. Side swipes is the most common accident between motorist vs cyclist where the motorist is at fault. The majority of the times cyclist are rear ended is because the cyclist suddenly pulled out in front of the motorist or changed lanes without at least using hand signals.

Be aware/alert
Be seen
Be predictable
Communicate

The biggest concerns with mountain roads is controlling down hill speeds and being aware of sharp curves. This is why I tell people to ride down the road first as a front seat passenger in a car/truck.

Other things to consider is are there other routes which may have less traffic? Are there times there isn't as much traffic on the road? By all means if you have a wide debris free shoulder use it.

 

[cloakedvillain]

Heres an idea: take the bike in the back of the truck and ride it while in town.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Heres an idea: take the bike in the back of the truck and ride it while in town.

Some of these mountain towns can have roads very similar to the rural areas.

 

[GW's Motorized]

I ride on mountain roads all the time and never feel I have a problem. @Nickt919 there's this great device you can see what's behind you, it's called a mirror. On a standard lane road (11') where the shoulder is narrow and/or wide but lots of debris the safest place for you is in the center of the lane. This is called Lane Control.

Riding to the far right in standard lanes encourages motorist to do a squeeze by on you. Side swipes is the most common accident between motorist vs cyclist where the motorist is at fault. The majority of the times cyclist are rear ended is because the cyclist suddenly pulled out in front of the motorist or changed lanes without at least using hand signals.

Be aware/alert
Be seen
Be predictable
Communicate

The biggest concerns with mountain roads is controlling down hill speeds and being aware of sharp curves. This is why I tell people to ride down the road first as a front seat passenger in a car/truck.

Other things to consider is are there other routes which may have less traffic? Are there times there isn't as much traffic on the road? By all means if you have a wide debris free shoulder use it.

No shoulder, mostly downhil on one side and up hill on the other. Ive been down the roads I'm talking about before. And there is no other way into town other than that road.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

No shoulder, mostly downhil on one side and up hill on the other. Ive been down the roads I'm talking about before. And there is no other way into town other than that road.

What kind of curves are you dealing with? How wide are the lanes? Are there drop-offs on the side of the road? Are there walls of stone on the side of the road?

 

[GW's Motorized]

What kind of curves are you dealing with? How wide are the lanes? Are there drop-offs on the side of the road? Are there walls of stone on the side of the road?

The side that goes towards the hill has a small maybe 1 ft deep runoff ditch, no shoulder, and no walls, just grassy dirt and sometimes trees, and the other side has gaurdrails and a drop off. If you want a good visual check out south hyway 3 out of Louisa Kentucky on google maps.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

The side that goes towards the hill has a small maybe 1 ft deep runoff ditch, no shoulder, and no walls, just grassy dirt and sometimes trees, and the other side has gaurdrails and a drop off. If you want a good visual check out south hyway 3 out of Louisa Kentucky on google maps.

So nothing like 70 which goes by Ozone water fall in Crab Orchid TN. On one of the curves if you try to do the 55 mph limit you'll hear a vehicle tip over alarm.

 

[GW's Motorized]

So nothing like 70 which goes by Ozone water fall in Crab Orchid TN. On one of the curves if you try to do the 55 mph limit you'll hear a vehicle tip over alarm.

Most of the curves aren't terribly sharp, just frequent.

 

[GW's Motorized]

This is what the commute looks like on maps

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

This isn't a very high quality video and it doesn't have the whole route but this is what 70 is like. The area after the look out point has the most curves in it. Where the video ends at the road to the old fire tower is where my last X 18 year old grandson got killed. Bad brakes coming down a steep hill; flipped the SUV. He was a front seat passenger and the only one of the 4 riders who wasn't wearing a seat belt. The other 3 only got minor injuries.





Once you get used to mountain riding you'll love it.