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I went for an 80 mile road ride today and I was totally shocked at just how bad the road surface condition were on such a large percentage of the minor roads I encountered. I got chatting to another roadie and we both came to the conclusion that the majority have passed the point of no return and will require serious resurfacing work. In fact, I struggle to see how they can ever sort the whole mess out.
The inevitable rise of the Gravel Adventure Bike continues
Yep. Some of the lanes around me are brutal. There's one pothole on one of the back lanes out of the village that is big enough to support a complex civilisation inside.
The inevitable rise of the Gravel Adventure Bike continues
Or more specifically just bikes that take bigger tyres than 25c. A road bike with a 32c tyre would do it.
True, but so many road bikes over recent years have been aimed at the "I want a race bike, MOAR AERO!" type of market that such considerations are lacking!
Whole mix of factors I think. The weather for sure, especially the constant freeze/thaw cycles in winter. That just doesn't happen in most European countries; it gets cold, stays like that for a few months then thaws so the road isn't subject to the same stresses.
A steady move towards bigger, heavier cars and obviously a lot of traffic. Staggering under-investment and a make-do-and-mend approach to road fixing. And the ability of utility companies to come along and dig up the same bit 5 times rather than pooling their efforts.
France and Spain both do good road building. It's SO nice road riding out there and then such a massive disappointment coming back to the UK!
Round here some of the minor roads are better than the major roads. It's easier for them to close them and do a proper job. There are a couple with perfect Tarmac for miles as they've completely redone them rather than patch.
The majority of Britain's roads were upgraded from Macadamed to Tarmacadamed (tarmac) during the 1920's and 1930's., the work had actually started in the years immediately prior to the First World War.
As with most things they had, and still do have, a life expectancy which varies according to expected traffic levels. For rural roads this was 100 years. Of course in the interim vehicles have become both heavier and more numerous so shortening the lifespan. We've hit the "perfect storm" of a system that needs wholesale rework and underinvestment in that system. Basically it needs money but without raising taxes that money just isn't going to appear.
My way to work over Cannock Chase is fairly pothole free, but they surface dressed it last year and the new surface is so rough it's very uncomfortable on the road bike. I'm hoping it'll get smoothed down by traffic eventually, but it's been ages and it's not got any better yet...
(just too late to edit previous post) In addition to the above, government and local councils are more concerned with patching up the symptoms rather than deal with the underlying causes. In part because it's cheaper but it's also political expediency in that the problem is deferred so that it becomes someone else's problem.
The roads round here have been steadily going downhill since Thatcher allowed local authorities to use surface dressing to hide then underlying problem rather than fix them.
Have heard it said that French villagers love Le Tour coming through their village as it means they'll get the roads resurfaced a few weeks beforehand. Dunno if that worked for Yorkshire though
constant freeze/thaw
Where have you been wintering? For the last 2 winters at least the number of days we've got below freezing could probably be counted on 1 hand. Wet windy and relatively mild yes, Arctic snowmageddon no.
Glitchy phone double post
Agreed in the main but some of the villages local to me... Ribble valley NW England..... have better tarmac on the roads than the a roads..... Maybe something to do with voter ID?
Have heard it said that French villagers love Le Tour coming through their village as it means they'll get the roads resurfaced a few weeks beforehand. Dunno if that worked for Yorkshire though
It did, yes. Lots of bits of the stage 2 route round here were in a right state before 2014 and got proper repairs for the race. 🙂
Whole mix of factors I think. The weather for sure, especially the constant freeze/thaw cycles in winter. That just doesn't happen in most European countries; it gets cold, stays like that for a few months then thaws so the road isn't subject to the same stresses.A steady move towards bigger, heavier cars and obviously a lot of traffic. Staggering under-investment and a make-do-and-mend approach to road fixing. And the ability of utility companies to come along and dig up the same bit 5 times rather than pooling their efforts.
France and Spain both do good road building. It's SO nice road riding out there and then such a massive disappointment coming back to the UK!
No idea about France, but that's a very rosy view of Spain - we definitely have freeze-thaw cycles here in central Spain, and up north it's even worse with far more rain. The roads have also definitely gone downhill from a maintenance point of view, the financial crisis has had its effect.
The main difference I'd say are the lower levels of traffic, and the general attitude of drivers here towards cycling - go on to a Spanish newspaper site and read the comments, and there's nothing like the aggression and general dickheadedness you get in the UK.
In my bit of Hampshire I'd say the lanes are the same as they've always been. We are in Hamphires Roads Repair season which means finding lovely lanes for riding on and chucking down liquid tarmac then half arsed spreading of gravel/chippings. They've ruined Sailors Lane near Beacon Hill, the tossers. Absolutely nothing wrong with the lane at all, yet they've decided to ruin it.
As is, most of it's as it's always been, lovely.
Where have you been wintering? For the last 2 winters at least the number of days we've got below freezing could probably be counted on 1 hand. Wet windy and relatively mild yes, Arctic snowmageddon no.
Probably in the north, it does seem to have had an effect on the roads (and the trails) round here this winter and the couple previous.
Not something I noticed so much when I lived darn sarf BTW.
BUT I was impressed to find some tactical resurfacing had been carried out on my local road loop last night. So things not actually getting worse here.
The roads round here have been steadily going downhill since Thatcher allowed local authorities to use surface dressing to hide then underlying problem rather than fix them.
Seriously?? You're blaming Thatcher for poor roads??? 🙄
For a start, surface dressing is NOT used to hide an underlying problem, it's used to seal the surface and prolong the life of a road.
Brand new tarmac requires surface dressings after a 3-5 years as the surface naturally breaks down due to water ingress and traffic wear.
To blame Thatcher, is utterly ridiculous! To suggest that Thatcher came up with surface dressing as an alternative to resurfacing is frankly the most idiotic thing I've read on this forum!
One of the main problems we have is that our road network has evolved from green lanes, perhaps wide enough for a horse and cart. These roads have been gradually widened with little or no sub-base, and woefully inadequate drainage.
Look at the way roads are built on the continent. They will often be raised on a deep bed of hardcore with deep ditches at the sides. We simply don't have the natural resources in the UK to build roads in this way, and combined with the fact that we live, by and large, on a muddy slab of sedimentary clay, our roads are liable to subsidence, flooding, cracking and general degradation.
But if you want to see some really bad roads, watch Eurosport tomorrow! 😉
Forget about that, I'm just interested in riding roads that steadily go downhill
cent years have been aimed at the "I want a race bike, MOAR AERO!" type of market that such considerations are lacking
And after a couple of years riding you have a epiphany and buy something more suited
Then you think it's April, I could count on one hand how many dry days there has been so why doesn't my bike have mudguards, and the roads are terrible so why am I riding around on 23mm tyres
Burnley to Todmorden via Cliviger is dangerous.
It's a fast, twisty stretch.
From Portsmouth to Tod it's appalling;
Huge holes, random crap overbanding, shocking repairs.
It's bad enough in a car, but unless you know the road it's best to hold back on a bike at the mo.
Sounds a bit dramatic, sorry, but it's really bad.
It's not going to get any better.
My 2 main riding buddies are in the roads business; one owns a highways maintenance company, the other is a senior guy in the organisation which maintains the roads in our area.
The budgets have been cut and all the're doing is filling in a few potholes and surface dressing. Everybody in the industry is protesting but there's no more funding. And yes, I get it in the ear every ride.
It's a bit like Oz Clarke and James May touring the French vineyards "Ooh look - some nice cabernet franc vines next to the sauvignon amd merlot - must be getting near St Emilion" except with them it's having to stop by every pile of gravel or hardcore, sniff and handle it and speculate which quarry it came from.
It's a bit of a mixed bag round our way, and a few different factors affect the roads quality and standards of construction / repair as far as I can see.
One of the biggest factors seems to be natural drainage/run off, couple that with high mid-week rush traffic volumes and generally higher vehicle masses that they were simply not intended for and you soon stat getting degradation, especially in cold/damp periods...
On the other hand there are some local minor roads which don't see much traffic as they're not really a direct route or usable "rat run" to anywhere major, where you can actually enjoy a relatively quiet spin with minimal traffic... You just need to explore a bit...
There is a long large dual carriageway where the overtaking lane is fairy damage, worn out and dangerous to use in the wet or dry.
I've never seen a driver use it and they stick to inner lane.
I reported it to the council who are aware of it and will not be checking it again until next year...
Yet they spent millions on fliers lol
It did, yes. Lots of bits of the stage 2 route round here were in a right state before 2014 and got proper repairs for the race.
Same around here for the Olympic road race in 2012. The difference between the roads they used vs the ones they didn't is astonishing at times.
It's the reason why I'm sticking with 25c Open Paves. I find that geometry makes a difference - hence my Defy SL (with a slightly slacker Paris-Roubaix winning geometry) is supreme over these surfaces, but when I want to go a bit faster, I still take the Propel.
I reported it to the council who are aware of it and will not be checking it again until next year...
The answer here is to mention an imminent danger of fatality due to road surface damage. Sadly I was involved in such an incident related to poor road condition earlier this year. Let's just say that Surrey Council are now taking pothole reporting a little more seriously at the moment!