After the snows went away the roads were terrible - potholes like I've never seen in
the last eleven years of riding or so.

Unbelievable. My wife went out for the second time since last year and she noticed it
too....my situational awareness on the bike had to go up considerably to avoid getting
in a world of hurt.

Anyone else notice this? I'm in the Minneapolis area but wonder if other areas were
similarly effected.

Welcome to the world of Sonoma County, and it does'nt even snow here. Unparalleled scenery though! I think of constantly searching for a perfect line as my "mental workout"...

the chicago area got hammered this year. we had some dramatic freeze/thaws here, but thi syear everyone seems to notice it.
we had "emergency pothole management," which was basically a truck with asphalt and two guys with shovels. they would scoop some hot asphalt over a hole, then the truck would back over it rather than tamp it down. they did some really crappy patching in deerfield...putting too much fill in and not tamping it down at all. so instead of potholes there are gopher hills.

had to have some front end suspension work done to one of the cars last week. seems many people are having issues this year.

at least southern N.E. (Connecticut) it wasn't a terrible winter. The roads didn't suffer a great deal. We had a few short-lived ice storms, so a lot of sand got dumped, but there were few major snowstorms. I've been commuting full-time again since early March, but got out for a weekend ride on the road bike last weekend for the first time in a couple of months, and the roads were surprisingly good. They've even started sweeping up the sand. Sorry you're not having the same good luck.

Madison got hit with over 10 feet of snow, shattering the old 7' record. The roads are in decent condition, though, since the fcking city doesn't plow or salt.

Madison got hit with over 10 feet of snow, shattering the old 7' record. The roads are in decent condition, though, since the fcking city doesn't plow or salt.

Man, I don't know where you're at, but on the east side, roads are seriously F'd up. There are a couple on my commute to/from work that look like they've been bombed.

I think I'll take a ride with the digital camera, I've never seen anything like this.

In particular: 90th street in Bloomington Minnesota from a point west of Penn
Avenue towards France.

It really does look like it was bombed with small munitions at points, especially
the north side of the road (the side you'd be traveling westward on).

I always ride my trusty 24 pound steel bike until I become familiar with
road hazards that arose the previous winter.

No significant pothole problems for me yet (Colorado Front Range), but the bike lanes sure are full of sand this time of year.

Man, I don't know where you're at, but on the east side, roads are seriously F'd up. There are a couple on my commute to/from work that look like they've been bombed.

I ride south/southwest. Note that the surrounding cities actually do plow their streets. They also plow around the capital building...

We're on the same roads and yes they seem worst than normal this year.

86th by Penn Lake has always been a bad section, but this year it's like riding cobbles, regardless of the line you take get ready for a beating.

I stopped at Davanii's on Vernon on the way home on Monday and took Eden Road down the hill to head home and it felt like I should be wearing a cup.

Scot

In addition to our record snow in Milwaukee, everyone ran out of salt, so began cutting what they had with sand. Now you can dodge the incredible numbers of potholes while fighting a blowing sandstorm and trying not to get caught in a sand trap at every intersection.

Yeah, first ride of the year I was constantly hitting potholes. I thought it was just from being a trainer-zombie... but 2 weeks later it was still happening (albeit to a slightly lesser extent). The roads South of town are riddled with potholes - absolutely bizarre, because there have NEVER been potholes there before.

Madison and the area only uses sand. Today there were 20mph winds with gusts up to 40mph.

My legs got sandblasted and I lost my tan.

Madison and the area only uses sand. Today there were 20mph winds with gusts up to 40mph.

My legs got sandblasted and I lost my tan.
Yup, cause salt is bad for the lakes. I cut my ride in half today because of wind. I almost set up my trainer outside to ride, but I'm too lazy and decided to do school work instead.

Could this be a reflection on possible city/state governo-economic cuts? Here in WV, I can agree with others about worse than usual road conditions.

at least southern N.E. (Connecticut) it wasn't a terrible winter. The roads didn't suffer a great deal. We had a few short-lived ice storms, so a lot of sand got dumped, but there were few major snowstorms. I've been commuting full-time again since early March, but got out for a weekend ride on the road bike last weekend for the first time in a couple of months, and the roads were surprisingly good. They've even started sweeping up the sand. Sorry you're not having the same good luck.

Man I'm going to start heading down to your neck of the woods, the roads in Mass. look as if someone on speed and crack was given a jackhammer and grenades and told to fix the roads...what a mess! :mad2:

All the potholes around here in the San Francisco/San Jose bay area are largely to blame on the Bush/Cheney supporters who are convinced that they need to drive themselves to work every day in a 7,000+ pound SUV or truck, and of course that amount of weight in comparison to let’s say your average 2,800 pound automobile does a bit more wear and tear to the roads in a shorter amount of time, and not just because they are all about getting on the brakes at the last possible moment either (I never understood this concept—the whole “I’m bigger than you, so I must be safer and capable of more dangerous driving, and I can lay on the brakes at the last possible moment to scare those wussy Birkenstock-wearing hippy-ass Prius drivers”).

</end rant>

A tan! At this point I think I have to work my way back to "opaque."

The roads around me are destroyed right now... Just driving a car is dangerous on some roads...

Madison and the area only uses sand.

Same along lake Michigan. They use sand on the roads instead of Salt. There’s a lot sand still on the roads. Sweeping turns on descents can really get the heart pumping. I saw a street sweeper going through this morning. I hope they get rid of the sand so I can focus on the potholes.

Man I'm going to start heading down to your neck of the woods, the roads in Mass. look as if someone on speed and crack was given a jackhammer and grenades and told to fix the roads...what a mess! :mad2:

Sounds about right.. we got nailed hard here in Southern NH.

A couple places I ride by a lot have these interesting potholes I've never seen before.. they're like 5' wide by 20' long by 6" deep.. they look like someone took a giant knife and sliced into the road.. the pavement that came out of the slice is just gone... picked up into the snowbanks, ground up by the plows.. and just demolished into the sand at the side of the road.

A tan! At this point I think I have to work my way back to "opaque."

See my training for 30hrs this week...here's the story thread in the Racing/Training forum. North Carolina was nice enough a couple weeks ago to wear shorts and get a tan :)

...not that it matters, cause the sand really did do a number on my legs.