I’ve cycled in and out of Madrid back in the 90’s - wasn’t too bad. We came from the north, a great climb up from Segovia to a ski resort. There’s a cycle lane all the way in. Me and a mate did Spain north to south in 1997. Such a great bike trip. Just rolled off the ferry and hit the roads
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Not too bad for me, but most of my routes are rural Suffolk. People are relatively mellow out here, and probably get held up as much by tractors or caravans as cyclists.
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Why would you not be allowed to say that on here? It’s all personal experience and there will always be balance.
I go to Mallorca almost every year and do around 20 hours on the bike. Never had 1 remotely close pass or sketchy moment with a car.
Easily the most respectful place I’ve ever cycled, although I’m not well travelled! and the same goes for ALMOST everyone I’ve ever known that goes there. Not everyone though.
As for the road surfaces 
That said I’ve never had a bad close pass in Cheshire.
Same can’t be said for when I lived in Whitefield, that was sketchy AF, almost every time I went out I nearly got hit. Especially on the morning commute.
Because people get upset on here when you dare to criticise anything European.
As for Mallorca, 5 times for me with three times about 15 hrs and twice about 20 hrs.
INot all the roads are bad by a long shout and there some truly “billiard table” surfaces but not every one at all. There are some proper goat tracks if you get off the well beaten path of where most tourists and groups ride but they are still classed as roads.
Drivers? IME depends very much where you are based. Pollen is area is definitely better. Most of my trips were based in the south and I found it to be pretty hairy quite a few times. Especially with the smaller van type drivers that seem to buzz around with their hand permanently on the horn.
I don’t find it worse than here but I don’t find here as bad as lot folks in other areas do either but every time I go to Mallorca I’m always surprised at the amount of impatient drivers compared to the stories you read and my expectations.
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I have a similar outlook to @Whisk - over ten years of central London cycling gets you very used to drivers being in a very close proximity to you.
Saying that, all my weekend rides etc are done early in the morning, early risers get the best roads! Next to no cars out and you only come across the steady flow of cyclists on their way out when you’re coming back!
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I think for me, being used to it and deciding whether to carry on dealing with are just two different things. In Sydney you are literally glad to get home unharmed but cycling meant more to me then than it does now.
Life moves on I guess🤷🏻♂️
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Roads in the Lancashire / Greater Manchester boarderlands are absolutely horrendous, surely have to be some of the worst in the UK. I get it’s probably wetter there than a lot of places and freeze / thaw will be a factor but the councils should be on top of it, especially as theres a lot of well ridden roads there and due to the surface, it almost pushes cyclists into the middle of the road and therefore creates unnecessary tension between motorists and cyclists that doesn’t need to be there.
Also the Kent / Surrey /London roads can be a bit hit and miss, with a special mention to the road between Sanderstead and Warlingham with the now added hazard of quite a few cyclists now being robbed of their bikes in the Limpsfield, Clarkes Lane and Layhams Road areas.
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I ride through central Zurich pretty often. City riding is fine, no issue being in close proximity to other cars… its cars doing 60mph down narrow country lanes, is the driver on their phone? do they try to squeeze past cyclists leaving just a few cm?
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I hope you’re not counting me in that now; I’ve been back nearly 12 years so fully native again (where does the time go?!)
BL00DY WOKE CYCLISTS, IN THEIR SILLY LIBTARD KITS. MAKE THEM PAY ROAD TAX.
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Haha no, just a little pet peeve of mine. I genuinely try to make the most of wherever I am but that doesn’t mean there are no faults and by default doesn’t mean ‘everywhere is better than here’ ( wherever ‘here’ is)
I seem to be exiting road riding at a rate I didn’t think I’d ever see but I hope those that enjoy it can carry on doing so wherever they are.
I remember doing a moto tour of Germany/France and Belgium once. We had ultra smooth roads in Germany and when you got to the border crossing into Belgium, you could see the change in surface, literally on the line between the two countries.
Didn’t fill us with joy! Personally, I think it’s less to with bike culture in Mallorca rather than an acceptance that without cyclo tourism propping them up in the shoulder and off season, the island would be broke.
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Yes, I remember crossing from DE into BEL on the motorway; it was like driving onto the Moon 
UK Motorways are actually excellent, especially at night. It’s our A & B roads that obviously lack investment.
German drivers, and in particular Bavarians are pretty aggressive (and quite arrogant in their car bubble); but they are used to cyclists and don’t get triggered in the same way we do here.
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It’s like that with the border between Switzerland and France and Switzerland and Italy. Riding around Lugano I think that the swiss road engineers make the road super-extra smooth just up to the border, 10cm accross the border the road is covered in potholes and loose chippings. Its a similar story as you ride around Lac Leman, where you cross the Swiss/French border a few times. The border post is pretty easy to miss, however, it is obviouse when you enter France as the road surface changes
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And in Bavaria, roads are wider and there aren’t hedges right next to the road, so visibility is much better. In the UK, often the hedges are right next to the road, often they are not well trimmed so the hedges actually protrude onto the road, it makes bikes less visible, and provides no bail out options
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I like riding and running the lanes less in summer because of this. The overgrowth puts you further into the middle of the road. Plus in winter you can look through the trees and hedgerows to check ahead, which you can’t do in summer.
Of course in winter, the lanes and B roads in Somt are pretty much never dry and covered in mud and crap. Hard to get a good balance.
I was talking to Mrs FP about trails on the weekend, as we were talking about one of our run routes being overgrown. We have beautiful trails in the UK but just don’t seem to value their upkeep.
All of ours get cut but only at the end of summer. I suppose council figure it’s cheaper to cut them once.
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This was so obvious in the Tour last week. Cycling the roads in the border area around lac de Neuchatel was amazing on the smooth Swiss roads.
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since moving to the Brecon Beacons, we’ve found the road quality much much better than the roads in Sussex - absolute joy and great with so much less traffic
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I’ve got no plans to scale back my road riding at the weekend, but I am seriously questioning whether I want to carry on commuting by bike during the week.
With the surge in numbers of people on bikes during the pandemic and the food and grocery delivery bikes, it’s becoming like wacky races out there during busy commuting times. I got wiped out by a red light-jumping hire bike on a cycle lane and I generally try to avoid the cycle superhighways because of the amount of dangerous riding I’ve witnessed on them.
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All that EU money 
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I think this a is a big factor; I appreciate the value of hedgerows, but they do block the (nice) views.
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I always notice this when cycling down in Cornwall. Generally quiet roads but so many hedgerows have you second guessing every corner
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