[CaliGrrl]

Originally Posted by akima

I think if you're paying attention during a ride, most of your real obstacle avoidance should be smooth and flowy anyway. If you are having to make a sudden movement, it probably means you've been really unlucky (OMFG A DEER IN FULL SPRINT!), your speed was too high for the conditions, or you weren't paying enough attention.

For the most part, I think I agree with this. Trials competitions aside, a person should be able to anticipate a lot of what shows up on a road. Not everything, not saying that, but a lot. Random things happen but those should be relatively rare.