Just a general riding question - inevitably we're sometimes forced upon a stretch of 20-30 ft of rotten pavement (i.e. bone jarring ruts, just short of tire eating potholes) with traffic coming up on your left so a last minute swerve isn't possible. What's the best way to minimize potential damage? If alone, I usually brake hard, stand up out of the saddle and creep over it - is that the best course of action?

Also, what do you do in this situation if you're in a fast paceline? Any last minute swerve and/or attempt at braking hard doesn't seem like an option. Of course it's easy to say know the route and avoid the ruts, but invariably at 20mph+ bad road can creep up fast if hidden in a shadow.