Slippery When Wet

August 13, 2009 · Comments

The only thing more painful that getting back into race form is constantly wiping out while trying to get back into race form.  In these past 7 wet days in Melbourne I’ve hit the ground 3 times on a variety of different terrains, and have almost gone down on the other 3.   In 4 years I haven’t come off once and all of a sudden 3 times in a row.  These things always come in 3’s so I’m glad it’s over with.

On one of these occasions I was riding with a couple mates.  Not 2 seconds after I hit the deck one guy yelled out to the other “Hey, get your camera..What you missed this morning!”.  I’m sitting flat on my arse and these guys are standing there making jokes.  So this begs the question, how long after a mate has a wipe-out can you laugh at him? Just what is the buffer period for making wise-cracks if he’s not seriously hurt?  5mins?  20mins?   I thought the should at least give me the dignity to get my feet twisted out of my cleats and my butt off the ground before they busted a gut laughing at me!  My poor bruised ego…

Some tips on how to deal with road rash that I’ve been putting to good use this week.

Anyway, here are some road hazards we’re all familiar with:

Wet Wood Bridge

Slipperiness Rating:  9/10

Wet wood or steel bridges always catch you off-guard.  You know you should use some caution on these but always forget that they’re as slippery as ice when wet.  I hate them with a passion…

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Wet Tiles At Apartment Entrance

Slipperiness Rating:  9/10

No one usually sees these falls and are usually while walking with the shoe covers on.   I can deal with this type of fall except when it results in the splits.

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Wet Bitchumen Crackfills

Slipperiness Rating:  7/10

Use caution when going 40km/hr around a corner when it’s wet out and you see these.  You’ll go down so fast you won’t know what happened.

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Wet Road Markings

Slipperiness Rating:  8/10

Bad because they’re usually around the corners and you’re going at a decent clip when you go down.

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Wet Pedestrian Foot Grips (don’t know what these are called and what their purpose is as they’re very slippery!)

Slipperiness Rating:  9/10

These things sneak up on you when you’re coming to a stop on a sidewalk  (where you shouldn’t be riding anyway, so chalk it up to karma)

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Tram Tracks – Wet or Dry!

Slipperiness Rating:  10/10

@$#&*% tram tracks…

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  • Steve Caddy
    Hopefully they start laughing straight away. In the immediate post deck-hit concussion cloud, the first signal that I'm about to realise that I'm seriously hurt is that no-one is laughing.
  • bill posters
    You're mates are good to laugh at you as soon as they realize you aren't seriously hurt and are able to get back on your bike and back riding. "yer right mate?, yeah, im ok. ha ha ha, sucks to be you..."
  • d11
    Wet wooden bridges are seriously ICY slippery when wet. I found that out the hard way and had a big bruise on the side of my hip and upper thigh (couldn't sleep on that side for a solid week). I was going a bit faster than I should (my fault), but didn't expect the front wheel to just slip and slide out like it did.

    As I was cleaning myself up about 10 ft away from the base, another cyclist going quite slow actually wiped out as well.

    I'd suggest unclipping at least one (if not both) feet going over wet bridges and SLOWING way down. Don't forget the metal strips at the base of each end too!
  • I'm a puss and don't ride in the rain. Eventually I'll need to man up and deal with the soak.

    The slimy two foot section of water on the bike path beneath an overpass, on a curve, is super-slick. Not that I have any near-fall experiences with that.
  • Not listed: Snow and wet wooden stairs.
  • Ridley
    Checker plate is my pet hate. They are starting to use it more and more to hide joins in bridges....very slippery if you put the power down at the wrong time.

    be careful people.
  • Will T
    Wet metal manhole covers - slipperness rating 1,000/10

    All the worse because they tend to turn up mid-corner in your racing line, right on the apex, so there is a significant chance if you don't eat shit going over them, you will probably eat shit trying to get around them while adjusting your line mid-coner.
  • Anonymous
    Best all round tyre- Rubino Pros. WORD
  • vidman
    Conti GP 4 Seasons. Great puncture proofness and great in the wet.
  • Tommy P
    Wade, how about everyone recommends some good wet weather tyres? I used to run these IRC race tyres years ago and used to eat s#it every-time it rained. They were great otherwise but just did not grip in wet. I find the Conti Gator skins really good though. Real black rubber; no fancy stuff and they just work.

    I head a big one in the wet once. Coming back from a race in Glenvale got caught in a downpour. Hammering down the road a car pulls out of a park spot. Swerved to go around, popped front tyre over tram track, rear just caught the edge and slid along the track. Actually span the bike around almost backwards before it all gripped up and hi-sided me off the bike. Bent frame, taco-ed wheel and three stitches in chin (My courier bag landed on my head and pressed face into road as I was sliding).

    Nasty.
  • Good suggestion Tommy. Funny you mention the Conti Gator Skins. Those are the exact tyres I've been using in 2 out of 3 of my wipe-outs. However I don't think even a mtb tyre could grip some of these road hazards.

    One of my favorite training tyres that's worked well for me over the years is the Vittoria Rubino. They're cheap, durable and have a good tread to them.



    I just bought some Continental GP 4000's on a few recommendations. We'll see how they work out.

    I was extremely happy with the Hutchison Fusion 2 tubless tyres. Got about 5000km before I had a puncture. Just changing them over now. the only downfall is that they're quite expensive. The feel is fantastic though.
  • CP
    Cont GP 4000's are by far the best tyres I have used. Currently I have 13,000km on my training wheels with one rotation and look to get 2,000 more.
    The occasional puncture now in the wet after 80% wear, but very few by comparison to the Michelins I used to ride. Which were usless in the wet and only gave me about 7,000km life.
  • Brad
    Moral: Don't race Glenvale
  • Anonymous
    Piles of wet, newly dropped (but rotting underneath) leaves make for treacherous sliding conditions.
  • emil
    In British Columbia, Canada, or provincial TT championship course has a wooden bridge. http://escapevelocity.bc.ca/images/ttmap_new.gif

    We get a lot of precipitation, it is a rain forest environment. Needless to say that the wet bridge is a especially "exciting" when in aero TT position.
  • I discovered on Tuesday that a wet road is better for sliding along on your back while attached to your bike after you have been hit head on by a truck that "didn't see you" while he turns right at the intersection.

    That's a positive of riding in Winter i guess :-)

    Still off work but minimal road rash!
  • AntiPETA
    Small animals are also very viscus when run over with a 23mm tyre at 120psi.
  • Is that you Matt?
  • Matt
    Not me Wade but I agree with AntiPETA.
  • Brad
    And I agree with Matt
  • Small Animal
    Fugg you lot, what about us?!!
  • Ritch
    Or, if the bike path flooded the previous night, the floodwaters recede and leave a slimy film of silt and algae: slipperiness: 11/10!!
  • Beagle
    Plenty of the pedestrian foot grips on the St. George's Rd bike path so even good karma will see you on the ground.
    My nemesis is the wet drain grate that takes up 80% of a bike lane, and slopes towards the gutter. If you get boxed in by traffic on a wet morning and your wheel hits one of these puppies, it heads pretty quickly towards the gutter. On the bright side, if you survive you are awake for the rest of the ride...'three coffees in a row' awake!
  • Steve
    Don't forget freshly cut wet grass laying on the bike paths - it's slippery as ice when cornering!
  • Ribs
    Wet train tracks. Second worse spill of my life - one of those "well, looks like ima hafta replace this helmet" spills. (First was my own fault, so It doesn't count.) I can think of no sound strategy to attack these without worry. Bunny hop?
  • Anonymous
    My pet hate is those metal grates on the edges of gutters, particularly on main roads. They usually stick out most of the way into the bike lane. I'm not too fussed about going down, it's getting hit by the car behind me if I do that scares me.
  • The "Wet Pedestrian Foot Grips" thingo's are actually for the visually impaired, they are a tactile warning or guidance system to alert them about the edge of the road or lead them to a crossing (I know because I used to install them). The ones we use here in Oz are ceramic coated so yes they will bring you down, especially if you are braking as you roll over them.
  • Taylor
    FYI, I think that (at least part of) the pedestrian foot grips' purpose is to help blind people navigate..
  • tc
    Wade,

    You're forgetting Black ICE and metal construction plates (pet hate of motorbikes).

    Seattle has massive corrugated subway vents about ten metres in length that you glide over, and San Fran has similar on market street that EAT your tyres... instant flat tyre.

    I know a really good manicurist by the way....

    TC
  • Ah yes...those metal construction plates - EVIL!

    Manicurist eh? I'll be in touch...;-)

    P.S. Love the ride writeup. As always, great photos TC. Epic indeed

    http://www.fyxomatosis.com/index.php?option=com...
  • sam
    oh yeah...those tram tracks are sons of bitchs.

    Especially the ones where Fitzroy Street meets the Espy.
  • Jeff tee
    Heinrich Haussler's TDF stage win, with some frightening, wet descents was nail biting stuff. Every couple of corners I said to myself "he's going to lose it on this one". No, he didn't lose it. I guess we can attribute that to some good bike handling skills and just "plain" wet roads, not a lot of the hazards in your list.
    However, I think it was only a few days before, he lost it on a seemingly innocuous roundabout and admitted that it was his fault. You never can tell.
  • sam
    ...a few brusied ego's and and bums on North Road this morning.

    Nothing worse. Hope all the boys who touched the road are ok.
  • CP
    Not too sure that it had much to do with the wet today that we saw that Nth Rd crash.
    I think the guys coming up from behind had spent their tickets and dropped their heads. When BANG! Eye's front guy's. No matter how spent you are.
    They sure did slide everywhere though. Perhaps we can credit the wet road with that.
    FYI - All guys dusted themselves off.
  • Anthony
    How could they be spent? The ride was only going 10mins when the crash occurred. Having said that, I hope they're OK!
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