I wiped out on wet leaves this morning.............

will3

clearly my tyres are fine, where can I find a less inept rider? :oops:

Wallace1492

You need to go over your commute route the night before with a har drier, drying the leaves. Then have some sort of cover erected to ensure it stays dry all night.

cjcp

Unlucky. You need snow tyres with leaves. Nasty things.

vorsprung

I managed to ride through some country lanes covered in a mixture of flooding and leaves
Then through the wood at the top of the big hill, obviously a ton of leaves there
Then down the big hill including the hair pin covered in wet leaves

without falling off!!!

My secret? I call the technique "going a bit slower when steering"

will3

vorsprung wrote:

I managed to ride through some country lanes covered in a mixture of flooding and leaves
Then through the wood at the top of the big hill, obviously a ton of leaves there
Then down the big hill including the hair pin covered in wet leaves

without falling off!!!

My secret? I call the technique "going a bit slower when steering"

Yeah what you have to do for the perfect wipeout is take a chicane on a bike path tunnel exit, ignore the usual line you'd take and go for the smoother line that noone takes (coz you can take it a bit quicker) and completely forget that it's covered in slimey leaves (even though you know this because you go through there 10 times a week).

Mondays eh? Engage brain before leafing house (sorry....)

Still it gave me a chance to have a little lie down and a rest as I really wasn't on it this morning.

cjcp

vorsprung wrote:

My secret? I call the technique "going a bit slower when steering"

Nonsense. You are clearly a wizard.

SlowingDown

Survived the leaves so far but had a few near misses on this shiny new teflon coated paint they seem to be using for new road markings in London these days.

Agent57

cjcp wrote:

Unlucky. You need snow tyres with leaves. Nasty things.

Reckon they'd actually help? I reckon the leaves would just slide over each other.

Anyway, so far I've managed to stay upright on the leaves. I also claim the "slow down" solution, coupled with as straight a line or as large an arc as possible. It's working so far.

What I'm not looking forward to is ice. So far, previous winters since I started cycling to work (about 3 years) have been mild enough that I haven't really had to negotiate icy roads.

cjcp

Agent57 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Unlucky. You need snow tyres with leaves. Nasty things.

Reckon they'd actually help? I reckon the leaves would just slide over each other.

Sorry - tongue-in-cheek humour gone wrong. I meant those ice-tyres. Don't know why I put snow!

ride_whenever

tread does help a lot with leaves... the increase surface pressure means when the tyre starts to go you tear through to what's underneath rather than sliding over the top.

As tested using my cx tyres.

Old Tuggo

My friend, who is a very experienced rider, fell off last week and broke his femur when he was going very slowly round a corner. A few days later on my MTB I descended down a twisty track covered in leaves with no problem. It seems just a matter of luck whether one hits a slippy patch.

will3

Old Tuggo wrote:

My friend, who is a very experienced rider, fell off last week and broke his femur when he was going very slowly round a corner. A few days later on my MTB I descended down a twisty track covered in leaves with no problem. It seems just a matter of luck whether one hits a slippy patch.

I think it does depend a bit on what's underneath. This morning, it was
tree leaves served on leaf puree on a bed of tarmac

yummy.

iain_j

Had a bemusing incident on leaves last Autumn. Coming down a long, straight 1-in-5 hill in Macclesfield Forest ... there's a clue in the name. Forest road in autumn. Couldn't see the road for leaves. Went dead slow, as slow as I could, then on the slightest of slight bends my back wheel locked up and started drifting sideways. Sod this. Did a controlled drift onto the edge of the road, stopped, put my foot down intending to walk it, and nearly went flat on my back. Hmm, I'm stranded. Can't ride, can't walk. Eventually got down on the bike, dead slow, hoping I wouldn't meet something coming the other way, then I did. A mountain biker appeared at the bottom, started climbing, immediately started skidding, and got off and walked up.

Great fun

Tyredocter

Try biking on seaweed, great for learning how to ride on slippy stuff Try a knobbly rear tyre as it does help with a road tyre on the front

biondino

Tyredocter wrote:

Try biking on seaweed, great for learning how to ride on slippy stuff Try a knobbly rear tyre as it does help with a road tyre on the front

The problem being that by the time the rear tyre gets some grip, the front tyre's already slipped out and you're on your face!

pastryboy

I wiped out on Monday - tiny thin bit of wood separates canal path and grassy section. Went across it and it was like black ice - bike wobbled all over the place until I was flung into a concrete wall. Minor bruises and some grazing.

I was using fairly knobbly tyres but I find with lateral movement on the wet it makes no difference.

The Chingford Skinhead

pastryboy wrote:

I wiped out on Monday - tiny thin bit of wood separates canal path and grassy section. Went across it and it was like black ice - bike wobbled all over the place until I was flung into a concrete wall. Minor bruises and some grazing.

I was using fairly knobbly tyres but I find with lateral movement on the wet it makes no difference.

But I guess it was better than the alternative of being thrown into the canal :shock: