So I came to the whole triathlon thing from a running and swimming background. I had a bike when I was a kid, but never really started cycling until I started triathlon. After 3 years, I’m finding that I’m getting better at going fast, but my bike handling skills need some serious work. About 6 months ago I learned not to brake on gravel, especially not with just your back brakes because it leads to sliding and crashing and picking rocks out of your hands, legs, hips and shoulders. (I learned to wear gloves that day too.) Saturday I learned that turning at 20+mph on a bike on gravel is also not the best idea, as it leads to picking rocks out of your knee and hip, and x-rays and antibiotics.
Any other gravel lessons I need to know, but shouldn’t learn the hard way? Do I just avoid the stuff? Is there no way to be safe on it?
Also, how is it that whenever I crash my feet come out of the pedals. This is a mystery to me…
Finally, any good tips on getting the stuff out of my skin?
Seriously, as a guy who has had plenty of time to race on loose rock as a former expert mountain bike racer in Arizona. I think you should avoid it where possible. If you do hit gravel, hold your line, brake slowly, if you lock a wheel then you lose the forces that hold your bike upright. You have to turn very slowly, try not to lean the bike over.
I remember a downhill MB race where we basically skated downhill over a field of loose rocks. You had very little control over your direction, which caused me to veer right into a patch of prickly pear!
Just as well I was wearing knee/shin and arm pads!
I was a police mountain bike instructor in Virginia for many years. The handling skills you learn there are important to road biking as well. If your rear wheel starts to slide at all, especially sideways…let it go!! Don’t use the brakes…allow it to go and if you maintain speed it will straighten out all by itself.
Don’t use the brakes. I use the front brake on my tri-bikes alot more then the rear. The front will stop you sooner and faster but you have to know how much force to use to prevent the “endo”. I’ve done my share of “over the handlebars” on the mountain bike! I’ve only done it once on my tri-bike. Coming into transition with both feet on the left pedal, ready to jump off…alittle too much front brake and over it went!! Makes you look really STUPID…but who cares. I placed in my age group anyway, even with all the blood!
Ah ha, mad aussie, the curse is perfect. I’m going to tape it to my handle bars for the next few rides to remind myself to ride smarter. Now I know what to do. Avoid gravel where possible, don’t use my brakes when I hit it, and if I have to turn I’ll make it gradual. Once I get that mastered I’ll find a roadie group. Until I stop crashing though, I don’t want to inflict myself on others.
This is the first I’ve heard of the front brake suggestion. I may have to go practice to see how that works for me, in a gravel free zone, of course. I’ll need to be careful though, the last thing I need right now is a broken nose from an endo, on top of my road rash. Then I’d really be pretty.
Off to go soak in the tub and dig some more rocks out of my knee…
this gravel topic made me LOL. My previous driveway was gravel and I lived in the center of the city. My house was the meeting point for many of our rides. Every single one of my friends crashed in my driveway in the 5 years I lived there. Every weekend people would arrive early just to see somebody crash. Good times!
This will take split second thinking, but when you come to a gravel patch or any thing slippery in a corner–do your heavy turning before and after the bad patch and straighten the bike over the the bad area. Other than that sit to the back of the saddle and go easy on how hard you hold the handle bars.