Accident Caerphilly Mountain

[Bruce85]

I need some advise, i was cycling to caerphilly to see some family on friday, i got up the mountain and while decending i had a nasty accident. I turned the corner at approx 29 mph which is not that fast considering i have a boardman comp road bike but as i did a strong wing blew me into the kerb.

I flew with the bike for 5-10 metres took skin off my leg, smacked my head and buckled my wheel. Thankfully my wheel was fixed but it has knocked my confidence a bit on decents.

My Bike weighs 8 kilos and i weigh 12 stone.

Im worried when flyimng down a hill that any small stones or potholes will send me flying, also i dont seem to have the technique to corner sharp enough to get around bends.

anyone have any advise

Also anyone thinking of not wearing a bike helmet i would say this experience has changed my perception on safety, that helmet saved my life as i hit my head with a fair whack and came away okay.

Advise will be appreciated.

 

[Banjo]

Hello Bruce Glad your ok and bike was fixable. In gusty winds it can be dodgy descending. I am a bit of a coward on descents but in Windy conditions you have to be cautious

I know there is a lot of teqnique to descending and Im sure someone more experienced than me will be along soon to give U some pointers but basically I would say slow down a bit until you have mastered it a bit more.

I did the Merlin Sportive last year ,started off in drizzle and gusty winds.On the descent off the black mountain towards Llangadog I noticed that much more experienced riders than me were going slower than me so I reigned it in and followed them down. Later on another rider got blown off the road and injured in the same place.

Are you available for a ride sometime this week? Im off out with koro tommorow but am free for rest of week after that.

 

[Bruce85]

generally i go out in evenings if i can, bit hard in winter but usually go out on the sunday.

Usually go to Barry from cardiff then do a circuit up and down a hill a few times before coming back.

All the effort is used on the hills, just coming down them seems to do me more harm than going up them.

It seems as if any type of stone no matter how small sends my bike into a wabble which is not great.

I guess its practise,

 

[Banjo]

generally i go out in evenings if i can, bit hard in winter but usually go out on the sunday.

Usually go to Barry from cardiff then do a circuit up and down a hill a few times before coming back.

All the effort is used on the hills, just coming down them seems to do me more harm than going up them.

It seems as if any type of stone no matter how small sends my bike into a wabble which is not great.

I guess its practise,

Usually weekdays are easier for me but can sometimes do a few hours on a sunday morning. Will send you a message later in the week..

 

[HLaB]

Bruce,

About 5 years ago I was going down the steep'ish Dunfermline-Inverkiething back road (it only max's at 14%); at the bottom of the road is a sharp left blind bend, so I had scrubbed my speed from 30 ish to 25mph and I'm glad I did as I went round at about 3/4 out in my lane a WVM coming the other way was cutting the corner. At first I held it, so must of scrubbed more speed off but when I skidded towards a people carrier I decided to so the bike and jump fortunately it was the middle of winter so I was well padded and the only real damage done was to the 3 wee prongs on the back of my helmet. Interesting to note that although every car stopped to ask whether I was OK WVM scarpered as fast as he could.

I'm still not the best of descenders as well, especially on blind left hand bends or in bad conditions but it does get better with practice. I find following somebody else also helps.

 

[Alien8]

To get your confidence back I think you'll have to accept that just at the moment you might not be flying down hills at speeds you're used to.

Descend at a speed you're comfortable with - if you try to push it too hard you won't be mentally/physically relaxed and you'll start to loose handling of the bike.

As your confidence comes back (and the weather improves etc) I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[zizou]

It is important to try and relax, if you dont then you will grip the bars too tight, will grab a bit too much brake and generally the bike wont be as stable as it is when you are relaxed. Difficult to do though particularly after a crash or near miss. To get faster at descents then dont try pushing it harder and harder (like you would do on the flat or going uphill) but go at a pace which you are comfortable with but keeping it as smooth and as relaxed as possible. Eventually the confidence and speed will build back up

Also focus on the road ahead and hazards/bends in front, giving you more time to react rather than come to the hazard and have to take evasive action. With bends and corners on a fast descent you really want to do all your braking before turning in and if it is safe to do so then go a bit wider on the outside of the corner before turning in and have you inside pedal up with the weight on the outside pedal - and look at the road ahead that you want to be going down rather than at the corner you are are going round.

However a gust of wind, well there isnt much you can do about that. Your technique could be perfect and yet you could still get caught out by a strong unexpected gust.

 

[Bruce85]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I think to be fair the wind suprised me more than anything because i was used to a mountain bike before my road bike.

Also i was not used to cornering on them, not having a suspension is a bit scary because i feel any small stone will send me flying.

Also i have been taking up the whole road as opposed to hogging the side, obviously this helps with turning.

Just you get some right idiot drivers who overtake and dont see the dangers

Luckily i had 2 drivers behind me who saw me wabble and waited for me to crash before cheking if i was okay!

Im just not confident my bike will stick if i lean around a corner, but i guess i just got to keep at it.

 

[Globalti]

I nearly got taken out by a strong gust that came down a gully inside the corner I was taking on a fast mountain downhill. I had to lean the bike hard to correct and was amazed the tyres didn't give up.

 

[marzjennings]

I have the same concerns with grip when jumping from my mountain bike to road bike. From big ol' knobbly mtb tyres to skinny road tyres, but in reality the continuous piece of road tyre rubber has more grip on the road than the knobbly pattern on the mtb tyre. It's a trust thing you just have to build up, especially after a crash, steadily taking corners faster and faster.

How are you taking corners? Body lean into corner, bike and body leaning together into the corner or bike leaning more into the corner than body( body english)? I always used to lean body and bike, at the same angle, into corners, but starting a couple of years ago switched to leaning the bike into the corner more than my upper body. It just seems to add a wee bit more grip in the corners and also allow for easier correction in case a skid or gust of wind.

e.g.. Weight shifted to outside pedal and outside edge of saddle. Body held slightly more upright than bike.

offroad e.g...

 

[Bruce85]

I think this picture helps a lot actually, i think half my problem is commitment, i was worried about cars passing behind so dont think i was relaxed and took the correct line.

Its hard to beleive the tyres will stick, though i know that they should.

I have been told to use the front break rather than the back break to clow down, this seemed wrong to what i was used to.

Or do you think i was told this for a laugh

 

[marzjennings]

Mostly front brake with the odd touch of rear brake. When you brake your weight shifts to the front, unweighting the back wheel making the rear brake pretty useless.
Coming into a corner you want to have already 'braked' to a speed you can successfully take the corner (yes very tricky to judge). Braking in the corner puts more load/force through the tyres and reduces their ability to hold the road and raises the chances you'll loose traction and skid out.

 

[zizou]

In normal conditions then front brake to slow yeah, make sure you modulate it and have your weight back and sort of use your arms to push back from the handlebars .

Back brake on its on can be a bit useless, because it is so easy to lock up and skid, but even if you manage to prevent that happening then it will still be slower stopping than the front. If you can find a quiet hill and go down it braking using the front and then again using the back you will really notice the difference in stopping power. Using both together will normally be ok - however when it comes to emergency stops from high speed then i can't help but pull both at once as hard as i can - however this can cause the back wheel to start to fishtail and cause a nervy split second or two. i really need to get out the habit of doing it.

 

[the snail]

approx 29 mph which is not that fast considering i have a boardman comp road bike

Advise will be appreciated.

29 mph is pretty fast cornering speed whatever you're riding, my advice would be to leave yourself some margin for error and bear in mind how difficult it is to stop going downhill if there's something unexpected around the corner. Glad to hear you're ok!


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLRDRzMWIsg

 

[the snail]

leaning the bike into the corner more than my upper body. It just seems to add a wee bit more grip in the corners and also allow for easier correction in case a skid or gust of wind.

e.g.. Weight shifted to outside pedal and outside edge of saddle. Body held slightly more upright than bike.

offroad e.g...

Surely that's the opposite of what to do? If you transfer weight to the inside of the turn, then your body weight acts to help you turn, and keeping the bike more upright gives more rubber on the road and less chance of scraping out. If you look at the racer in the top photo, he has his knee out like a motorcyclist, that's the way to go!