loose gravel on bike course

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2012-06-10 11:03 PM

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Subject: loose gravel on bike course

Had a scary moment on the bike course of my sprint tri on Saturday.

Coming down a pretty fast hill (anything over 30mph feels fast to me), and there was a lot of loose gravel on the road - fairly coarse stuff, and a good 50-100 yards of it, all over the road and no way to miss it.

I got that front wheel oscillation thing going, where you can't control the bars at all. I thought I was going to die, just rode it out as best I could, and survived somehow - I don't see how I didn't crash; I didn't have any control of the bike whatsoever.

Has anyone experienced this kind of thing before? Is there anything in particular you are supposed to do, or just say a quick prayer?

2012-06-11 1:08 AM
in reply to: #4254654

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Subject: RE: loose gravel on bike course

Hopefully the RD would let people know about dangerous parts of the course so they can be prepared (ex. brake ahead of it).

As for the "death wobble," there are a couple of things that help:

1. Clamp your knees against the top tube to stabilize the bike and change the resonant frequency.

2. Keep a light but firm grip on the bars (no rigid deathgrips).

3. If the surface is loose, try to avoid using the front brake.

2012-06-11 6:19 AM
in reply to: #4254699


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Subject: RE: loose gravel on bike course
Trath-L33T - 2012-06-11 7:08 AM

Hopefully the RD would let people know about dangerous parts of the course so they can be prepared (ex. brake ahead of it).

As for the "death wobble," there are a couple of things that help:

1. Clamp your knees against the top tube to stabilize the bike and change the resonant frequency.

2. Keep a light but firm grip on the bars (no rigid deathgrips).

3. If the surface is loose, try to avoid using the front brake.

As above.  If there is a bend / corner then keep the bike upright, but lean your body into the turn.

Worth trying on some training bends as you can get round  with the bike upright on most turns.

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