Originally Posted by
SBRDude
The only one expressing ignorance is you. It is you who have failed to support your claim. Hydroplaning IS sliding - it is the loss of traction whenever water gets between the tire and the road. Sheldon Brown does not cite any source, which doesn't mean he is wrong, but it certainly does not allow anyone to further examine his assertions.
The NASA paper at:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/ca...1964000612.pdf
gives a derivation of a formula relating the minimum velocity to achieve hydroplaning as (see eq. 5 in above paper):
V(in mph) = 10.35 x square root(Tire Pressure (in psi))
Based on that, a cyclist using tires inflated to 100 psi would need to be going 104 mph to hydroplane. You might experience some of the effects of hydroplaning at somewhat lower speeds, but a cyclist is likely to be so far below this critical speed that hydroplaning effects would be insignificant.
That's not to say that traction won't be reduced on wet surfaces - clearly it will be and you may well end up skidding out as a result. But it won't be the result of true hydroplaning.