Why Do I Keep Falling?
Why do I keep falling on my road bike?
I've had a road bike since the beginning of June, and I have ~1000 miles on it (2000 miles on my hybrid from January to June, before I got the road bike). I keep up with regular maintenance, including tire pressures. I really baby my bike, I take good care of it, because it's the only one I'm going to have for a while.
I'm a clyde, down from 265 in January to ~225-230 now. I take that into account with my tires pressures, with my wheels, etc.
And I keep falling down. I never went down a single time in 2000 miles on my old hybrid, and now I've been down 3 times in the last 1000 miles on my road bike. First I wiped out on a group ride, I'm like 90% sure that a spoke broke on the front wheel the first week that I had the bike. Second, I wiped out at the end of a long ride, less than a mile from my apartment on a path I ride on every day, but I don't know what happened because I don't remember it (concussion). Both of these were on straights, not in curves.
And finally today, again on a bike path that I ride on every day, I quite simply lowsided in a turn. The rear wheel lost traction, slid out from under me, and I have a nice big hole in my brand new Castelli kit. It's good pavement there, dry, I wasn't pedaling, had the inside pedal up, most of my weight on the outside pedal, in the drops, hands off the brakes, at a lower speed than I usually run through there (about 18 today, I run through there at 22 every day). All I can figure is I may have touched the painted line in the middle of the path? I'm using Michelin Lithion 2 tires, these seem to get decent enough reviews?
Otherwise it makes no sense. Same with my second crash, I have no idea what happened, and it really makes no sense. Knowing the location and circumstances, I have no idea why either happened
After my previous two times hitting the pavement, I've been very conscious of cornering and practicing my bike handling. I've honestly worked very hard to try to keep myself off the pavement.
I can't afford to keep falling down. Am I just having a summer of bad luck? Maybe I'm not cut out for this.
Last edited by pbd; 10-01-11 at 03:47 PM.