I was riding down a pretty steep (about 10 percent grade) fairly narrow, curvy mountain road today, following a minivan. We were doing about 25mph. I was hanging back a bit to where I thought there was a safe distance between myself and the car, but I guess the safety margin was barely enough. The van was turning a sharp corner in front of me when they suddenly slammed on the brakes. Of course I slowed as quickly as possible, but it was hard not to lock up the brakes and I finally managed to come to a stop with my front wheel about a foot from the van and my rear wheel up in the air. I have never tried to stop so quickly on a hill that steep with a road bike, it's not easy. That close call scared me, ( more so after i finished my ride and thought back on it). It was a good reminder to me of how important it is to use caution and that something bad can happen quickly. Ridding down steep curvy descents be dangerous when your tires are less than an inch wide.

The reason the van stopped was because there was another cyclist coming up the road and there were two cars passing him on a blind corner. It was still a pretty stupid move for the driver of the van to slam on the brakes, there was enough room that they could have gone around.