On the ride home today I had to do some errands for work in Dwtwn PDX. It was and is "urinating" rain. As I was making a right hand turn onto the street with the light rail tracks I stayed to the right of them. I then realized that I needed to get to the left lane. I checked the left lane and started across.

Well I know that in order to cross tracks it needs to be done at an angle. I did not realize that there was a threshold to that angle. I found, today through empirical experimentation, that if you try to cross wet tracks at less than a 45 deg. angle your front tire may slip off and go into the track well. Once in the track well your forward momentum will carry your tumbling arse into the next lane of traffic and move your brifters toward the inside of your bars so that they are at about a 15 deg angle to the top of your bars.

I pulled the bike to the curb and inspected the damage. Aside from some damage to the right brifter Ultegra cap and a torn left side saddle it did not appear that any real damage was done.

I took the train home just in case there was damage to the rear d and or triangle that I could not see. Upon further inspection no damage despite a really hard fall.

I have a scratch on my right knee and left leg. Both are sore, but otherwise no the worse for wear.

RAIN in all caps has been here for almost 17 days straight.

Try to cross perpendicularly and slowly. Hope you recover soon!

I dismount, walk across and continue. There, I said it. Every time, about two times a week I do this. The tires on my wheels are super hard, and my wheels are worth a good amount of $$$, so I take precautions.

When crossing tracks:

I approach them perpendicularly, level out my pedals parallel to ground, hover over the saddle, and have hands on top bars a bit closer in toward stem.

happened to me TWICE.

"fool me once, shame one you... fool me twice.... you'll never fool me again"

The sad thing is that I had a precursor to this about a month ago. Again it was raining like hell. I was coming down a really steep hill into a right hand turn across 2 sets of tracks. I forgot about the tracks until I was bout 50 feet from them. I managed to slow enough and correct my steer so that I crossed them perpendicular, but I still felt my tires slipping a little. That was scary.

Hey cereal, I hear it's supposed to rain like hell next week.

I haven't ridden across any tracks yet but I'll certainly keep your experience in mind. Glad you weren't hurt.

I know and frankly I am thinking of starting a Facebook campaign to mke the meteorologists give us sunny weather. You ride in the rain and you get wet which I can deal with. Soaking rain is something totally different.

That's funny, I heard last night At PDX, in the last 31 days, it's rained 28 of them (add another for today).

Ray Thomas (Swanson, Thomas, and Coon) is taking statements about the streetcar/lightrail track injuries. Just sayin...

Hope you really aren't hurt (sometimes takes a day or three for injuries to appear (or three weeks before the F****** "medical professional" will listen to you and get you an MRI (revealing broken bones and torn ligaments)).



Rubberside Down!
K'Tesh

I'll send him an email. I treat my bike like a car and turn right into the curb lane. However, getting over in the left when you are parallel to them is a POA.

Thanks for the thought about torn tendons, but I ride power grips and luckily I just popped out and did a really cool tuck and roll. I got up and waived the driver for not hitting my bike. He did not even pull over to see if I was ok.

Sorry to hear about your fall. There's one set of diagonal tracks I encounter which I manage to cross at about a 45 degree angle, but I'll only do that when it's dry. If it's wet I'll slow down and go perpendicular.

So the signs are right?

If you find yourself crossing at less than an optimal angle, you may need to cross mountain bike style. Pop your front wheel over the first track and then let momentum carry your back wheel over. The back wheel may slide a bit on a wet track but it will only slide for a second so you have to learn to go with it. Repeat for the second track. Momentum is your friend in this situation.

Whenever I'm cycling in Toronto I just cross the tracks by slowing down enough to put a foot down if I'm not at a good angle... sucks to slow down but it's way less embarrassing than a fall.

Is this for Reals? Did some joker put that croc on there for good measure? Funny.

I believe I've actually seen that sign in New Orleans.

Experiences like the OP's make me glad to know that all of Chicago's train lines are either elevated or underground. (well, there are a few places like up in Albany park where the el runs at grade, but it's still in a dedicated ROW)

there is only one place around me that has a track somewhat parallel to my intended path of travel. On the road-bike, I slow up and cross perpendicular then proceed. On my city bike (breezer-8) I bunny hop the rails. I'm sure this will come to bite me at some point, but I am only in that area like once every other month.

Could be, but this one was in Portland.

Try crossing these track daily on your commute: https://goo.gl/maps/F3VS

Fortunately, I don't have to anymore. That little path off to the side sucks and was in terrible shape. They have since redone the path, but it's still not ideal.

We have a few crashes on that every summer.

You didn't know that crocodiles were indigenous to the Pacific NW?

Cereal,

sorry for your accident, but the way you wrote it up was funny as hell.

That was the intent. If you can't laugh at yourself and the things you do might as well give up and stay in bed.

Also: never ride between the tracks. I learned the very hard way that it limits your maneuverability if a car runs a light.