Crashed yesterday on way home from work
 

I had my first commuting accident yesterday on the way home from work. I bike home through the old industrial outskirts of Savannah and cross a lot of abandoned (and some still used) train tracks. It had rained all day and the train tracks must have been slippery as my rear wheel just slid out from under me while crossing a track that was at about a 45 degree angle to the road. I didn't get caught in the rut between the asphalt and embedded track or anything, the tire just skidded to the right and I fell on my left side. My left hand pannier is usually heavier than my right.

The bike I use to commute is a Giant OCR. It has 25 mm Continental Gatorskins on it. The bike is really comfortable and I use it for commuting because it's what I have -- I used to do more road biking with it but took a break from biking for about 2 years or so and am looking to get back into it. I was doing about 75 miles a week of commuting and I want to start adding in longer rides on weekends and do the occasional metric century charity ride again.

My question is -- would I be better served by switching to something like a Long Haul Trucker that can run much wider tires? My max tire width is 28mm on the Giant OCR, and I can't help but think that perhaps it would be safer for me to be riding on something with 38mm tires or so given all the train tracks embedded in the road with the ruts on either side of the tracks. Also, would a tire with a tread be better for riding in the rain or wet rides / crossing railroad tracks? Can anyone offer some guidance on how much of a difference tread makes for on-road riding in the rain? I'd love to hear some ideas about what I could do to better match the conditions I ride in.

I didn't break anything when I fell, but I hit hard enough that I had to get a ride home and went to the ER because I was having difficulty putting any weight on my left hip. Now I'm feeling a little nervous about commuting without rethinking if there's a way to be a little safer or better equipped. There's a lot of tractor trailer traffic in the industrial section of our commute, so we are frequently crossing old abandoned train tracks while tractor trailers are passing on us a two lane road. This fall makes me nervous about falling again at an inopportune time.

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

Stephen

As you probably know, you have to be extremely careful when you are near other vehicles, always knowing that your bicycle is under control. Apart from this, for your commute it seems you need more grip in your tires while supporting more terrain conditions. You may take a look to cyclocross tires, they have such features but being very thin so you may probably mount them on your rims.

From my experience, bigger tires are not better for all-terrain conditions. Also, they usually absorb more road imperfections, so when they fail they do it suddenly without previous notice. In general I recommend tires of 28 mm or 32 mm at most. You can find them with different features, e.g for wet conditions. You can find cyclocross tires in such sizes and they have all-terrain variants if you need them.

When commuting, I prefer to run wider tires and sometimes with my tread on them as it gives me more ability to go where I want.

I don't know why it is but most crashes are on the left side. Could have something to do with most people being right handed.

Fatter tires definitely have more traction and would handle railroad tracks better.

Gatorskins, particularly at higher pressures, don't have great wet weather traction. Try Marathon Supremes in the widest size that will fit your bike. Back off on the tire pressure a bit. Avoid tires with tread, as they will provide less traction on paved surfaces.

The LongHaulTrucker w/ Schwalbe Big Apples or Marathon Supremes makes a cush, sturdy, dependable commuter, for sure.....more or less almost ignore the road surface and surprisingly fast when up to speed.......

Also, the Straggler, PSA, in another thread, with 700c wheels, disc brakes, etc., would make another ideal setup for commuting in all conditions.
Could still run Big Apples, Supremes, or Continental Travel Contacts in 37's.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ike-on-the-way

Edit:

Perhaps these, just haven't tried them yet, myself....
Cruise CONTACT


Size does matter!
http://www.conti-online.com/www/link...ct_uv-data.png

The brand new Cruise CONTACT combines convincingly comfort with light running and safety. The extraordinary suspension due to a large air volume and the dynamic profile convey a safe riding feeling even on uneven roads.
The tried and tested tyre composition of the Contact-family with its fine nylon carcass and a safety system breaker is responsible for its fastness and protects from breakdowns.
Voluminously enough in the dimensions 50-559 and 50-622 to show off its design qualities and still fits securely into most frames and rear constructions. The Cruise CONTACT reveals its optimal properties at an operating pressure of 22 to 36 PSI.

http://www.conti-online.com/www/link...onlineData.png
http://www.conti-online.com/www/link...30_uv-data.png

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you heal quickly!

Unfortunately, there is no short cut around train tracks. If they have the rubber mats around them that's best, but always, always, cross them perpendicular and/or creep over them. Particularly under wet conditions, you don't know if you have oil/grease on the tracks or on your tires.

Also, if I were riding on the wrong side of the tracks around Savannah, I'd rather not be doing it on an $1100 sparkly Surly just for wider tires. I'd get a quality ridgid steel MTB and throw some drop bars and narrow slicks on it. Basically, the same geometry and characteristics of an LHT for 80% less.

On a hard surface, a tread will only add vibration to your riding. There is nothing for it to bite into.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ar-Conversions

I really believe that the only right answer to wet train tracks is to just go really slow and as much as possible at right angles over them.

No. I am using 28mm Schwalbe Marathons on my main commuter. It came with 32mm Conti's of which model I am not certain. Not Gatorskins. I have train tracks to cross as well. Light rail tracks, streetcar tracks and regular freight rail tracks. My road racer has 25mm tires and I cross the same tracks with it as well. There are good reasons to get super wide rubber but train tracks is not one of them. As has been mentioned, the technique you use for crossing the tracks is what determines how safe you are. Your mistake was crossing tracks that were at 45* to your direction of travel. If you look at a motorcycle riders handbook it will tell you NEVER to do this. You now know why this advice is given. So, simply angle your travel so that you hit the tracks at 90* even if this has you traveling crabwise against the main traffic flow of the road and you should be good. I also try to be out of the seat and moving forward on momentum rather than under acceleration. I don't know if it helps but I do know that I have never been knocked down by railroad tracks and I have crossed thousands. Other riders in our club have horror stories and when there are crossings on any of our rides they usually have skulls and crossbones on the cue sheets and several minutes of conversation ensues about the perils and dangers and and and. As I understand it, tread/no tread is a non-issue. I like to see some tread on my tires nonetheless. Slicks creep me out, but that's me.

H

I have been caught in heavy rain on the ride home - steep down hill for 8 blocks, lots of traffic and 3 busy intersections. 700 x 35 Schwalbe Road Cruisers can get a bit sketchy (Marathons might be slightly better).

Earlier during spring thaw I was commuting with my hardtail - 26 x 2 generic cross country tires (Innova, I think) and no problem with wet conditions, pot holes, snow & slush on the same route.

Both bikes are GT's with similar frames & geometry - biggest difference being the suspension fork.

When I got my fargo with 2" race kings I tried to cheat a set of wet railroad tracks, didn't happen and felt the rear end start to go. No crash but lesson learned. I have a fat bike with 4-inch but on the road the contact patch probably wouldn't help much more, I'm not even going to try it.

Doesn't matter how well your tire grips the road it will not grip wet polished steel.

Cheers,

Wet train tracks (well, wet smooth steel in general - especially steel plates over road work) are a slipping hazard pretty much REGARDLESS of the tire type, size, or tread you've got. Treadless tires will give you a larger contact patch vs. treaded tires, but they slip on wet steel (and large patches of road paint too) as if it were ice just the same.

Your best bet is, as has been mentioned, to always cross wet tracks perpendicularly and maybe slowly, with no attempt to change direction (i.e. steer) when you're actually on it. Same goes for wet street paint, steel plates, and so forth. Keep the tires you have, says I, and use the lesson that experience fated upon you. ;-)

-Warr

I know someone that broke their hip falling on railroad tracks. Slow down and ride across at right angles

All of my significant accidents while commuting have been solo and due to more-or-less unforeseeable loss of traction. Using hindsight, I now am alert to the particular circumstances that caused the loss of traction; but I'm far from having a universal formula for avoiding all possible causes of losing traction. The biggest unknown is the surface itself. Until you've lost traction on a particular patch, you don't know what its limiting traction is, and you tend to assume it is same as the apparently same type of surface anywhere else, which is not always a good assumption, I've found.

Agreed....sorry to hear about your crash and hope you are back up on your wheels soon...

And cross the tracks at right angles......

Schwalbe Big Apples on 97 Trek steel mtn frame w/ LHT fork, set up for commuting/touring, here.......
My go to, all conditions bicycle in austin........

But since the OP mentioned the LHT......
and the Surly Straggler is another current thread, thought I would give it a mention.
No need for an LHT or Straggler, here, because already have the converted mtn bike and an Origin8 CX700......but both required some time and knowledge for setup.
Easier to come by the Surly brand from any LBS/QBP vendor......and have it built there......
However, agreed that is a more expensive route than finding an old steel mountain bike.

Thanks for the helpful responses everyone. I took a screengrab of an aerial photo of the tracks on google earth. I was traveling from right to left on the road in this photo. I slipped a little on the first set of tracks and I was probably trying to turn slightly for the second set of tracks. Sounds like I was going too fast, perhaps turning while crossing tracks, and crossing them at a poor angle.

I always try to improve my angle when crossing railroad tracks to closer to 90 degrees, but I thought the danger I was avoiding was getting one of my wheels stuck in the rut between the steel track and the asphalt, so I figured as long as my angle was good enough to avoid that possibility, it was good enough. I never really thought about crossing at 90 degrees due to losing traction on the actual steel track itself - whoops! Sounds like I was being a bit dangerous and a bit of a bonehead, so I appreciate how tactfully y'all led me to realize the biggest contributor to the fall was a basic bike handling error. ;-)

Anyhow, thanks again for the helpful responses. I think I'll stick with what I have but just be a lot more careful riding home, which is when I have all the train track crossings. Maybe when my 25mms wear out I'll switch to 28mms that can run a lower tire pressure.


Best,
Stephenhttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=330692

That's pretty much all I needed to read to figure out what happened. Wet leaves are also extremely slippery.

That's my advice. Some tires do grip better under wet conditions. Slicks are best contrary to what you might think but some compounds are better than others.

What has led to rear wheel skids for me on a slippery surface is peddling. Best to coast over those tracks.

Glad your not too banged up.

I don't really find a big difference between skinny or fat tires on tracks,both can be unpredictable.

Any metal in the road can be like ice when wet or damp.Make sure your upright and not turning when riding over them.Train tracks can be tricky at times.I always slow down for tracks and try to cross them at 90* if possible.I haven't gone down on tracks...yet....but I've done my share of slipping and sliding.

Wet train tracks at a less than 90 degree angle will still gobble up 2" tires. Not saying you wouldn't benefit from wider tires on rough pavement, but, really, you need to slow down and turn w/in your lane to take tracks from directly perpendicular to them, especially when they're wet.

Speed is key point to avoid or overcome most dangers. For train tracks, if you cross them at a reduced speed, you will be able to put a foot on the ground if some wheel slips.

gotta cross tracks at 90 degrees. I can't imagine navigating them at any other angle. can you cross those tracks using a different road?

Wet rails may indeed even things up, but.....
I have odd angle tracks crossing our main n/s bike route, near my house. Tracks are set at an odd angle, on a curve, with a rise. Wet steel sucks. Hit them at 90.
However, I have crossed these same tracks, dry, on 23's, 25's, 28's, 32's, 37's and too many 26" wheel combos to list.
I have to be a lot more careful on the 23's than on my 2.15" Big Apples.
I have generally found the wider tires to be much more forgiving, if that is important.
On these tracks or any other road hazard/surface irregularity.

Bingo.

Wet metal, wet leaves, and wet polished thermoplastic deserve your respect.