The other day I went out by myself on a little 18 mile jaunt. I wanted to push up a fairly steep hill on this particular route, and prior to that steep uphill, there is about a 2 mile downhill - windy road, levels out in spots, partly shaded country road - speeds between 18 mph and 35 mph.
So it's a nice little downhill road, and to make it even nicer, part of it was freshly paved - not chip seal, but actually paved blacktop. Sweet! They must have repaved it very recently.
So I'm cooking along when all of a sudden - BAM! my right hand comes off the hood and I'm in a world of "this isn't going to end well". I hit a manhole cover that, due to the road being new paved, was even deeper than before.

Thank God, I was able to maintain control and continue on. There was another manhole down the road a bit that wasn't as much of a problem.

I went back a couple of days later in my car to, um, "mark" the area so that I and others might not die on future rides.
Even as I slowly drove up that road, I was only able to spot one manhole. So I turned around to go back down to find that other elusive manhole. That's how difficult it was to see these things. I actually had my head out of my car window trying to spot these things and missed one the first pass.

So just a PSA - as much as you might like downhills, be careful. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir for the most part. But be extra careful in shaded and partly shaded areas.

I had this happen on a large group ride. Hit an unexpected bump, both hands off, death wobble. Not really sure what I grabbed or how, but it sure made the testes "inny" for a while.

every single "major" crash (3) I've had has been going downhill whether on mtn or road bike. I slow the **** down now on downhills.

good reason to stay in the drops on fast descents, huh? btw near me, the road crews will spray paint orange manhole covers that protrude up during repaving. but a depressed cover should be marked as well. do they intend to put an extension ring on it or something? is that what they do? maybe you can report the hazard to public safety the police, and maybe they can get the public works crew to address it

Glad you were able to save it. Could have ended in disaster.

Having crashed at a moderate speed of 15 mph and suffering a separated shoulder and some road rash, I can't imagine what world of hurt it would be crash at 30 mph down a hill.

I don't mind the uphills, but I slow the heck down coming down the other side.

I have a mechanical heart valve and thus take blood thinners daily. As such, I try to keep speeds down on descents. And extra 5 or 10 mph isn't worth it to me.


Last summer I actually got up to 39 mph on a loaded touring bike heading down from Virginia City Hill to Ennis, MT. That was very fast for me. I usually limit my top speed to 30 or so. The only reason I let it fly that time was because there was no traffic, the road was straight at that point, the surface was good and I was in full sunlight. Riding a tank like that with its relaxed geometry and 37c tires also makes you feel quite stable and grounded. You just have to be prepared for crosswinds. That day, I was going straight into the wind. Imagine what I could have done with the wind at my back.

I've found slow-speed crashes to cause a lot more damage than high speed, provided high speed is simply sliding out on the pavement and not high-siding or actually hitting an object.

Low speed you tend to just fall down, high speed you tend to fall more down and away. Takes more skin but less brute impact.

May be true, but the chances of crashing itself in slow speed should be considerably less than in high speeds.

I am inferring that you've crashed multiple times going both fast and slow, in which case, I suppose, makes you somewhat of an authority on severity of injury sustained as it relates to speed...but it also makes me wonder whether you should be giving advice on a bike forum.

I'll take your word for it.

You do close to 500+ races and 1000+ group rides and rack up 130,000+ miles on top and you get lots of experiences with lots of different things, and it also lets you see and witness lots of other people doing things.

Most damage to my bike was when I unclipped in a parking lot with new cleats, skidded on the asphalt and fell over, all about one mile per hour. Tacoed my wheel and jacked up a shifter. Real bummer.

Have a couple of teammates who have fallen over at very slow speeds (not being able to clip out on crazy steep dirt climbs, speed bumps in parking lots, catching a foot on a wheel on a 180 degree turn, etc) who have suffered huge and long-lasting hematomas and the like.

Ride around enough and you'll always find someone with a story.

I'd wager that most people aren't spending very much time riding at high speed, and as such the number of crashes will be significantly more at lower speeds (15 mph and below).

In fact I'd almost guarantee it. Seems like every club group ride crash I hear about are people rolling up on each other at the top of a hill or coming to a stop and just falling over.

Racing is a different story, of course, but most riders don't race.

Cool!

I always put my little finger behind the bar when in the normal hoods position. Makes it much harder to get jarred off them. I have a callous there. I saw some Tour pro doing that and thought, "Good idea!" When on the tops, I always hook my thumb under.

As rumrunn said, ride the drops! This was near "law" when I was racing 40 years ago and that was when we had brake cables to keep our hands in place. Incidents like yours with poor outcomes have become far more common since the advent of aero brake levers and the fascination with riding on the hoods nearly all the time. Lance Rmstropng lost two key teammates to incidents similar to yours in training prior to two of his wins.

I always set my bikes up so the drops are all-day comfortable first, before I even look at the hoods. And I go to those drops anytime the road looks iffy, I am going fast or my attention is waning (like when I am seriously cooked). The message drummed through our brains when I was learning to race was that we couldn't afford to crash because that set back our training so much. Therefore we had to use hand positions that minimized crashes.

Yes, I sound like a retrogrouch here. But I also see and here this story all the time. (And bike manufacturers don't help when they sell bikes that don't even have really comfortable drops to use.)

Ben

Only been injured downhill as well, and it was a car on the wrong side of the road around a blind corner. I go slow now as well, at least in turns or if I have any question on visibility. I prefer the ups anyway.

Glad you didnt crash, OP. You could call the city and ask them to mark the spots in some way. Cities get sued over things like that - unmarked hazards, that is. Another cyclist might not be as lucky as you were.

Jens Voigt's crash in 2009 involved hitting a bump and one of his hands slipped off. There's a fine line sometimes between holding on too tightly and having a gentle grip on the bars.

Not at all. I was actually wondering what the outcome would have been if I would have been in the drops.
I'm not sure I would have fared as well in the drops. I don't mind being in the drops, but I don't feel as though my grip and/or hand position is any more stable - could be wrong though - it's just the way it seems to me. Plus it seems my weight is a bit more forward in the drops.

I've already taken care of that myself.

How permanently? A permanent fix is better than a (likely temporary) warning . . .

White spray paint on the road marking the manhole cover.