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.

sand? i wiped out last week due to some sand that got blown into a corner i normally take at speed, lost traction on the rear wheel.

you are probably somehow having bad luck or you take too much risk when cornering for your skill level. cornering is an art of sorts and not every is good at it, you need to ride within your limits. also think of this once you fell the first time were you more scared when cornering and such, i have a feeling your confidence and mental approach to cornering / riding might have suffered from a few crashes stringed close together.

Don't get down on yourself due to a few crashes, it happens to the best of us. just get on the bike and try to conciously practice your cornering and spotting hazards.

Gravity.

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It sounds like what you are doing is exceeding your level of experience.

It's hard to say how this could have caused you to spill.

These other things could be that you are moving your center of gravity (CG) too far to the left or right for the speed you are travelling. And it could be partially due to the road conditions (maybe, there was sand that you didn't see).

Your road bike might require more precise control of your CG than your hybrid did. That is, the hybrid might be more tolerant of "sloppy" technique than the road bike. You might need to be less abrupt in your movements.

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What size tires are you using? You might fair better with wider tires (28mm if they fit). As you ride more, you can use narrower tires (but you might not want to).

Are your tires 23mm? Can you fit something wider? I just ordered a new bike, and I'm guessing it comes with 23's. I'll probably give them a shot, but I really feel more comfortable/stable/confident on wider tires. You could get a cheap set of 25's from Performance to experiment.

Gravity

this

Slow Down.....

OP, how fit are you? Are you finding yourself exhausted and thus losing control of your bike? Or more seriously, are you losing consciousness while riding?

I would try some wider tires maybe 26's or 28's with a good tread.

Inner ear problem?

That probably would be evident outside of bicycling. (The falls he had are not that unusual for an inexperienced road cyclist.)

I don't really "get" why people can't corner...I don't find it an art at all...do I read too much physics?

OP, please visit a doctor.

and in particular; when was your last eye check? Ask an eye doctor for a full exam and mention that you have CoG issues.

Your last crash sounds like there was something on the road surface you didn't see, your front wheel lost traction for a moment and then got it back and that sent you down; It's bad luck but it happens to us all.

As an examples, a few years ago I was training with a team mate. We are bothe experienced racers. We were riding in a straight line at moderate spead, side by side, talking about which route to take when I was suddenly on the ground.

There was a trickle of water on the road from the hill on the left that had been running across the road long enough to make it slippery and slimy underneath. I hit a patch of it and was on the ground in a flash.

Also, don't try to steer your bike. Most crashes I've seen are from too much rider input. The bike knows where to go. Let it.

Thanks for input. I shouldn't post in the heat of the moment. I'm just frustrated and discouraged, but it's alright. I'm down off the ledge and ready to go for a ride again. Shredded bar tape is just another chance to try something new, right? :p Still bummed about my bibs, but it could be worse. Maybe some bad luck, maybe not, but I'm none the worse for wear.

I've been practicing cornering a lot. The physics of it makes sense as far as leaning/counter steering, and I've been working on picking and holding steady lines, working on my balance, working on apexing, working on countersteering/leaning etc. But I clearly need more practice at it, so that's what I'll do. Thinking about it more, it very well could've been the painted lane stripe on the bike path there, I slid right as I was apexing in a left-hand turn, and I may have touched that line while apexing. Or, I just plain messed up and I need to keep practicing. Or both.

Would a set of rollers really help me much with balance and handling? I can ride year-round in SoCal, I have no need for indoor training, but if rollers would help my balance and bike-handling more than riding outdoors then I'll get them.

As far as fitness, I'm certainly not where I need to be yet, but this wasn't from over-doing it. Today was a pretty leisurely ride, conversational pace with friends, just out for coffee. Easy ride, well-hydrated and nutrition well taken care of. My eyesight is very good, my balance off the bike is fine, I've had a physical recently, and the doctor congratulated me on my weightloss. This is the best shape I've been in for a long time. My blood pressure is down, my resting heart rate is way down. Cycling has made me much healthier...when I'm not hitting the pavement, at least.

As far as tires, I've ridden some Specialized tires in 700x25 previously, but I've just been using these 700x23 Michelins for a while so I could feel better about replacing them. I felt bad replacing brand-new tires that seemed perfectly fine for me. I've never experienced any grip problems before, very seldom get flats, and I find few complaints about them from others online. But my plan was to upgrade to some GP4000s 700x25 in the near future anyway, to see what that hype is all about. I've been hoping to upgrade my wheels some too (upgrade durability-wise, although in getting a strong set of hand-builts I'll probably end up with a weight upgrade as well), and was hoping to get the nicer rubber at the same time. Or whenever I saw them on sale at PBK again.

I don't think your fall rate is that unusual.

This sounds like you might be pushing the envelope a bit too hard, too soon.

This sounds like it could be a consequence of not enough experience.

This is actually excellent advice. Especially on turns.

I tend to agree. Road riding expertise can be improved by riding off road. Get a cheap MTB (there are a bunch out there) or something better if you can afford it and ride on grass, dirt roads, urban back alleys, anywhere you learn to let the bike talk to you and you tell it where to go. Great riders practice at other disciplines.

Here's a great example of bike handling probably learned by riding off road and just riding a lot.


Sorry for the spam in there.

Ride a road bike coming from a hybrid is a different world, pretty much a hybrid will stand what ever u do to it, even the steering is very slow and depending on the road bike you have the steering must be or feel a lot sharper.

Just wonder how to grab the handlebars, or if you move too much side to side while riding. Some riders move the bike as it was snake and is not pleasant seen them nor even be close to them.

Rollers could help because u cant steer or do anything weird over the rollers, or you handle the bike right or you will fall :D Continue riding man, apparently u are doing a great.

As for the turns, well after I dislocated my right patella the 1st time I couldn't handle the bike as before, the thing was noticeable right away specially going down hill :D Something changed and until today I dont know what it was, good news for wifey because i dont downhill as before, bad news to me because I can't play Motorcycle in the curves no more. Maybe is even my overweight, who knows :D

Good luck op

You're overthinking it. You're just riding a bike. Have fun. Ride at a level you're comfortable with and skills will follow.

+1

The center of gravity will be in a different location on a hybrid than on a road bicycle. Also, since the OP is a clyde who is in the process of losing weight, his centre of gravity may be changing somewhat which could be affecting balance. Put the two situations together ... and it could be a double whammy of balance issues.

pbd, my suggestion would be to work on balance as you're losing weight. Maybe take some yoga classes that put you into balance poses.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest checking your bicycle fit. Go through some of the online fitting advice or go to the shop where you got the bicycle and have them set you up on the trainer and do a fitting.

Also, it might be an idea to go to a quiet parking lot and ride around practicing cornering at very slow speeds first, and then gradually increasing your speed as you get used to your new center of gravity on the bicycle and your own new center of gravity.


And yes, go for the wider tires. You don't ever need to feel bad about replacing Michelins (bleck!) ... but in general you don't need to feel bad about replacing new tires because you're not throwing them out, you're just hanging them in your garage for future use.

I'll go with the "just slow down" vote. Unless your racing (and I would think most times even then) you need margin. Plenty of circumstances when corning requiring adjustment: dead skunk in the road, pothole, gravel, etc. You'll develop a feel for how fast you can corner and still have something left.

i was being sarcastic

Focus- your bike wants to go home, its in the airport, its bags are packed...just send him home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBWpq3y9KqI

This is true. It's a variant of the n+1 rule of bikes, except that the new equation is n+2, where n is the number of tires you own now. :thumb: :D