Ok I learned a vauable lesson this morning.
I was riding into work and the road was wet but it was not raining. I came to a stop light and it turned yellow. I was close enough that I could goose it and blow through it. However, I could not see the left side of the intersection to see if someone was turning into it. SO I decided I should Stop. I slowly started to apply the front brake. All way going well. I applied more as the bike was not stopping fast enough. Finally I had to engage the rear brake. With my new boots I did not realize the amount of force i was applying as such the rear began to skid. Aight I stayed on the brake as that is what you are supposed to do in a rear wheel skid. The wet pavement then decided to do a fun thing. it began to make my rear wheel skid out from under me. Luckily I was going slow enough that I turned in the direction of the skid and let up some on the front brake so that the wheel would spin a little to catch up to the skid. I maintaind calmness and what control I could. The bad part was that their was a touring bike next to me and he just stared.. of COurse I had full gear on and he only had jeans on and a jacket of some sort.. not leather or textile though. Lesson learned.. Blow stop lights.. No seriously, take it easy on the brakes when it is wet out. I know that seems to be common sense but what you think is easy often is more than the tires can handle for the conditions. Also the Macs suck for any type of traction...
I was riding into work and the road was wet but it was not raining. I came to a stop light and it turned yellow. I was close enough that I could goose it and blow through it. However, I could not see the left side of the intersection to see if someone was turning into it. SO I decided I should Stop. I slowly started to apply the front brake. All way going well. I applied more as the bike was not stopping fast enough. Finally I had to engage the rear brake. With my new boots I did not realize the amount of force i was applying as such the rear began to skid. Aight I stayed on the brake as that is what you are supposed to do in a rear wheel skid. The wet pavement then decided to do a fun thing. it began to make my rear wheel skid out from under me. Luckily I was going slow enough that I turned in the direction of the skid and let up some on the front brake so that the wheel would spin a little to catch up to the skid. I maintaind calmness and what control I could. The bad part was that their was a touring bike next to me and he just stared.. of COurse I had full gear on and he only had jeans on and a jacket of some sort.. not leather or textile though. Lesson learned.. Blow stop lights.. No seriously, take it easy on the brakes when it is wet out. I know that seems to be common sense but what you think is easy often is more than the tires can handle for the conditions. Also the Macs suck for any type of traction...
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