Riding in the Wet. Advice.

[Jacqueslemac]

I commute, so ride whatever the weather and there are two things I hate. One is a mirror-smooth manhole cover immediately after a set of traffic lights where I turn right. If I don't miss it the front wheel slides away from me, but after half a second of heart-in-mouth the tyre gets back on tarmac and the grip returns. So, try not to accelerate while cranked over if you're on a manhole cover!

The other is slippery white lines. Urban roads are so patched that when it's wet and dark it's difficult to tell what's a white line and what's a a join between two sections of tarmac where they've repaired the road. I make sure I don't cross either while I'm cornering (i.e. not upright), because white lines can be slippery.

The cycling World Championships that Lance Armstrong won in Norway in the early 90s was so wet that cyclists were skidding off when they hit a white line when accelerating out of corners - with about 0.5bhp. Watching all those bikes and camera motorbikes sliding all over the place has stuck in my mind!

[z-weiser]

with the weather the way it is and the roads as flooded the way they are the only safe way to get anywhere is on a flippin' jetski!!!

[Chris.R.]

Maybe my 5 cents worth (I haven't read all the posts now):

- "dry" your brakes (disc) by touching (!) them now and then while driving to wipe off water. You will feel the difference if you DON'T do regularly and then NEED the brakes...I do it every couple of minutes!
- use only 2 fingers to brake with your front wheel in rainy conditions (this avoids of clamping down your brakes when you suddenly have to brake/surprise kind of thing).
- don't drive in the centre of your lane (where cars spill oil etc. on it), but rather where the car's wheels usually are (=in their tracks).
- check the road condition by carefully trying to lock the rear brake - when you drive STRAIGHT and noone is behind you of course!

Hope I get this all across properly...?