[Closed] Most hazardous surface other than ice? Stories please.

Wet chalky rocks and mud on the Ridgeway. Death By Chalk is well named.

Diesel on a damp/wet road.

If you keep your wits about you, you can often smell/see it before it's too late.

Painted lines in the wet...

There's got to be a better way of denoting a cycle track than by marking it with something that becomes lethal to cyclists once it becomes wet!

There's got to be a better way of denoting a cycle track than by marking it with something that becomes lethal to cyclists once it becomes wet!

^ +100

'North shore' when it hasn't been ridden for ages and it develops a nice slippery layer of moss and algae.

There's a steep track carved into thick slate bedrock just northwest of Liverton on the way to Haytor..
Impossible to walk up in the wet but quite fun to try to ride down in a bruisey kamikaze concussion kind of way

damp paving slabs with leaves on them, damp wooden planks with no chicken wire, basically anything damp.

'North shore' when it hasn't been ridden for ages and it develops a nice slippery layer of moss and algae.

Haha, I'm thinking of Dalby now.

Wet chalky rocks and mud on the Ridgeway. Death By Chalk is well named.

I was gonna say Aston Hill in the wet.

I'd say a set of stairs 😆

Wet canal towpath bricks around Birmingham, especially ones that form a bridge over canals or turn a corner

Lee Quarry, by the sound of things.

Aston Hill

Pretty much all of it unless it's bone dry. Slightest bit of damp and it's got about as much grip as a distracted toddler holding an ice cream cone

South Downs

Run off channels in chalk - your bike heads towards them and you head to A&E !

There's a wooden bridge in Chapel you go over when heading towards the tramway trail to Buxworth. In the dry it's fine, add the tiniest bit of moisture and it's like finely polished ice with a layer of teflon just to make sure and it's always the front wheel that goes first.....

+1 canal side stonework, bloody lethal

Anything up to and including anti slip coverings.....if using cheap non bc compound continentals.

northshore but made out of beds of nails. Am I doing this right?

Wet marble while on a road bike. Cycling past a shopping centre I ventured too close to the main doors and went down like a crash test dummy.

The cobbles that they hold the Bullring market on in Birmingham on a rainy day after the market's gone but before they scrub all the grease and fat off them.

Came flying through there on the way to Digeth, hit the grease, slid for a good 15 feet and wedged myself under the side of one of the bus stops on Upper Dean Street, much to the surprise of the dozen or so people standing in it.

My attempts to hobble off as if nothing had happened despite the blood and shredded jeans were less than convincing.

+1 more for wet chalk. The second half of day two on a two day SDW trip was haunted by wet chalk. You either have to have incredible skill levels and loads of luck, or you've got to slow right down.

Really polished white lines. Years ago at a Surrey League road race I pulled out of a group to go round and hit the white line. It was hosing down and the bike went from straight under me. I skidded along on my arse attached to the bike (I sort of stared at my mate in the bunch), at the same speed as the bunch, went across the road and into a big ditch filled with water. Ended up in about two feet of water with the bike still attached. Fortunately a following car had seen it and stopped to help. They pulled me out with nothing more than a graze. Good job there wasn't a car coming in the opposite direction!!

Dry, dusty trails with a build-up of fine gravel....

A damp Whinlatter. Fine in the dry, grippy as you like in the wet- more slippy than an eel covered in KY jelly when a bit damp.

Anything up to and including anti slip coverings.....if using cheap non bc compound continentals.

😯

Having never used Barons before (in any guise) was I batting at a slippy wicket from the off? No avoiding having to use tarmac etc to get to trails and I do sometimes like to dick around trially-style in the urbans innit. Lose some pressure? (those walls look thin tho ...). Bin them?

A thin, brittle surface of waspish arrogance hiding layer upon layer of bitterness and self loathing?

Another +1 for brick Birmingham canal towpaths. Fallen off 3 times in the last 5 months. Have considered starting a 'Technique or Tires?' thread to try to get to the bottom of the reasons for my crashes. Glad I can now definitely say its not down to my lack of ability! Maxxis Ardent's BTW.

Fords. The concrete laid under a stream things.

Italian or Spanish tarmac after a gentle summer rain.

The northshore / boardwalk at Laggan Wolftrax, now gone, may it burn in peace.

No chicken wire, no grip paint, always damp, always covered in algae / slime. Anything but riding in a straight line at a constant speed had you sliding off hoping not to plant yourself in a tree trunk before you hit the deck

My sodding decking when it's wet. Alternatively the sleepers laid across the various ditches around Esher woods.

a carpet of fresh fallen dry autumn leaves over a wet wooden footbridge. It helps if the leaves are bathed in a pool of sunlight piercing a still green early autumn woodland canopy - that way you can thinking 'isn't that lovely' just as you ride across what might as well be ball bearings.

Tramlines out side my shop when it's wet dam things have almost killed me a few times over the last five years

Wet cardboard box sent me flying off on my commute last week. I fell in to the road causing a driver to slam the brakes on. Could've been nasty.

Dry Croatian tarmac, had some fun driving round there!

But back on topic green chalk is the nastiest thing ever to ride a bike on

Cattle grids can be challenging, especially the round-bar version. We (tandem) had a memorable off when attempting a gentle turn while riding over one at speed. Took me a while to earn forgiveness for that one! Dead straight is the rule nowadays.

As for natural surfaces, loess makes for a very slippery surface when damp, a bit like clay. I thought wet limestone was bad when I first moved to the dales but getting used to it now.

Cattle grids can be challenging, especially the round-bar version

I had a good one at the bottom of the west side of Hardknott pass (coming up), it was pi**ing it down, pretty stupid weather to be riding in to be honest, and the rear wheel slipped on the metal, sending me sideways and down. I instinctively stuck a foot out to stop myself, which got stuck in the grid. Luckily I fell in the direction that meant my body weight bent my leg the right way, not the other way which would have been pretty grim. I ended up completely stuck underneath the bike, and had to wait, lying trapped on the floor, until some other cyclists came along and pulled me out.

Cheviot sheep dung on a wet wooden bridge.

Just this lunch time on my road bike. Took a cycle path alongside some fields which the farmer obviously also uses. Thin layer of cowshit, water from the fog and a steep slope means no traction. Narrowly avoided a balls/toptube collision but had to walk up the last couple of hundred metres in road shoes as I couldn't get going.

My favourite/least favourite MTB trail though is the XC at Aston Hill, never ever been anywhere as consistently slippery after a single drop of rain. That said, doesn't get much worse in a torrential downpour than it is in a light shower.

The green slime covered rocks on the bottom of the stream above Lauder...

Wet manhole covers can be a little slidey had a few close calls but luckily managed to wtay upright.

northshore but made out of beds of nails. Am I doing this right?

cannondaleking - Member
Tramlines out side my shop when it's wet dam things have almost killed me a few times over the last five years

Sheffield? Doesn't even need to be wet and the tracks here are catching people out all the time. Often people trying to cross them at the wrong angle and getting wheels stuck

Frosty roots (preferably off-camber).

other than ice

Possibly invalid.

I crashed my motorbike once on a massive puddle of what I swear was ky jelly.

Failing that, it's whatever that mad algae stuff is that's growing on some of the rocks at kirroughtree. Smells awful too when you fall off on it and get it smeared on you.

Aston in the wet.
Have ridden lots of places in the wet. That place is just nuts. Loads of fun but nuts

I have three offerings:

Another for anywhere near astonhill or wendover, green slime on chalk or wet leaves on chalk. Your going down.

Crossing at Fenny Stratford over canal. Engineering bricks in the wet just when you turn right after crossing the swing bridge. Hurt bad and cost me a XO rear mech.

Mini roundabout up the road from me. On exit of a garage, diesel spill in the wet, turned right, first thing to hit the Tarmac was the side of my helmet, learned the value of helmets that day.

Things like this always remind me if taking my test 20yrs ago. The instructor asked us what you do when you hit ice on a motorbike. The answer. fall off.

That steep slabbed descent between Scammonden and Rishworth in the Winter. Wheels slipping all over the place over those wet slabs. Don't know how your supposed to ride this in Winter.