10/23/14 12:48 PM

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front wheel went "whoosh" sideways, but thankfully it was dry and i didnt exceed the grip available when my front tire slid back onto clean asphalt.

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10/23/14 12:54 PM

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To save it, you'd have to straighten the bike up. But you'll probably run out of road immediately, especially in the northeast. Then it could be a nasty encounter with a ditch or worse still, a tree, which has a pretty good chance of killing you.

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10/23/14 1:02 PM

On 2 wheels, a skid-lay down to the low side is way better than a high side. Or worse a triple whipping with a high-side at the end. Seen that one too many times..

Last edited by Sparky on 10/23/14 1:08 PM; edited 1 time in total

10/23/14 1:06 PM

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I've seen people high-side it when that happens. You did well.

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10/23/14 1:28 PM

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On 2 wheels, a skid-lay down to the low side is way better than a high side. Or worse a triple whipping with a high-side at the end. Seen that one too many times..

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10/23/14 2:12 PM

"His femur was broken."

And in two places too. Bet he hardly felt the wrist and elbow fractures. I still cringe on that one thinking about it. I still hate seeing the picture of him on the ground should it pop up when I am googling various stuff. Eeessshhhh/Yikes etc...

10/23/14 5:44 PM

I never felt LA cheated on this one. He got lucky and did not crash in the field.

On my first organized metric century, on the first corner leaving I hit a patch of wet leaves with my front wheel. It slipped out in the corner about 3 to 4 inches and I got lucky. The front tire caught and I kept right on going. Little did I know how close I was to angering that one in.

10/23/14 7:25 PM

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I never felt LA cheated on this one. He got lucky and did not crash in the field.

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10/23/14 8:57 PM

Totally agree also...

10/23/14 9:26 PM

I always felt he did cheat. Technically, he did, because you're supposed to get back on the road at the same place or not further along the course. They allow plenty of leeway if conditions are difficult, as here where it would have been a steep climb in the grass back up to the road. So a pass on the rule would seem appropriate.

But LA said in the TV interview immediately after the stage that his only thought was not to let that group get away. He cut off so much of the corner that he got back on the road in front of the group that he was chasing, even though he had to ride through the bushes. He took a shortcut, deliberately.

10/24/14 5:42 AM

Go back and look at the terrain they were on. He went down an embankment and straight across a field. While he did get to the other side before the group, by the time he got up to the road and back on his bike, he hadn't gained anything. NOBODY at the time protested that this was in any way cheating, but there was a lot of amazement at his ability to remain calm and handle his bike deftly under duress.

Last edited by Brian Nystrom on 10/24/14 5:52 AM; edited 1 time in total

10/24/14 5:51 AM

However, as others have pointed out, it depends on the circumstances. At high speed or at the limits of tire adhesion, no, it's not likely. However, that's different from riding around a corner on a flat rear tire or catching a minor rear braking or loose surface skid. This is all par for the course off road and those same skills translate to the road, too. One key skill is the ability to get the inside foot out of the pedal in a flash, so you can use that foot for support. Again, this is something that's commonly done intentionally when cornering hard off road, so it eventually becomes second nature and translates to the road.

I'm not saying that April's skid could have been saved, as I have no way of knowing that. I'm just pointing out that a skid in a corner is not an automatic trip to the pavement.

10/24/14 6:04 AM

I recovered a rear wheel skid in a sharp right hand turn once. Still not sure how I did it. I was on the inside, next to the curb, during the Five Boro Bike Ride here in New York. Someone cut in front of me while I was turning, at speed. I remember turning my handlebars to the right and my rear wheel skipping about 9 inches to the left. Somehow I stayed upright. Never unclipped. Riders behind me came up and congratulated me on the move.

10/24/14 8:46 AM

LOL - now Lance is guilty of "field doping" - where will the ridicule end?

On "saving" the bike with a rear tire going down while in a turn the obvious two variables are how sharp is the turn and how much air is still in the tire.

I was in a group ride around the infamous Charlotte "Booty Loop" diving 25mph into a 90 degree corner with riders all around and suddenly my rear tire starting to come around.

Instinctively I did what I do when driving a car in snow which was to turn my front wheel in the direction of the skid which also raised my center or gravity this putting more down force on the bike and I made it through much to do with the rider to my left giving me the extra few feet of road required to sort it all out.

10/24/14 8:33 PM

Matter of opinion, I guess. I know no one protested, and the rule on that is usually enforced very loosely. I don't think it's a big deal, and I wouldn't hold my opinion had I not heard him essentially admit that he tried to make up ground. And he did make up ground. The group passed him as he was remounting, but when he got rolling he was closer than he had been before Beloki's crash. It was a very long switchback loop that he cut off.

Not a big deal in the larger scheme of things, and it was a nifty bit of riding through the grass.

EDIT: CORRECTION AND RETRACTION:

I take it all back. I just watched the video again. Armstrong and Beloki were not chasing the group. They were in the middle of it. After the off-road excursion, Armstrong was at the back of the group. He said he didn't want them to get away, but he was with them before.

10/26/14 4:37 PM

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On 2 wheels, a skid-lay down to the low side is way better than a high side. Or worse a triple whipping with a high-side at the end. Seen that one too many times..

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10/27/14 5:48 AM

It sounds like there is something that's causing people to misjudge their speed on this corner.

10/27/14 7:34 AM

in my case, I felt it was the nearly flat tire. two riders a head of me made the curve without fanfare

in the case of the guy who broke his vertebrate (and the woman with no injury), both were closing a tiny gap between them and the rider in front right before the turn. so their speed might be just a tiny bit faster the the group who went through safely. so far the riders I got to talk to were all at the end of the group that went through safely. None remember braking either.