Maneuvering Around the Icky Bits

kaikane said:

not sure if this is the right place for this question but here goes:
Does anyone have any tips for maneuvering through/around rocks and gravel on the road, especially at higher speeds?
As my riding regimen has picked up, so has my speed and I'm finding that high speed encounters with gravel are getting dicey.
Thanks all!

Biggest thing is probably to look where you want your wheels to go, not at what you're trying to avoid. Whenever I forget this, I wind up riding right over the top of the obstacle, with my body twisted off the bike trying to body-english it back away while my hands (as guided by my eyes) steer me right over the top of it.

Rocks and pebbles are a major problem in the bike lanes and shoulders here in LV. I get about one flat/week. Two suggestions, the first of which is counter-intuitive. If you have to turn quickly, you actually pull in on the opposite bar (left to go right and right to go left). One of the first things they have to teach new motorcycle racers is that weight shift doesn't turn the bike. If you're in a turn and want to tighten the turn, you pull in with the outside hand. Be careful with this because if you flat and are not relatively balanced you'll go down. I flatted my rear a few weeks ago at ~35mph and was all over the road for a few seconds. Second, don't swerve left into the traffic lane unless you know it's clear (and if you're going fast you usually don't know it's clear).

danch said:

Biggest thing is probably to look where you want your wheels to go, not at what you're trying to avoid. Whenever I forget this, I wind up riding right over the top of the obstacle, with my body twisted off the bike trying to body-english it back away while my hands (as guided by my eyes) steer me right over the top of it.

I'll have to try and keep that in mind. Keep my wits about me!

RapDaddyo said:

Rocks and pebbles are a major problem in the bike lanes and shoulders here in LV. I get about one flat/week. Two suggestions, the first of which is counter-intuitive. If you have to turn quickly, you actually pull in on the opposite bar (left to go right and right to go left). One of the first things they have to teach new motorcycle racers is that weight shift doesn't turn the bike. If you're in a turn and want to tighten the turn, you pull in with the outside hand. Be careful with this because if you flat and are not relatively balanced you'll go down. I flatted my rear a few weeks ago at ~35mph and was all over the road for a few seconds. Second, don't swerve left into the traffic lane unless you know it's clear (and if you're going fast you usually don't know it's clear).

We have a lot of gravel side roads off of the main ones up here and the gravel gets all over the place. Thanks for the tips.