Riding in the wet vs. dry

cuervo said:

Hi,

The question is, how hard do you push when the road it's wet vs. when it's dry? 50%? 60%? 90%?, braking power?, braking anticipation? cornering techniques?

Any single advice to be a better rain-wet rider will be apreciated. An explanation of how the US Postal manages to average 53.71 kmh under the rain at the Team TT of the last Tour (focusing in the wet riding technique) it will be great.

Thanks in advance!!!

I get lots of practise riding in the rain here, though I can't quite manage a 53.71 kmh average 🙂
Number 1 tip is to reduce your tire pressure, about 10 psi or so. And obviously you want to reduce your speed a bit in the corners. I've never actually measured it but I probably go 70-90% of my dry road speed. When cornering try not to lean the bike as much.

Your brakes won't work at all until the water has been cleared of the rims, this takes about 5-10 seconds, but seems much longer. When you do get the rims cleared braking is much the same as on dry roads.

Good luck and keep practising.

You'll only work this out through experience, as weather and road conditions are never really the same.

Just get out there and the skills will come.

Thank you very much for your info.
I think I have to go out in the wet more often, I feel my self not on command of the situation when the road is wet. It seems than it get worse when is wet but it's not rainning, when the tarmac it's drying, is this posible?
In the other hand I'm running with Bontrager Race tyres, absolutely slicks, is this afecting the handling? under heavy rain they feel great, but if it is only ligthly wet .... I don't like it at all!!!

Slicks & wet weather, a no-no.

RC2 said:

Slicks & wet weather, a no-no.

So slicks does makes a diference in the wet!!!

A friend with more years in cycling than me told me once that a 700x23 threaded (sp?) tyre makes no difference in bike handling because it's so slim than can no aquaplanate (sp? again sorry, I mean the efect that make the tyre "float" for a few seconds when gets a water spot a high speed), and the contact point it's so small that there is no water to drain ...

cuervo said:

So slicks does makes a diference in the wet!!!

A friend with more years in cycling than me told me once that a 700x23 threaded (sp?) tyre makes no difference in bike handling because it's so slim than can no aquaplanate (sp? again sorry, I mean the efect that make the tyre "float" for a few seconds when gets a water spot a high speed), and the contact point it's so small that there is no water to drain ...

Pretty close. Bike tires don't work like car tires at dispersing water through the treads. Traction will come down to friction, which is determined by the tyres contact patch on the road.....so for wet conditions with high-speed cornering, let the pressures down a bit.
Tread on road tyres is largely a "security blanket" for the buyer and another marketing angle for the manufacturer

cuervo said:

Thank you very much for your info.
I think I have to go out in the wet more often, I feel my self not on command of the situation when the road is wet. It seems than it get worse when is wet but it's not rainning, when the tarmac it's drying, is this posible?

The worst situation is found when there is a light rain on a hot day. A light coating of oil from cars and maybe the asphalt itself comes to the surface with the heat, and when you add a lttle water the road gets slippery as hell. A heavy rain, on the other hand washes the oil away and the road is back to normal.

steve_wmn said:

The worst situation is found when there is a light rain on a hot day. A light coating of oil from cars and maybe the asphalt itself comes to the surface with the heat, and when you add a lttle water the road gets slippery as hell. A heavy rain, on the other hand washes the oil away and the road is back to normal.

That explains why the day before yesterday, when I posted this question, I feel like I was riding on ice, those where about the same conditions. I will try again in worse weather conditions but better road situation. Thanks!

cuervo said:

So slicks does makes a diference in the wet!!!

A friend with more years in cycling than me told me once that a 700x23 threaded (sp?) tyre makes no difference in bike handling because it's so slim than can no aquaplanate (sp? again sorry, I mean the efect that make the tyre "float" for a few seconds when gets a water spot a high speed), and the contact point it's so small that there is no water to drain ...

I ride with totally slick tires all year, the tread on bike tires isn't deep enough to make any difference, wet or dry. And you friend is correct, you cannot hydroplane a bike tire, at least not at bike riding speed. There's a table in this article from Sheldon Brown, and for a 100 psi tire you need to be going about 160 kmh.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#tread

cuervo said:

Hi,

The question is, how hard do you push when the road it's wet vs. when it's dry? 50%? 60%? 90%?, braking power?, braking anticipation? cornering techniques?

Any single advice to be a better rain-wet rider will be apreciated. An explanation of how the US Postal manages to average 53.71 kmh under the rain at the Team TT of the last Tour (focusing in the wet riding technique) it will be great.

Thanks in advance!!!

Appart from what has already been said, the cornering technique is different. In the dry you push the bike down into the turn so it leans and you stay mostly upright. In the wet it is the opposite you lean into the turn trying to keep the bike as upright as possible. I find that once a good amount of rain has fallen on the road and its washed off the wet vs dry difference is pretty similar, but I wouldn't be testing that theory on a mountain pass with no guard rail.

davidbod said:

Appart from what has already been said, the cornering technique is different. In the dry you push the bike down into the turn so it leans and you stay mostly upright. In the wet it is the opposite you lean into the turn trying to keep the bike as upright as possible. I find that once a good amount of rain has fallen on the road and its washed off the wet vs dry difference is pretty similar, but I wouldn't be testing that theory on a mountain pass with no guard rail.

For me it is not so much the difference in ride in wet, it's the matter of keeping myself comfortable. I use removeable fenders and a bicycle light. I wear a nylon jacket over my biking clothes. The fenders keep the water that spins off the tires off me. I watch for puddles since hitting one of them at an angle can throw you off just because of the resistance of the water against the wheels can actually turn your steering wheel like the keel on a boat.

As far as braking, with modern machined sidewalls on the rims I have had no decrease in braking effectiveness. It's sure a lot better now than when rims were made of chromed steel.

steve_wmn said:

The worst situation is found when there is a light rain on a hot day. A light coating of oil from cars and maybe the asphalt itself comes to the surface with the heat, and when you add a lttle water the road gets slippery as hell. A heavy rain, on the other hand washes the oil away and the road is back to normal.

100% correct. Especially here where it can be 30 degrees plus for a week, then a little rain and the roads become ice rinks.

Not to mention tram tracks!