Are leaves on the road slippery? What about cold tires?

Leaves can be as slippery as ice when wet, when dry, they tend to be of little consequence if scattered. If deep, they are slippery again.

Cold tires: when you start out, the tires are cold for at least a mile or two. It makes good sense to ride at least that far at low to moderate speeds until they have warmed up. The colder the air and surfaces, the more apparent this becomes.

If air temps are anywhere near freezing (38 is close enough in the mountains of Virginia in Fall), water can--and will--freeze in the hollows and you can find yourself suddenly on the ground as a member here named BlackLab did many years back.

Most times, leaves are just a distraction here, the roads are visibly crowned and the wind blows relentlessly across most of Virginia. Pennsylvania (son was born in NEPA) is similar across the highlands, but a lot of roads I have ridden there do not seem to get a lot of wind or sun so they often remain wet and leaf-covered, which can make for very slippery conditions. YMMV

Earlier in the summer, stuff like mulberries can put some extremely slippery schmoo on the road. If you were to walk on the mulberries they're sticky, but to a tire at road speed, they're very slippery. Grass on the road really isn't as bad as some make it out to be.

Later in fall, it's leaves, sticks, hedge apples, walnuts, acorns, etc. Some dry leaves blowing around aren't that big a deal, but wet leaves can get pretty dicey.

I suppose poop, critters, gravel, cows, tractors, and Buicks are universal hazards. When it's been extremely dry, roads can get dusty and lose a lot of friction.

The front end of my Vee once went for a rather harrowing skate on a lost piece of vinyl siding sitting in an intersection near my house (kept it upright somehow). It was pretty much the same shade of gray as the road. I somehow had the presence of mind to release the brake for a moment and roll off it.

And of course, after I collected a 7-point buck the hard way in November 2013, I stay well clear of the countryside from late October through November and part of December, when the deer are in rut and acting even more stupid and reckless than usual.

It's a rough world out there...

outsidezion said:

Beautiful ride to work today: a tunnel of color with the leaves in the trees, blowing in the wind, and laying on the road.

Is there any sense that leaves on the road would be hazardous? And is there a danger/no-cross-over zone with cold tires when riding normally that would cause them to lose grip?

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It's a good question to ask if you haven't experienced it!

You have different degrees of traction as you ride. Rain, leaves. sand, grass cuttings, snow, ice, oil on water etc reduce grip so you have less traction on them as do cold tires compared to warm tires.

None of them by themselves normally cause you to lose grip.

What normally causes you to lose grip is some change of force in how your tires are interacting with the road. Riding at a steady speed and direction usually means your tires aren't changing how they are reacting with the road and odds are you will keep riding upright. If you speed up, slow down or start turning you are adding force to the tires and if there isn't enough grip the tires will start sliding.

Basically be gentle when on slippery stuff. easy on the throttle and brakes, no sudden moves.

Part of being a rider is being aware of what is going on and riding accordingly. Much of that comes with experience so it is a learning process.

..Tom

PeteW said:

Oh yeah, memories of a real horror. Avocados.

Almost 'first world problem' but I'm sure this one happens with other fruit in other places as well.

They grow on the sides of the road here and those suckers are slick. Not only a serious slip hazard but they can turn into missiles when squeezed between tire and road. I've nearly taken out a cyclist with that. 'phwiip' and this core shoots out from under my front wheel and misses the head of an approaching cyclist by inches. Looked like a mini kamakazi flying saucer.

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Yikes! Avocados have a lot of oil in them, so I bet the road in these spots remains slippery pretty much year-round.

Around here, walnuts can get pretty exciting once the green outer covering starts rotting and they drop off the trees in the fall. You've got slippery mush containing a minefield of rock-hard walnut shells.


And of course, the most disgusting of all is slippery, fatty roadkill that's been, uh, "distributed" around the road by other traffic. In Indy as in many cities, we have huge numbers of pestiferous ill-tempered Canada geese; I think they're attracted to the many retention ponds (Indy is very flat).

The geese seem to forget that they are birds and try to walk everywhere, including crossing streets. So in the city, they get hit by cars a lot.

As big, heavy, birds with a lot of body fat, they create a horrible slippery greasy feathery mess... 🤢

Great advice and discussion above regarding the many different road conditions that can make riding more hazardous.

One more thing to consider is moisture on paved roads after long hot/dry spells. We just had a small amount of rain that finely ended the 101 days long drought. The neighbour phoned me in a panic yesterday shocked at how he almost left the road skidding along the pavement into the oncoming lane in his "all wheel drive" Subaru. I'm not surprised because he's always an aggressive driver. He's also under the misconception that all wheel drive improves braking somehow lol.

Two days ago I warned my family that the showers were on their way and the roads are going to be extra slippery until we get enough rain to wash the oil buildup off, which could take days depending on the amount of rain.