Biggest skid

[Cubist]

Two road skids in recent memory, both nearly left evidence in my underwear...... First one on my Boardman hybrid with discs. Nice downhill stretch to the final turn off for work, drizzly morning, car overtook and turned left just as was planning to do. I estimated that one at over 20 metres.

Last summer, first downhill of the day, a good 40mph plunge towards Slaithwaite from Scapegoat Hill towards a hairpin. I underestimated the distance road brakes need to scrub off speed, and on a dry surface fishtailed the last fifteen yards or so before running off up someone's drive, rather glad they'd left the gate open!

 

[Kestevan]

Coming down off Fleet Moss, I may have "slightly" misjudged how steep it was, the effects of gravity on a fat bugger, and just how tight the bend was...... Mates did however comment on the girly scream

 

[Tom B]

As kids we used to come flying down the local big hill and onto the estate ring road which then went uphill the kid that went the furthest without pedalling was the winner. Usually perfomed on the smallest most knackard bike we had amongst ust.

The trouble was the down hill was at a tee junction to the road, so one of us had to stand on the main road and give the signal when the traffic was clear. One day a particular local hell raiser was on lollypop duty, as I was flat out down the hill, he suddenly woke up and spotted the car on the road and started waving frantically for me to stop. The skid that ensured started by going through the already worn out tyre i then fell off and landed on my hip, going through the skin to the bone on my hip...

I got batttered of my mum for being stupid and of Brendan's mum for busting his tyre!

Happy days!

 

[Trickedem]

We used to nick sand from building sites to throw on the road to make skids longer

Shaun

We had an unadopted road near us and sand used to wash down onto the road and leave a patch of sand about 100 feet long. I can remember spending what seems to be all of my summer holidays doing skids on this, pretending we were speedway riders.

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

"Skids are for kids!"
Or at least that's what the guy behind me shouted at the bottom of a decent descent a few months back.
"Look after your tyres mate, seriously!"
I still felt pretty cool

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

"Skids are for kids!"
Or at least that's what the guy behind me shouted at the bottom of a decent descent a few months back.
"Look after your tyres mate, seriously!"
I still felt pretty cool

Life is too short to be worrying about things like that!

 

[Cuchilo]

Yeah and girls don't like men that look after their tyres they like men that do cool skids .


and wheelies .

 

[young Ed]

i try to stay away from skids these days, i shed too much skin and blood as a young lad doing skids and jumps and messing about!
Cheers Ed

 

[Smurfy]

Chuck a small pebble in the road, then lock the back wheel as you ride over it. The result is long skids, no tyre wear, and some nice snail trails of the skids where the pebble rubs on tarmac.

 

[thatname]

I popped my back wheel out this morning whilst bombing down a hill in Kent this morning. Was doing around 38mph and a dog just ran out from nowhere. I didnt stop to measure it as I was too busy trying to style it out in front of the animals owner...

 

[DRM]

Many years ago whilst on holiday, a friend and myself borrowed two old sit up & beg type bikes from a campsite in Devon, we decided to ride into Totnes, so being young & daft we started descending the hills a bit faster than those bikes were ever designed to go, we got the shock of our lives when the local hunt appeared out of a junction, the skid was impressive, as was our shouting at them to shift but we weren't able to stop, luckily the hounds scattered in all directions and the only thing was to to pedal harder because we were sure the huntsman would chase us.
The bikes were returned with the brake blocks totally worn away and a rear mudguard missing that shook loose & rolled up between the rear wheel & seat stays creating another impressive skid, needless to say they stopped loaning bikes out for some reason.

 

[NorvernRob]

There's an off-road path near me that goes down a hill, it's dirt and loose gravel and perfect for skidding down. When I was a teenager me and my mates would apply the back brake and skid all the way down, it was easy to control and get the back wheel right round as well so you were almost going down sideways.

More recently it was when I had to slam on the brakes as a car in front braked for no reason, it unloaded the rear wheel which skidded then slid right round until I released it. I think it was pure luck I managed to stay in a straight line, there were skid marks in more than one place!

 

[MikeW-71]

Hmmm, when I was about... 8 I think. Nice downhill on the estate to get plenty of speed up, on my sisters bike that had a particularly good rear brake, so easy to get it locked up. The skid must have been 20 yards long... then the tyre burst, down I went, and took all the skin off my elbow.

 

[palinurus]

It was probably when my chain unshipped going downhill on my fixed bike last year. I didn't measure it though.

 

[ColinJ]

How about 'longest, most expensive and frustrating skid', which one of my Scottish cousins could make a strong claim for? He came down from the Oban area of Scotland to ride the Tour de Yorkshire sportive a couple of weeks ago. He had only done about 40 km of the 109 planned and was on a descent when he rode over something which got flipped up into his transmission and jammed the back wheel. He managed to skid to a stop without falling off but was pretty peeved with the outcome!

• The cost of driving from Oban to Yorkshire and back.
• Nearly £50 to enter the event.
• Frustration at missing 69/109 of the ride.
• Missing the finish of the pro road race.
• 3.5 hours waiting for a recovery vehicle to pick him up.
• Cost of new front and rear mechs, rear gear hanger, chain, rear tyre, and rear wheel repair!

Somehow, he managed a wry smile when I met up with him at the finish. He had to borrow my bike to get back to his car, which was parked several miles away, and then his SatNav misdirected him onto Leeds ring road when he tried to drive back to pick up me and his battered bike!