Well, yesterday I was making a turn off a road with tons of tar filler on it and suddenly and seemingly inexplicably the front end just washed out and down I went. Broke right ankle but otherwise feeling fine. It was 90f and I noticed just prior how squirrelly my bike felt when riding over the tar crack filler but I had no idea this could be the result!!! Simply made a 15 mph right hand turn, no gravel on road, and next thing I know I'm sliding down the road with bike right behind.

Is road tar known to be this dangerous? Do I have any recourse to sue city for overuse of the tar (the road surface there is full of tar run in every which way)?? How on earth do I prevent this from happening again?

Thanks.

 

Are you being serious with your question ? If you are its kinda well known about tar snakes getting slick

 

I hate those things; I've never gone down, but I've felt the bike lose traction enough times. Just seems there ought to be a better way to cover cracks---use some sand or grit in the tar.
It may just be that bikers are too small a percentage of the population to change the procedure. But wait, transvestites are an even smaller percentage of the population, yet we can... . Oh, well.

 

I just rode 163/262/41 from Mexican Hat through Montezuma Creek/Aneth. Never in my life have I seen a road that was more tar snakes than pavement. It had so many tar snakes, it was difficult to even ride straight and the corners were exciting to say the least.

As far as tar snakes, tar is heated and applied to cracks in pavement to prevent water from getting under the surface and further damaging the road. I fear you would not have much of a case.

 

[QUOTE=StoneyFatBoy;15255619]Are you being serious with your question ? If you are fairly well known about tar snakes getting slick knowledge[/QUOTE


Not sure what you are trying to say

 

Slipped my front wheel on one last Friday on a slow turn. Didn't go down, but instinctively put my left leg out and touched the pavement. That's the same leg with all the hardware in it from being shattered in '14. We survived without a problem, but those surprise tar snakes really suck.

 

and they are slick when cold and wet too! tar comes from crude oil so i'd say it's slick.

 

This is the statement that stands out. In the fall, it could be leaves on the road, in a shower, it could be painted lines, metal covers, or grease spots. I am sorry that when it felt squirrelly, that you did not take notice and practice avoiding them.
Experienced riders avoid turning on tar snakes. Instead they pick a path to miss them. An inexperienced rider may look at the snake having not self trained themselves to look at the bare road adjacent to the crack in the road repaired with tar. Your bike goes where you look.
It is a life lesson for you. Unfortunately, you got hurt and probably did some damage to your bike. It happens. Heal quickly and move on.

 

Sorry you dropped your bike.

Your discription of the incident is little strange.

"Simply made a 15 mph right hand turn, no gravel on road, and next thing I know I'm sliding down the road with bike right behind."

I've been riding a long time, I have dropped my share of bikes. 15 mph is pretty slow to have the front end wash out and then slide as you described. Are you sure you were only going 15 mph?

Was this a Tar Snake or a Tar Patch?

Did you grab a handful of brake in a panic?

 

There was tar snakes all around. No didn't touch brakes actually by the time entered turn....was going what I thought was plenty slow to make the turn. There was no traffic behind me so was entering pretty leisurely.

I'll post a pic of the road in a bit