Mike's Bike Blog

Last week, the day after my crash my route took me by where I wiped out. I did a little investigating and I am certain it was not water that caused my tires to lose contact with the pavement but a foreign substance. This slick substance could be transmission fluid, brake fluid, oil or some other form of lubricant. I'll know more when the lab results are returned.

The above photos shows the corner where it all transpired and the dashed lines show my path the best as I can recall. Note the dark oily spot in the bottom of the picture, that portion was not there when I went down. At least it wasn't as dark and noticeable. All I recall seeing was the smaller spot where the arrow is that indicates the oil slick that caused me to crash.

Upon hitting the spot indicated by the arrow I instantly went down and proceeded to skid on my right hip and forearm coming to a stop at the double yellow line. The road rash is not a problem, my arm is still tender and if I knock it just right it'll hurt and bleed. The hip is a little swollen and has turned to a nice bruise. The bruise runs from just below my waist down to about 3 inches above my knee. It is by far the biggest bruise I've ever had and I've had some doozies from hockey.

Close up of the spot that caused the mishap. The other tire tracks were not there when I rolled through the day before. I must have rolled through it shortly after it was leaked onto the road. In conclusion, it does not appear to be water that caused the crash like I initially thought. Upon further inspection of the crash site it is apparent that the crash was caused by a lubrication agent put down on the roadway from a car. Further investigation and analysis is in order to rule out foul play. For now I'm just gonna keep riding my bike.