evil road tar snakes!

[xorbe]

This weekend, I encountered 14 miles of narrow, highly curvy and elevation-changing road with no side rails and a large drop-off to the right, and the deal-breaker was the seemingly fresh tar snakes on the road that were apparently also TALL. Holy crap, the bike was sliding like crazy, and I had to slow down excessively to keep things manageable. If the road had been wet, I would have called it suicide and turned around after realizing what was happening. Luckily it was uphill, and not downhill, and zero traffic (hah, no wonder). Are fresh tar snakes always like this, or is it the stock tires, or?

https://goo.gl/maps/0JSw7
19 minutes haha yeah right.

 

[mike]

This weekend, I encountered 14 miles of narrow, highly curvy and elevation-changing road with no side rails and a large drop-off to the right, and the deal-breaker was the seemingly fresh tar snakes on the road that were apparently also TALL. Holy crap, the bike was sliding like crazy, and I had to slow down excessively to keep things manageable. If the road had been wet, I would have called it suicide and turned around after realizing what was happening. Luckily it was uphill, and not downhill, and zero traffic (hah, no wonder). Are fresh tar snakes always like this, or is it the stock tires, or?

https://goo.gl/maps/0JSw7
19 minutes haha yeah right.

Tar snakes are easy to loose traction on fresh or old, approach with caution and stay loose on the bars, tightening up will only make thing worse. try to ride over them at a 90 or atleast a 45 degree angle kind of like you would a railroad track. Don't ride hard or aggressive on roads with tar. hope that helps.

 

[buzzbomb]

Tar snakes are kind of like painted lines on the road, when they are wet - they are always slick and should be treated as such.

Personally I approach both with caution in wet or dry conditions. You just never know what has been laid over that slippery patch. Especially with tar snakes when it's hot! There's been a couple of downs on this forum alone simply because of a slippery tar snake.

Of course sticky tires help. Me personally, I wouldn't count on them alone, though. Slippery stuff is, well slippery.

Try to be upright when you go over them and slow down. Plus ATTGAT. Always ATTGAT.

 

[xorbe]

Well, in CA these things are everywhere, and I've been buzzing around for a couple years even through Yosemite, and never met tar snakes like these before. I think the big problem was the exaggerated tar height also -- after slipping on the shiny new tar, then the tire is not in good contact with the ground on the other side, making the whole deal much worse. Yeah I felt like I almost dropped the bike (at slow speed) on one where the slip angle matched the tar line. Then when the tire finally caught it violently stood up. I really crawled after that, like riding on ice.

 

[brownwa]

Well, in CA these things are everywhere, and I've been buzzing around for a couple years even through Yosemite, and never met tar snakes like these before. I think the big problem was the exaggerated tar height also -- after slipping on the shiny new tar, then the tire is not in good contact with the ground on the other side, making the whole deal much worse. Yeah I felt like I almost dropped the bike (at slow speed) on one where the slip angle matched the tar line. Then when the tire finally caught it violently stood up. I really crawled after that, like riding on ice.

The hill on hwy 35 just past Alice's, on the way to Halfmoon Bay, that sucker is covered in old oil or road rubber or something. I was sliding a lot coming down that hill and it was only 65 degrees or so. The tar snakes on the main roads I just try to keep the bike as upright as I can. They're so bad in the Bay Area that you can't even find a clear tire track through them. But yeah, this humpbacked tar snake sounds like the mother of all tank slappers.

 

[bigwillyo2o]

there always like that