I get a lot of really bad washboard up here. The worst kind in your description. Even in a car it's brutal to drive over. I would say the difference between the top of the 'ridge' and the bottom of the 'trough' is probably around...maybe two inches or so. I've found that in that kind of vibration, the best thing I can do is to ride just off the saddle (maybe half an inch or so, just enough to save my backside from the vibration), and to also maintain as light a grip as possible on the bars. Often I'm not actually squeezing the bars at all, just resting my hands on the tops of the bars and allowing them to bounce around underneath. The benefit of this style is that the only thing attached to your bike are your feet, so your whole body can act as a shock absorber. You are also allowing the bike to bounce around under you freely, rather than take your body with it.
The bad part is that it's quite exhausting. staying off both the saddle and the bars is a leg workout for sure. Sometimes I'll have to do this for a mile or so at a time but usually I'll come across a smoother section, shoulder of the road, or something where I have some relief. Also I fully agree that the fatter your tires and lower the pressure, the better. On Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 10:51:08 AM UTC-6, jeffrey kane wrote: > > I was out on one of my usual paved routes this morning and was dismayed to > find a portion of road covered in salt! Like, from a spreader truck that > clearly made a mistake and dumped an inch or so of the stuff for the better > part of a mile. What was interesting is that (I suppose) after being driven > over a bunch the loose salt on a paved surface had formed into washboard > patterns ... > > On Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 11:01:30 AM UTC-5, Deacon Patrick wrote: >> >> Washboard is a frequent reality of country roads and this being my >> country road riding season (as the trails haven’t melted yet), it is a >> reality of my late winter, early spring rides. Some observations that >> perhaps your experience can contribute to so we can collectively learn how >> to more effectively ride these corrugated beasties. >> >> — Washboard is nothing but a frequency wave, the cumulative result of >> traffic, weight, speed, and likely others. >> — Randomly rough/rocky roads are easier to ride and smoother than equally >> rough washboard because of the regularity of the washboard. >> — Like on a river in the rapids, there is oft a ridge where the “waves” >> cancel each other out. Ride the ridge! >> — supple tires make a HUGE difference in smoothing out washboard, until >> the wave “frequency” gets too large. >> — Small range frequency washboard (tires absorb it, regardless of speed) >> has a much larger range when riding supple tires that stiff walled and flat >> protected tires. >> — Medium range frequency washboard (greater than tires absorb, less than >> requires significant slowing) is significantly smoothed out by riding it >> faster so the bike skims along the top. >> — Large range frequency washboard (too large for speed to “skim” over the >> top) requires knees and elbows bent, seat off the saddle, and I’ve yet to >> find a way to make it pleasant to ride. Fortunately, it is rare to find a >> road that has greater than short stretches fully covered in width by this >> range. But those quarter mile sections that do have it — UGH! >> — Riding with speed into a section I thought (hoped, prayed) was medium >> frequency but rapidly reveals it is large frequency, tests one’s ability to >> grip the bar with three fingers and brake quickly with one. Factors that >> contribute to this deception include cloud cover, angle of the sun, tree >> cover, etc. >> — Climbing up medium or large frequency washboard is one of the most >> challenging types of riding I’ve experienced, requiring a mostly-unweighted >> cranking on the pedals, with significant knee bend even at full extention >> to allow room for the bike is flowing up and down beneath me. Fully in the >> saddle and the full effect of the waves is maximized, full standing and the >> effect of the waves is often magnified. As it is, every pedal stroke is >> unpredictable, depending on if each wheel is heading down into the trough >> or up out of the trough. >> >> Your experience and learnings? >> >> With abandon, >> Patrick >> >> www.OurHolyConception.org <http://www.ourholyconception.org> >> www.MindYourHeadCoop.org <http://www.mindyourheadcoop.org> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
