How to brake without falling during wet weather? A couple of days ago I fell off my bike. I was on a wet, steep downhill, asphalted road with a lot of curves. I didn't expect neither the weather, nor the 15+ km downhill route. I was always reducing my speed to 9-10 kph before taking a turn. However, just after a taking a turn and before another curve, when I pressed the rear brake lever, the wheel stopped turning immediately, despite the slight pressure, and started to slide. Worse, the bike didn't stop, it started to accelerate. I pressed the front brake lever, slowly initially, but since the bike was still accelerating, I pressed more was thrown off. Never mind the damage; I got off with minor injuries, the bike as well. This could have been due to my being careful to begin with, but not enough, apparently, so my question is how can I be better prepared in the future? And what might have caused the tyre to slide? The road was wet and with minor holes and bumps, sure, but I had gone through similar terrain seconds ago and I could brake just fine. And I'm sure I didn't press the lever way too hard than perceived. Also, there wasn't any wet sand. None that I could see anyway.

In hindsight, there are a few things that came to my mind. I'm not entirely sure about any of them, however, since I have just recently started to cycle since my childhood/high school years and I just discovered that there was stuff I was missing out on back then (such as bike fitting and geometry).


The saddle could've been lowered. I normally ride so that my knees
bend at a 25-30 degrees at the pedals' lowest position. I assume
lowering the saddle would've necessitated much more effort from the
front brake to throw me.
My bike is suited for XC racing. Would picking a downhill bike, with
the appropriate frame geometry, have made a difference, provided we're
talking about an asphalted road?
Should I have kept the rear or both brakes engaged constantly? At
the time, I didn't want to do this out of fear that they, being disc
brakes, would overheat and the rotor would be destroyed. The route I
was on was at least 28 km long, mostly steep downhill, save for the
last 10 km or so, which were a rather pleasant, slight descent.
when I pressed the rear brake lever, the wheel stopped turning immediately, despite the slight pressure


if it locked up with only slight pressure, either your brakes lack modulation, or it had really poor traction.

The first (modulation) is generally adjustable.

The second depends on your tyres, the road surface, possibly oil/petrol/diesel spills, loose material etc. etc.

Since you don't think there was loose material, and say the traction was fine previously, an oil spill is certainly possible - look out for those rainbows on the road surface.


  Worse, the bike didn't stop, it started to accelerate


If the back wheel is locked, skidding it should still have some braking effect, so I'm inclined to view this as evidence for poor traction.


  I assume lowering the saddle would've necessitated much more effort from the front brake to throw me


Did you go over the handlebars, or just lose grip with the front wheel and crash?

If the former, which I think is what you're suggesting - lower saddle might help on steep downhills, but generally you need to brace yourself down &amp; backwards with your arms. The goal is to stop yourself sliding forward relative to the bike as it slows down, and also to reduce the angular moment about the front axle by keeping your weight low.

Interestingly, this does suggest there was no traction problem with your front wheel, so something happened to impair traction at the back only.


  My bike is suited for XC racing


Does that mean it has knobbly tyres? More contact area is generally better on asphalt, so slick or textured tyres will have better traction (and, as a bonus, generally lower rolling resistance).


  Should I have kept the rear or both brakes engaged constantly


I'd usually drag the back brake to control speed on descents - to avoid overheating, don't do this continuously, but pump it and ease off to let it cool. Alternating with the front will also give the back brake a chance to cool - but note the front brake affects steering more, so definitely keep braking to the straights as much as possible.