CliffordK

You definitely don't want to brake with the front. If it is a short segment, then no braking at all, or coasting (if flat).

Corners, of course are bad. But, otherwise each situation is different. I've dropped off the road shoulder onto flat shoulders before, and typically just continue straight until I can see a place to hop back up on to the road safely. Or, on occasion, stop. Avoid sharp upward transitions unless one can cut it sharp. There are places where I will intentionally cut across some dirt/gravel shoulder. Other time I just get closer to the edge than I should have.

Steep shoulders, of course, can be bad.

BengalCat

When I was a newbie road bike rider, circa 1983, and without any training or guidance on bike riding dos and don'ts I slowly left the road to park on the wide shoulder and pull off area. I was barely moving and just drifted to the side. The area I went on to was covered with loose fine widely spaced gravel. Going almost dead straight the bike immediately fell and slipped out and over as I and the bike then hit the ground.

Gravel is the worst. Wider tires on loose gravel won't help unless you are going dead straight on and on balance.

goenrdoug

bunny hop it!

MinnMan

Just to clarify, the photo posted by the OP is not the actual road, but something similar. How similar? Was the road surface before the gravel patch similarly uneven? That road is in the midst of some serious slow creep - like the whole thing is going to wash out in the next big storm. If, say, you were at 30 mph from the spot where that photo was taken, then one issue would be having perfect balance and weight distribution over the bike coming off that wavy uneven surface. That would be tough for anybody.

79pmooney

I owned and commuted several winter on a Univega Competizione. 23s were close. 25s gave no room for error at all. Tried 25s once and immediately took them off. Anything stuck to the tires would hit, quite possibly stopping the tire. Any "event" and subsequent untrueness would have meant walking home.

That bike was a pure mid-eighties race bike. Road yes but 25c? No way.

Ben

Leinster

I don’t know what we were thinking with 20c tires back in the 90s...

I’ve slid out on gravel on road wheels with 20s, 23s, and 25s, but I’ve also slid out on a hybrid with (I think they must’ve been) 38s. The tire width can help up to a point, but this doesn’t sound like a situation where it would.

I have to say, I think the OP is seriously lucky/unlucky if this was really his first fall in 17 years of riding. I fell off a few times as a teenager, and I like to think it’s helped me be more aware of my limits as I get older.

big john

I have a mountain bike with 2.8 inch tires and I run 15 psi in the front. It will slide on gravel like anything else, it just takes more Gs to get it loose. I've ridden road bikes in the dirt and I think the geometry plays a big part in how the bike acts when things get loose.

canklecat

For me, biggest change in confidence on squirrely roads was to train myself to not use a death grip on the bars. When I do hit some unexpected slippery stuff, a more relaxed but controlled grip usually enables the bike to sort itself out.

Usually.

But some stuff happens so quickly all we can do is hope for a not-too-horrible landing.

znomit

Ride some gravel roads. Will help a lot with your handling skills.
28c is a big jump from 23c if you drop the pressure accordingly.

Branko D

Much safer, no. I went down a couple of times encountering a bit of gravel on the road in a curve with 42x559 tires (1,6" x 26") on my touring bike, and if that didn't really help, anything which you can possibly fit on a road bike won't help in that situation, either. If you're cornering even remotely agressively and run into a patch of gravel on road, you will go down.

Going straight on gravel I (so far!) stay upright with 23c / 25c (front/rear) tires on my road bike, but it is really unsettling at any significant speed, and if I see gravel coming up on the road, I brake and dump a lot of speed. Now, with 42mm wide tires, I can purposefully* ride on gravel / macadame paths, with the pressure dialed down, but since they're 42mm slicks the traction isn't something to exactly write home about and I have to take it easily. Still, considerably better than the aforementioned road bike, though. Extrapolating between the two, 28c road tires would be a bit better on gravel than the 23/25c combo, enough to notice, but not enough to really change where you can and can't ride. Imo, the marginal benefits in that regard are not worth the aerodynamic and weight penalities for riding on the road.

*That time when you show up to an organised ride and realize that you're on the only drop bar bike out of a hundred and everyone's on a MTB...

autonomy

This past summer I was on a hike and I ate dirt going downhill just as the trail was transitioning from gravel to paved. Even though I was looking for it and going slower, the transition started sooner than expected - the pavement was completely covered by gravel and my foot rolled on as if on ball bearings. My contact patch was much larger than anything on a bike.

The answer to your question - it depends. Wider tires will float better but make contact with more gravel. If the gravel is deep, the wide tire will just roll over it while a narrow tire will sink deeper (imagine sand) and perhaps lose balance. If the gravel is just spilled on pavement, the narrow tire might just jump sideways from gravel to pavement with or without you losing balance. A wider tire would be more likely to float and thus roll sideways.

79pmooney

Wider tires isn't the only factor. More supple casing helps as does gripper tread (both pattern and rubber compound). There are tires that are grippy enough to sometimes regrip after gravel, slime etc. starts a slide and tires that never will. I seek out grippier tires with more supple casings; accepting that they 1) get more flats, 2) don't go as far and 3) generally cost more in exchange for keep my skin off the pavement.

Most of the tires I ride are Vittoria Corsa G+ and the older Open Pave (as big as I can purchase except on one limited bike) and Panasonic Paselas on my city bikes and wheels in 28 - 38c depending on the bike. For me, one fewer crashes in say 10,000 miles is easily worth the hassle and $$s.

(I've been cursed with poor luck with Continental tires. About once a decade I see if the curse has been lifted. Not yet.)

Ben

seypat

Gravel is one thing. Those whoops, dips, cracks, etc. are throwing you in all kinds of directions. That looks like a dangerous stretch.

GnipGnop

Keep riding on gravel to develop your skills. You don't need to buy something to compensate. Just some skills practice.

Equinox

The road I crashed on was bad, but not quite that bad. The landscape in that area was pretty, and the weather could not be better. But I did spend a lot of time watching the surface for potholes and ruts. The roads here, like other areas, are dreadful. It takes the fun out of road biking.