Scary experience last night, any opinions welcome.
I'd finished work and gone off into the first warm evening for ages in search of a few miles and a big hill. I found the hill but chickened out as it was commuter time and a busier road than I thought, one to save for 7 am on a Sunday! I retraced my steps back down the fairly big hill I'd ridden up to get to the very big hill, a road I had not ridden before. It was long steepish and wide and perhaps in chagrin at missing my prize I thought I'd open it up for the descent as it looked very safe to do so.
Hit 30mph and the road surface was 'corrugated' like any country road that is due for a resurfacing, so I thought I'd slow down a bit and put the brakes on. At this point what I can only describe as a 'resonance' started feeding back to me, in my mind from the front wheel, kind of like a juddering. Perhaps I braked harder at this point, red flares were starting to go up, I think the speed slowed but the 'resonance' increased.
At this point I remember thinking 'this is going to hurt', coming off at c. 20mph onto tarmac in shorts and short sleeved top, but somehow I managed to slow without coming a cropper and pulled to a shaky stop. I can smell my brake pads. A quick visual check of the front wheel and pads and all looks ok, stop at a village mile further up and take the front wheel off for a better inspection. Brake pads worn but not worn out, wheel looks fine. Put bike back together and cycle 8 miles home, paying careful attention to how it rides, it's totally normal.
So what happened?
Was it the corrugated road surface?
Was it overbraking?
Is there some deeper problem with my bike/wheel?
Obviously I am going to take the bike to the shop who service it and get them to have a look, just curious if anyone has experienced anything like this or can offer any insight. Also very grateful that I am not sitting here oozing blood and lymph onto dressings all over my body.