Danger on the Hills

What do we have here, on Nugent Hill, on a wet Monday evening?

Yes, it's Peter W. of the Save the Railway Path campaign, bringing his daughter back from play school at the top of the hill -where he happened to have downed a couple of glasses of wine. On the way home, he's got the phone out and is discussing what to pick up on the way home.

So let's see. Very steep downhill, wet evening, small child on the front, alcohol, and using the phone. Can anyone see what's wrong here?

Exactly. He's got rim brakes. Peter, if you are going to do Nugent Hill one-handed in the rain, upgrade the front of your bike to a nice set of hydraulic disk brakes, one that stop just as fast in the wet as the dry, and which will bring you screaming to a halt with only one finger lightly on the levers. Trying to do this kind of thing safely with V-brakes on a wet day is a recipe for disaster.