Happy the biker who can say “I am riding on Turkish roads”
Paolo Volpara © OMM 2003
“What the hell is that…” was probably the last mental phrase before crashing (lightly) on the side of the road choosing a soft spot between a garbage bin and an electric pole. Slow speed and last minute defensive action reduced damages to pride and few plastic bits.
Still my friend was not amused: visiting Turkey for the first time, touring the south coast in a hot August morning he was not expecting “Sahara type sand” on main paved road of a Country thousand of kilometers away from major deserts.
Wrong… soft, powdery sand, the best the Sahara has to offer, is imported and used in Turkey to improve grip over melting asphalt. You see, bikes do not exist in Turkey … at least bikes do not exist for the active group of people actively taking measure to actively improve the quality of Turkish road network. So when the hot (very hot) summer weather melt away the poor quality bitumen used to bind together the surface of poorly paved new road active workers, from active trucks, actively distribute sand (the fine one) in generous form along roads and motorways.
Cars, Busses and Trucks bind some of this sand back to the road surface but… most of it forms attractive mini-dunes on the center and at the side of the road: here, occasionally, they meet surprised riders who cannot take the eyes away. This meeting is not always pleasant: as many of the others waiting for bikers along the Turkish network.
After “Sand is good for hot asphalt”, here some of the hazards you may find when riding in this (otherwise) lovely Country: they all have origins in poor management of the resources and in the rampaging corruption of the company working for the State.
Do it Yourself… Because We won’t.
This is a type of road surfacing that, in times of economical crisis and political scandals, is becoming more and more popular: when a surface need re-paving a fluid thick layer of bitumen is sprayed and then loose gravel is deposited on top. That’s it: just add to the recipe the intense traffic and in few weeks you may have a loosely paved road. So simple! The transiting vehicles make the paving work for you so that your company can save efforts, money and resources with major contribution to the (hidden) profit line.
While not so pleasant for 4wheelers (stone chipping windscreen, loose of traction in corners, heavy dust reducing visibility) the DYI road is often lethal for bikers: from distance it looks like a simple change in the color of the surface but, without warning (see following point on Turkish road signs) you enter a special section of Enduro Rally with, sometime, up to six/eight centimeters of loose gravel under your wheels. One quickly learns the advantages of standing up on the saddle: more difficult to apply with passenger (ever seen a two-up on Paris-Dakar?).
Section like this can last for many (and many) kilometers: you emerge from them quite shaken, with visors and screens chipped, covered in white powder and with a memorable note to book soon an off-road training session.
Parts of the surprises included in the DIY surface system are miles solely covered in fluid tar: grippy, definitely grippy. No, not so grippy to give you good traction: no clean space is left for you to take evasive maneuver, work are done while the road is kept open to traffic, if the tar spraying machine does not get you the spray from other vehicles (in front and on the sides) will do the job. So grippy that you will have part of your holidays consumed in trying to take it out from your bike, your booths, and your clothes. Some entrepreneurial petrol station offer a cleaning service (water and diesel) immediately after the section: advise? Let them clean you and your bike… it is money well spent. Additionally you can have tight corners where the gravel grows in thickness and looseness, or reduced (drastically reduced) lane width where other happy road users shoot gravels at defend less bikers, or changes in the quality of gravel (from light grey to yellow) where soil mixed to stones give new meaning to the worlds “traction” and “stability”.
One Piece at a Time: You can’t Have it All
This paving system is generally reserved to urban roads or rural lanes but recently (see economical crisis) the system made its appearance on motorways and major networks.
In this system, always to improve to bottom line of construction companies, roads in need of repairs are patched up with minor pieces of new asphalt.
The secret for the application of this method consists in laying the new patches at a different level of the original surface: In most cases theory goes that an elevated patch last longer and makes travelers more aware of a job well done: again without warning you may find in your line five/eight centimeters of asphalt protruding from the road: lovers of wheelies may try to use it as trampoline other bikers will simply struggle to maintain momentum while suspension cry well above limits. One may find kilometers and kilometers of patched road, quite pleasing to the eyes, but atrocious for smooth riding. Paving companies can decide that too much of new asphalt is too expensive and, after all, not enough appreciated. In this case the patch is lower than the original surface with specular but similar results on bike stability.
Additional “advantage” of the “patched system” is the creation, around the new patches of good quantity of loose small gravel (normally black at the appearance and slimy at the touch). When placed in corners or in area demanding a change of line or speed this “son of the patch” can obliterate any valid contact between tire and road. Expect it any time you enter a newly patched road.
Advanced Traction Techniques: When Sand is not Enough
Poor quality of the original surface (again, a pro-bottom-line) and heavy use without proper maintenance inevitably lead to a fast deterioration of the most trafficked roads.
In certain spots the surface turns so shiny that it may reflect distant mirages even in cold weather. Now is time for intervention: trucks, busses, cars and animals are loosing grip (bikers are already gone). Conscientious construction companies charged of the well being of the above mentioned road users are tempted of a total re-make of the superficial layer but, in Turkey as in many other Countries, profit finds new solution to old problems. Instead of a proper paving this system simply requires the elimination of the top layer or the addition of “anti-slip” stripes.
In the first case an ingenious machine cuts deep grooves in the asphalt: while in other system this may be the beginning of a road re-surface in this case it is a permanent and long lasting solution. We know of major mountain roads where grooves have been cut years ago and still work to give traction to most of vehicles. This is not the case for bikers: besides inducing a dangerous slow motion wave the grooves (the well used grooves) offer very little support to the rubber connecting you with the reality.
Rails on Roads: Let the Trucks Lead You
If polished roads or diesel leaks take your bike off track the deep grooves that heavy vehicles carve in the poor Turkish roads will definitely keep you in. On provincial roads or on Motorways the right lane is often reserved for brave Enduro riders with good experience in getting in and out from deep, extremely deep grooves. Normal riders caught unaware by the wavering of the front tire may stop to check tires or can continue to the next truck stop in auto-pilot.
Sweating Hot: How Grippy is the Grip?
This is a dramatic question crossing the mind of many riders in Turkish Summers: when pure bitumen, used to seal surface cracks or to fill patches or to join to strips of asphalt, melt it looks like a standard diesel spill. Bitumen (when not wet) even meted bitumen can offer an acceptable grip but… who would take the risk to discover on situ that … that bitumen is in fact diesel?
When in doubt presume lack of grip: you won’t be disappointed.
Who Need Signs?
If road signs are normally a constructive dialogue between authorities and road users the Turkish use of road sign resembles more to conversations in a crowded dinner party. Everybody talks and nobody expect an answer or even a signs of understanding. For bikers the key problems in this area are the two faces of unplanned signalization: sign pollution and sign absence.
You ride along, carefully scanning the environment, cautiously looking for clues of hazards and … bang! Big yellow/white/red sign imposing 50 K/h followed by an even bigger one bringing down speed to 40 K/h and another 30 K/h, 20, 10 … As competent and responsible rider you hammer the brakes, reposition the bike ready for a major interruption on the road ahead. And you keep moving carefully waiting for the anticipated hazard… and you keep waiting and scanning… scanning and waiting. The road continues without changes, signs are left there from last year works or placed well in advance for next year excavation: just a simple example but how many sign are placed without meaning, how many limits are posted without the corresponding sign lifting the limit? One start disregarding signs, one rarely knows what is the allowed speed in that stretch of road, one get confused till the next surprise.
Lack of signals? Night, middle of Anatolia: in front of you just a black, deeply black strip of asphalt. No white lines for borders, no white line to signal the separation between the two lanes.
Day, South Coast: dual carriage road turns without signs (and without noticeable indications) into double lane. The middle separation is still there and on your left you can still see the opposite carriage section… still you are now, without signs, in a single track used by two currents of traffic… surprise, surprise!
Sleeping Soldiers Anyone?
Everybody who can call himself Turk can also place a sleeping soldier in front of his house, on a major traffic road, just for the pleasure to see vehicles hitting hard. Position, dimension and height are left to the taste, culture and architectural education of the private builders: it can be a little bump or a small hill (no exaggeration: measured in July outside of Istanbul a road bump of 35 centimeters of height). What is common is the total absence of signals warning bikers (and drivers) of the incoming obstacle. No sign, no light, no paint… the sleeping soldiers perfectly melt with the environment and you feel it (oh… you will feel it) only when you are on it.
Same rule may apply for elevated separations between lines coming out from dark without any announcement.
What to Do?
If you want to keep calling yourself happy while riding on Turkish road the only recipe is based on increased vision and increased imagination.
Riders must raise vision to anticipate obstacles, bad surfaces, traps… Riders must raise imagination to create possible scenarios and react on time.
Imagination and Vision: that’s why we call ourselves happy.
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