Slippery paint lines can cause a fall

Time for a new helmet after this one served its purpose.

While we all know rain, painted lines and bicycles don’t mix, I found out the hard way on Sunday during a ride.

I’m not the most aware person, as Jobst Brandt once showed me on a ride up Page Mill Road. He said, “Watch out for the black ice.” Two seconds later I was down.

Jobst never let me forget that. So I probably had it coming when I fell on the paint lines on Tantau Avenue in Cupertino next to the fabulous new Apple headquarters under construction.

It was the perfect mix of wetness and bad luck as I moved left to enter a left turn lane at Pruneridge. Both wheels must have been on the bike lane as I looked back.

The bike went out from under me in an instant. Then I got a ride to the same hospital where Jobst once stayed after his fateful accident in 2011.

I won’t say the helmet saved my life, but you won’t see me riding without one. I’ve had too many incidents — broken cranks, slippery roads.

After checking the paint lines, I think they’re old enough to have been put down before better paint-grit combinations came along.

As for the green paint swaths, I think they’re safer when wet because they have grit in them, or they conform better to the pavement. They’re an issue in Australia though.

The slippery white lines were a problem in Portland, Oregon, and had to be re-striped.

Finally, if you’re seriously hurt by a white paint line, there’s always someone willing to represent you in court.