Winter Cycling - Stupid move this morning..

I'm normally more cautious, but it was 31F this morning, weather looking nice, pavement a little wet, but not icy. So I decided to ride my summer road bike to work.

I left the house and rode about two miles towards work. Suddenly (I guess it's a slightly lower elevation), there was a white sheen everywhere. At a light I put my foot down and suddenly realized... ice!!!

I finished the last two miles without incident.... but went very slowly and made no sudden turns. Perhaps there was just one dip that had all black ice, but I figured I was in for a skate or a good slide.

Luckily nothing happened.

Happy for you... I would not have even tried - Ice is harder than rollers and I don't do those either...

reminds me of the day I decided I needed studded tires

Yeah, reminds me of a few days I've experienced in the past. This December has been so nice, I've been road biking and kind of thinking the nice weather would continue.

Scary story. Forget Dracula and Frankenstein... It's stories with ice that keep me up at night! :-)

Thanks for the story. Whenever it becomes a decision to make, road bike vs studded tire mountain bike, I'll do the studs. I commute early in the morning, so it's a frequent consideration, This year on Saturday,October 29, we had a freak Nor'easter with cold temps, and black ice condition were predicted for Monday. So I put the studs on about six weeks early, (I put them on to remain through the winter). Then followed six weeks of gorgeous road cycling weather. :o

Hi Gerv: We have had a great December for sure. I was out last night while it was spitting that little bit of snow we had on the ground this morning. It was too warm for the snow to stick so it was mostly just kind of damp.

Woke up this morning and looked out the window first thing and frowned when I seen the snow had covered the grass but the streets were just wet and icy. I didn't want to ride the winter bike because I knew it was going to warm up today and everything would be dry so I just came to work a little later. I did turn to hit the trails in Clive and found them to still have snow and ice in the shady spots so I just stayed on the streets.

It's now 46f and the sun feels good!!! According to Ed it looks like we will continue have this same weather at least until Christmas. Maybe we'll cross paths again on the trails like we did on Thanksgiving.

fasthair

I made the same mistake two days ago, but I wasn't as lucky as you.

I decided that it was warm and dry enough to not need my studded tires so I went without. Most of my ride was uneventful, but on the way home I was going down a hill and hit some ice/slush and went down pretty hard. I ended up sliding for a good 15' before I came to a stop. I didn't break anything but I sure have been sore for the past couple of days. Today was even warmer out and would have been a great day to ride, but my shoulder is still too sore to think about it. I should be back at it by the weekend. I guess I'll bit the bullet and throw the studded tires on before I go for another ride- even if they do slow me down.

Jon

It's now 46f and the sun feels good!!! According to Ed it looks like we will continue have this same weather at least until Christmas. Maybe we'll cross paths again on the trails like we did on Thanksgiving.

fasthair

Looks like no snow until New Year's. What's going on?

I made the same mistake two days ago, but I wasn't as lucky as you.

I decided that it was warm and dry enough to not need my studded tires so I went without. Most of my ride was uneventful, but on the way home I was going down a hill and hit some ice/slush and went down pretty hard. I ended up sliding for a good 15' before I came to a stop. I didn't break anything but I sure have been sore for the past couple of days. Today was even warmer out and would have been a great day to ride, but my shoulder is still too sore to think about it. I should be back at it by the weekend. I guess I'll bit the bullet and throw the studded tires on before I go for another ride- even if they do slow me down.

Jon

Sorry to hear about your slide. Hopefully in a few more days it'll be behind you.

make no mistake, it's coming. be ready

During the winter if the temperature has been anywhere near freezing I usually wear my Bontrager "winterized" MTB shoes (with 10 #7 slotted hex-head sheetmetal screws in the bottom of each), even if I am on my road bike. Around here water pools in low spots and then freezes in shaded areas, and it can take several day in the mid-to-high 40s for the ice to comlpetely melt. Its bad enough to hit ice on the bike and slide around, but to put your feet down to stabilize yourself only to have them slide out from underneath you.....

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd133/stealthammer/1Temp/DSCN0249.jpg