Hypno Toad

By the common definition of black ice, in my video (earlier in this thread), the fall was caused by black ice. However, in places where temps regularly drop below zero Fahrenheit, we get a unique type of ice that we call 'black ice' - this is the ice that forms from exhaust vapor at stop lights.... any thing else is just 'ice'.

Honestly, I think it's a regional thing for those of us living on Hoth, now where did leave my tauntaun.

Daniel4

I’ve been commuting through the park for the purpose practicing cycling in the snow and ice. The trenches dug up by pedestrians give me a 6 to 12inch wide very bumpy pathway. Riding downhill is more nerve-racking than riding uphill. I’ve learned that you need to be in low gear in order to keep your wheels moving. If your wheels run into the snow wall on either side of the trench, you have to keep pedalling to get out. The same if you run into clumps of ice. It feels counter-intuitive because the reaction is to stop pedalling as you try to stable yourself from falling over. But that’s what will happen if you stop pedalling. I’ve almost fell over a few times when my foot slipped off my pedal. Putting them back on the pedal when your instinct was to have your foot on the ground isn’t an easy reaction. That’s why I feel toe clips would have been helpful. It’s the same argument I had 30 years earlier when I stopped wiping out after installing toe clips.

Leebo

Or popcorn, minus the great smell.

Sixty Fiver

Snapped this outside the shop when my friend stopped by...

Hypno Toad

Looks like a lovely day outside, can't wait to ride home!

alan s 

Some random guy got in the picture of your friend on a horse. Too bad.

Archwhorides 

That is no horse.....

alan s 

That's Mr. Ed, of course....

wolfchild

I agree 100%.

That's one of the reasons why a lot of cyclists crash when the road conditions are slick, because they riding their bicycles and taking corners at stupid speeds. I often hear the expression " drive according to road conditions"....The same thing applies to cycling, "ride your bike according to road conditions".

TransitBiker

My point was that I'm really fortunate in many respects and I'm sorry fortune wasn't on your side this time regardless of anything else. Not sure how it could be offensive but ok, sorry I'll go hide under a rock now.

- Andy

spare_wheel

The Secret Life of TransitBiker.

bubbagrannygear

I don't think that's necessarily true. I was driving down Big Cottonwood canyon after skiing one day and the road appeared to be dry and ice free. At one point, down the road I could see multiple cars off the road and one upside down still on the road. I naturally applied the brakes to start slowing down, and then started sliding on what appeared to be a dry road. To make matters worse some moron was standing in the middle of the road with his back to me taking pictures of the carnage. I got on the horn and somehow slid through the mess without hitting anything or going off the road myself. I'm told that was what is referred to in Utah as black ice.

If its shiny or wet looking it's just ice.

alan s 

Exceptional situational awareness allows you to see invisible black ice.

loky1179

The reason you can't see black ice is the same reason you can't see Black Holes - no light can escape. In fact, black ice is made up of Dark Matter. When enough of this Dark Matter forms on a trail or road, a "Cold Fusion" reaction occurs - of course everything is opposite of a normal fusion reaction, and instead of emitting light, the Black Ice sucks it in.

Platform pedals, being larger, disrupt this Black Ice / Cold Fusion reaction field, which is why riding platforms is so much safer than riding on those little spds.

Contrary to popular belief, black ice is not any more slippery than normal pavement - what causes the falls is the gravitational vortex at the event horizon.

This is just grade school science - at least it was back on Tatooine.

bubbagrannygear

you left out the part where this won't happen if you clean a new chain before installing it

dscheidt

Sure, but there are lots of situations where the ice has formed where none of your conditions obtain. I know you've said you don't ride when there's ice, so perhaps people with more experience in riding in icing conditions, and who know from experience that there are lots of ice that is invisible in normal lighting conditions, and even more that's hard to see in poor visibility.

I expect ice from November through march, which is why I ride on studs, and it's why I've not had a spill on ice since. I'm fond of my collarbones, I prefer to keep them in one piece.

auldgeunquers

I think that what you encountered was the phenomenon that grease and oil float on water - all the fresh grease and oil in that fresh asphalt sealing gets floated to the surface after a rainfall and is a surprisingiy effective lubricant.

This is a constant hazard on roads in places that don't get much rain - LA is bad for this. Cars lose bits of oil and grease and it all lands on the roads - mostly in the middle of the lane. With such long periods between rainfalls, there is much time to develop a decent accumulation. When the rain does come things get surprisingly slick - especially if you are on a motorcycle riding down the middle of the lane. Yikes!

This is all at it's worst in desert cities because of the long time between rainfalls. Dessert cities ... and fresh laid (or sealed) ashpalt.

spare_wheel

this thread should have ended after your comment.

Sixty Fiver

That is no random guy either...

TransitBiker

Hmm..

I just happen to have over-sized bones that -knock on wood- have proven useful in a few of the nastier spills ive been in. I have injured 2 fingers, one right middle due to a desk with me in it landing on finger tip (the kind with ceramic top & bevel edge), and second time due to my left pinky finger striking a shopping cart corral while i wasnt paying attention, the ligament stayed attached to the bone in the tip while yanking a piece of bone off the bone below. It healed really well, but took 5-6 weeks to do so. I've shredded skin all over, split my chin, all kinds of really lovely stuff over the years, but thankfully no breaks.

And i have a very in tune perception of what's going on around me, it may be due to the PTSD i was diagnosed with or some other thing not yet discovered, but it has saved my life dozens of times.

As many times as i've avoided a serious crash, i've really beefed it about 4 times requiring hospital, thankfully just me involved & not another vehicle or ped.

I'm nothing special, just vey very very fortunate in many respects and my comments were only to point out that it could very well have been any one of us in that situation and that's scary to think about because it doesnt matter what you do, no one is immune to the roll of dice that life is. I still feel like a heel but i dodnt mean any malice at all.

Als, yea you cannot see black ice here at night & its not a frequent thing.

- Andy

asmac

I'm pretty fast at unclipping with my right foot as that seems to be the one I always use when I stop without dismounting. I discovered -- to my unpleasant surprise -- that the reflex was not nearly as good when I needed to quickly put my left foot down. It feels unnatural, much like using my left hand to write.

joeyduck

For me I'm left handed and at lights I clip out on my left side. This is more due to my right pedal being broken and even though my pedals are double sided I can only clip on on one side, so I don't want to be dealing with that when I go. But I've found when I need to make a sudden stop and clip out fast I do that with my right foot. So I'm fast clipping out either side.

I would suggest switching feet at stops to get used to clipping in and out with both feet. It also give your non-dominate leg the exercise of hard power starts.

cyccommute 

What sort of situations can ice form that don't met the conditions I laid out? You can get some weird ice forms that freeze at higher than 0°C but you won't find the conditions necessary at ambient pressures. No one has invented "Ice-nine" yet, thankfully. Ice is going to form at around 0°C (perhaps a little lower) when the roads are wet. If the road is dry and there is no precipitation falling out of the sky, you won't have "black ice".

You are mistaken in thinking that I don't ride in ice. I ride all year long and have crashed many times on ice...see above...I have lots of experience with ice while driving as well. I've never experienced any kind of condition where the ice was "invisible" under any kind of lighting conditions. And, as you said, I can expect ice from November through March, although for Colorado, you have to extend that time frame to May, but if there is low visibility or clear skies and the roads look wet, I expect there to be ice.

Many people have magical thinking where they think the road is only "wet" but we live in a society of scientifically ignorant louts. Some of them even think that the sun goes around the Earth.

As with many things bicycle handling related, mountain bikes will cure you of the habit of not being able to unclip with both feet quickly. Off-road, you don't have a choice and so don't end up being dependent on one foot.

tjspiel

You get black ice when it's below 0º F and water vapor from car exhaust freezes on the pavement. It can be a bright sunny day with dry streets when this happens. Most of our really cold days are bright, sunny, and dry.

Sixty Fiver

-18C / 0F last night... the roads were a mass of black ice right this morning and the only safe places were where they had laid down sand.