peregrine, you should get yourself some studded tires (sorry for stating the obvious)

Here's the crafty stuck-on ice lurking under cover of some grey slush, waiting to glide your front wheel right out from under you... this stuff can be awfully treacherous, I have to watch for it non-stop in the days that follow snowfall. I would much rather ride on a solid layer of this stuff than have intermittent pieces of it randomly stuck to the road, it's the edges of it that'll take me down.