38°F this morning and rain.

TL;DR: I crashed.

It rained all night, and the temp hadn't dropped below freezing. That's pretty unusual for January on the Great Plains. I decided to show a little moxie and ride my hybrid without the studded tires. Surely the rain and temps had taken care of most of the ice, right?

Well, it did take care of most of it. Unfortunately not all. About a mile from home I was coming down a big hill with a stop sign at the bottom. I was braking heavy on the front brake like I normally do. The next thing I know I was on the ground. The entire lower half of the hill was nothing but black ice.

After hitting the ground I flew over the bike and started sliding. Did you know that on a steep icy hill you can slide for at least 50 yards? Now I do too.

I came to rest in a puddle of water. My first thought was to get off the road fast because if a car came down the hill there was no way they were stopping. That was easier said than done. The ice was so slick I had a hard time standing up. Once I was on my feet it took a lot of careful shuffling back up the hill to where my bike was laying.

I gingerly walked the bike the rest of the way down the hill and crossed the busy street before I stopped and assessed the situation. The horn of my Airzound had snapped off, but I was able to snap it back in place. My front headlight was twisted, but that too was easily straightened out. Aside from a few scrapes and scratches (added to the many already on this bike) there wasn't much damage. Somehow my phone, which was in my pocket, survived without issue.

I, however, was pretty bruised up from the fall, especially my left thigh. No cuts or scrapes thankfully. The biggest annoyance was that I was quite soaking wet, and unfortunately was wearing my work clothes under my outer layer. Outer layers do a pretty good job keeping you dry when the rain is falling from the sky; not so much when you're laying in a few inches of water.

So I debated. Do I turn around and head back home to get dry clothes and the winter bike, or do I just keep going hoping I don't crash again and that I'll dry off before 5 PM. Going home would have meant facing that hill two more times (up, then back down; no good route around it.) I just decided to suck it up and keep riding.

Thankfully I didn't encounter any more black ice. There were some icy patches that I crossed, but they were quite visible and I was able to slow down and traverse them with care. I finished the ride without crashing. An hour and a half later I'm still quite wet and starting to feel the after-effects of the crash in my joints, but it looks like I survived another cycling adventure.