Went down again this morning. Two days in a row. Arrrrgh! The worst part is I wasn't even on the bike when I fell.

When I left the house the roads looked quite clear of ice and snow. We're supposed to get 8 more inches of the white stuff starting this evening so seeing as the roads were clear I decided to take the hybrid with the slicks.

The roads were in great shape and I had no trouble. However once I reached the MUP there was patchy ice. Most of it was short stretches of a few feet so I just made sure I was crossing them perfectly straight and had no trouble even without studded tires.

Until I came to a long patch about 30 yards long. I decided it was more ice than I wanted to try and ride across, so I got off and proceeded to walk. I made it about 3 steps onto the ice when my legs went out from under me and I hit the ground. Smashed my elbow pretty good.

Unfortunately, I came down with my full weight right on the side of my front wheel. Knocked the wheel out of true to the point where it was locked hard against the brakes. Had to spend some time straightening it out the best I could so that it would spin again. Also bent my rear brake lever so it now had a 90 degree bend and looked more like a banana. Spent more time straightening that out too. My front brakes still aren't quite right (not releasing very well,) but they were good enough for me to finish my ride. I'll have to work on them more when I get home.

The remainder of the ride I just stayed on the bike even on the longer stretches of ice and didn't have any trouble. Once I got off the MUP the roads were clear again. Going home tonight I may try and avoid the MUP altogether, although that will add several miles and lots of hills and traffic to the trip.

@mcours2006 summed it up well when he said it's better to err on the side of caution when it comes to studded tires. I'm a slow learner and it took me two falls in a row to figure out that I just need to keep riding the studs until about May. As much as I hate them (and I really do hate them) they do their job so well that I forget they add much more than just a lot of rolling resistance.

The worst part is I'll forget this lesson and probably repeat it again next winter.