Originally Posted by
Hypno Toad
Thinking about it a little more (& watching the video again), the studded front tire may have saved me from a cold bath. The rear loses grip and slides toward the creek but the front stay on track. I'm not sure, honestly, this happened fast and I was shocked. I'd been riding along the creek for half a mile and the conditions were the same the whole way so I'm a little unsure why that patch of ice took me down....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVLyB0Yc6I
I'm not surprised. I'm surprised you didn't spill earlier, actually. Off-camber ice will steal your rear wheel's traction almost every time. It seems like you finally hit a patch with a steep enough angle to wash out your rear wheel.
My Dillinger 5's are great in a straight line, but curved icy ruts (like on re-frozen singletrack) or non-level ice (like on a stream bank) will spill me, sometimes even if I go very slow and careful.
For example, I attempted the Triple D winter endurance race a couple weeks ago in Dubuque, IA. The first several miles is on snowmobile trails in a creek bed, and there was solid ice in any shady spot.
Even with my tires at 5 psi, I fell about 8 times in that first section (never seriously). A couple of the farm roads were like bobsled flumes!