Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1541 - Part B:

When I left the office to head to the client, about 1/4" of snow had fallen. But, at the bottom was a layer of slick ice. Within the first quarter mile I had the 23c tires on the road bike slide out from under me. Somehow I got my feet out of the clips and down to keep myself from hitting the ground. Got the heart pumping pretty good, though.

I decided to take a detour, and slowly rode the 8 miles home. Thankfully I had no further close calls. Once I got home I parked the road bike and then pulled one of my winter bikes out of storage and pumped up the tires. I haven't yet gone through it and tuned it up for the season, but I decided it was in good enough shape to make it the remaining 9 miles I had to ride today.

Turns out the east side of the city got less snow than the west side, so I probably could have made it without too much trouble had I just stayed on the road bike all day and been extra careful in the icy spots. But it was nice having the studded tires in those spots. Also, I discovered that riding slow and careful on the road bike is still 2 mph faster than riding normal on my winter bike (8 mph.) Boy the studded tires are pokey.