[rant]So, this is my first winter on a bike and this past Friday, I had the pleasure of riding in the snow for the very first time. I was pretty excited to try it out, and the snow was making everything so pretty, I felt like I could conquer the world. I left work with the intention of riding down a pretty steep hill to catch a bus that goes out to near where I live. I turned down the aforementioned hill and proceeded to blow by tons of cars stopped as their tires spun on the snow. I thought I was handling everything pretty well, when I came upon a city bus stopped at an intersection. I couldn't quite figure out why it was stopped, so I went up beside it with plans to go around and on down the hill when I saw the front tires sliding....
I then decided to really display my brilliance and go around the bus and on down the hill which was clear of traffic in my lane as it was totally blocked by the SLIDING BUS... I went about 10-20 feet further when my front tire went out from under me... My right knee went down hard into the road, my left pedal went into my left calf, and my hands and chest splayed out superman style as my head pointed down the hill. I slid for about a half a block with folks in cars in the uphill lane getting a front row seat to my whole show the entire time. When I finally came to a rest, about three people came running over yelling to ask if I was ok... I got up, picked up the bike, and a stray water bottle and laughed it off, only to notice that I could barely walk as I had hit my right knee so hard.

So, the moral of my story is.... Never, never, never think you have the upper-hand with mother nature in winter. I now have an extremely healthy respect for ice and snow. Thankfully I only ended up with some black and blue marks and a bruised ego, instead of being a road pancake which very easily could have happened.

[/rant]