Just like riding a motorcycle....
 

..it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

Had my first spill yesterday. Bumpy ice patches with no way around them. Slowed as much as I could before I hit them, but still went down. Little scrape on the leg from my pedal, but it's all good.


I hope that now that I got my first fall out of the way, the rest is clear sailing.


Be safe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqo4hwnJt6Y&NR=1

Lot's of crashing on an icy turn in the Netherlands. I didn't see one head hit the pavement, and no bones sticking out. I'll bet there were a few sore elbows, hips, etc.

^^^
Man oh man do I love me some studded tire. The synchronized slip at 1:16 is almost poetic. And I've done the "sliding while standing on two feet with the bike on its side between my legs" trick that the woman at 1:35 performs, although my slide was longer, and on a straightaway, and I had studs on (one of the few times the bike has slid out with them on).

Some good recoveries in that video, too.

I seem to fall once per winter. I'm pretty cautious though.

I have yet to fall during the winter, despite riding on every kind of surface imaginable. *knocks on wood* A couple close calls where I tried to turn faster or sharper than I should've, but I've always been able to catch myself with a foot down.

Three rules for riding on ice, hardpack, and mashed-potato slush:
1) Studded tires are your friends.
2) Do not lean into turns; if you need to lean into a turn, you're going too fast.
3) Except for emergency stops, only brake or accelerate when going straight. You have a fixed amount of traction, and using some for acceleration or deceleration means you have less for holding on to your turn.

+1000 This is why I put on the Studded Nikia tires in the late Fall when it looks like we'll get our 1st frozen precipitation, and they don't come off this the frost is definitely gone... black ice by its very nature is nearly impossible to see, and going down can realy hurt. Even if you get your foot down, you can see that generally that doesn't help much as your foot will slip we easily as the bike tire.

Happy riding,
André

Following those I've still fallen :).

Ice + snow + off camber turn.

The few difficulties I've had have thankfully been on mush, not ice, so my foot got traction where my tire didn't.

Yep, nothing is guaranteed. :)