Wiped-out on ice...

[Steph]

Btw, last Saturday wiped-out  on the Guzzi after hitting a patch of ice. Went out when it was +4c but by the time I got back it was -1c and disaster loomed from a freezing broken underground water main overflowing the street.
I'm ok, so lessons learnt here.
The Guzzi will need tlc.

Be careful out there

[Lannis]

My last "rolling" down (other than foot slipping on gravel at a stop) was on ice.

Riding home from the 3rd Saturday Guzzi Lunch, December 2004, Greg King and I were riding our matching Centauros from Shawsville, VA where the lunch was held, going up Alleghany Springs Road toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.

It was about 34 degf and it hadn't rained for a week or more, so we weren't really thinking about ice, but as we crossed a wooden-decked bridge over a trout stream, the bikes both went over like mousetraps at about 40 MPH - the deck was solid glare ice from the spray from the stream, under the shady trees.

We were able to ride home, but we and the bikes were sore and needed tapping of things back into place.

I just don't ride any more in places or conditions where ice might form or persist.   And I don't use the term "Black Ice" any more.   Ice isn't black; "black ice" isn't some form of malicious, sneaky phenomenon, it's just ice, it's what happens to water through evaporative cooling below 36 degrees.   No excuses!

Lannis

[JeffOlson]

I hope you and your bike are/will be okay!

Ice is slippery. I have nearly fallen many times just walking on it, even in my hiking boots.

Finally got to ride again today after several clear but frustratingly frosty mornings...

[Arizona Wayne]

Ice wins almost every time.     1 time I beat the ice with a warning. 

[Kiwi_Roy]

Almost as slick is a wooden bridge deck when wet, I was crossing a local Bailey bridge in the rain a few weeks back with the temperature well above freezing, under a mild amount of power the rear wheel of my California II spooled up and went sideways, now it can't be accused of having too much power.

[Lannis]

Almost as slick is a wooden bridge deck when wet, I was crossing a local Bailey bridge in the rain a few weeks back with the temperature well above freezing, under a mild amount of power the rear wheel of my California II spooled up and went sideways, now it can't be accused of having too much power.

Yep.   I just don't like wooden bridge decks any more.   They can have motorcycle-tire-sized gaps and cracks in them too ....

Lannis

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Black ice only looks black because of the asphalt road under the ice.  Especially at night.
 It is the most treacherous of ices because most often you can't see it until you are on it.
 You have to know what conditions allow it to form and be very wary of those places.

[JeffOlson]

Debating whether to ride or drive to work this morning. At the moment, it is 32 degrees and foggy. I'll see how things look in another hour...

[Lannis]

Debating whether to ride or drive to work this morning. At the moment, it is 32 degrees and foggy. I'll see how things look in another hour...

You and your judgment know better than anyone whether to try it or not.   

Local conditions are key.   Here, they use very few chemicals on the road (some magnesium chloride on the main roads, none on the back roads), which is good for the tin, BUT when they plow the road:

1) The sun melts the snow piled at the edges
2) The water runs across the road during the day
3) At night, it freezes into a sheet of ice
4) And doesn't thaw in the shady places until after noon ....

So no riding for ME on a 32 degF morning after a snow!

Lannis

[rudolf35]

Mother natures ice is sufficiently bad, but on marginal days with the temp in the 33F to 35F sprinklers are the danger in these parts. For some reason commercial properties in this area think that they need to water in Winter in 33F to 35F weather. Water collects in shady areas and boom, man made black ice. 

[JeffOlson]

No riding this morning. I had to scrape ice off my car's windshield...