Black Ice

[MarkvW]

Any experiences riding on black ice?

 

[mewmewmew13]

I wouldn't

 

[Christophe]

If you're on an otherwise clear ride and hit a short patch of it, ride as smoothly as possible, in the straightest line possible. Any acceleration, deceleration, or direction changes and you will skid to some degree, and come down rather easily. Hit a patch in a corner, forget it, you're going down!

 

[sublimit]

Any experiences riding on black ice?

Try to avoid, hit some once on a descent during a group training ride and fell off before I knew what the hell was happening.

Staying dead level and soft pedaling is probably the best advice but usualy its difficult to identify the stuff in the first place.

 

[Choocher]

Yes. Falling off multiple times. Tricky stuff. Hope for good karma.

 

[Master50]

I got lucky once riding through a patch that was in the tire tracks along the pavement. I was leading the group and my back wheel seemed squishy like I had a flat so I signalled off and moved out of the tire tracks. Immediately my rear end felt solid and about 5 guys went down behind me. the 2 ice patches were some 60 to 100 feet long and 1 foot wide, but just in the tire tracks. move a foot left or right and the traction was fine. It just looked like a wet road. No signs of ice or frost along the edges.
Another day on November 2nd I crossed a main road from a secondary road to turn left on the main road. Just as I hit the far shoulder I initiated a left turn and fell straight to the ground. As I am gathering myself the salt truck drove by. Literally sprinling salt on my bruises

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Might sound noobish, but what is black ice?

 

[krebs303]

black ice

 

[screaming fist]

Might sound noobish, but what is black ice?

ijzel

(if i'm not mistaken)

 

[Michielveedeebee]

ijzel

(if i'm not mistaken)

Thank you krebs and indeed it's ijzel

That's ****ty stuff :/ Fell on it a couple of time(3 Iirc) once in a turn, tore my bibs :/ finished a 3 hour ride with a hole in it at +- 0 °C small hole though

 

[Ripper]

Any experiences riding on black ice?

Ha ha ... you do not 'ride' on black ice. You hope to either stay upright by being calm and not really 'doing' anything (especially braking, accelerating or turning), or you fall. With the falling, it is also best to realize it might be inevitable and even safer (than, let's say, sliding out later into an intersection!), and therefore again, try to relax.

So really, it's "holy sh*t ... I better relax and I'll stay upright or (hopefully) not crash too hard"

 

[BroDeal]

The worst is descending canyons in the cold where the road is okay but shaded sections can have damp spots that have frozen.

On straight sections, don't pedal, move your weight back, stay steady, and hope for the best. On slow speed stuff I might unclip one foot and prepare to dab on that side if I start to slip. In turns you are farked.

 

[Archibald]

Ha ha ... you do not 'ride' on black ice. You hope to either stay upright by being calm and not really 'doing' anything (especially braking, accelerating or turning), or you fall. With the falling, it is also best to realize it might be inevitable and even safer (than, let's say, sliding out later into an intersection!), and therefore again, try to relax.

So really, it's "holy sh*t ... I better relax and I'll stay upright or (hopefully) not crash too hard"

this.

found myself on it - once on the bike, and then once on my ****, all on the same bit of black ice. interesting to slide across an intersection this way!
what made it worse was the dude in day-glo with the big green trolley that hoofed a shovel load of salt/grit over it after I'd unceremoniously clambered off it.
avoided it like the plague ever since

 

[frenchfry]

Yesterday it was pretty cold but sunny and the roads looked OK, though a bit wet as usual at this time of year. The group was cruising along and as we went through a village I noticed some cars had frost on the windshields, so I started being careful and was a few meters back of the group. Leaving town there was a shady area and about half of the 20 riders went down, there were bikes and bodies everywhere. I had been sticking to the rougher area of the road surface and it was a lot less slippery than the smoother sections that had been worn by traffic so managed to stay up. A group that had been dropped arrived a few minutes later, and even though we yelled at them to be careful a few went down, it was incredibly slippery. Everyone managed to leave by bike so no major damage.

 

[Thorn Cycling]

we dont get a huge amount of black ice in my area. (luckily ) but on the rare occasion, the best way to stay upright is to stay seated, soft pedal, and try not to shift, brake, or turn. Those three actions will send you straight down.

 

[datalore]

I live in Ontario, Canada. Up here, if you don't take winter weather seriously, you'll probably get hurt. I don't ride racing bikes when there could be ice on the ground. It's far too dangerous to be riding quickly when I or someone else may not be able to maintain traction. As soon as it is cold enough for there to be ice on the ground, I run studded tires and platform pedals.

 

[analo69]

My experience with black ice involves a car crash on the highway at 80 km/h. Ouch.

Another experience on black ice is that you should never use the front brake. Preferably no brakes or turning at all. But if you need to make a stop use the back brake and slide to a stop on your hips. If using the front brake the crash will be more over the handlebar type of stop.

 

[fedaia]

oh, how i hate it.
after coming safe through the last winter that had loads of snow and ice,
i crashed on the first black ice of this winter saeson, a few weeks ago.
didn't see it before, no way to react, just fell.
have not hurt myself too bad, but desperately searching for the confident feeling on bike i used to have before.

now considering buying another bike and spikes.. (additional bike cause i'm too lazy to change wheels in the morning, depending on the weather)

 

[Tank Engine]

Fortunately, we haven't had any this year so far. Last year was pretty bad though. Unless I really have to, I avoid riding the bike (work is just about within walking distance). If I have to ride, I keep to reasonably busy asphalt roads to maximize grip (here it never gets cold enough for ice to stick there). We've got a few concrete roads around the house and when it's icy they are like skating rinks. I went down on a patch going round a corner a couple of years ago, but because I was going slowly and almost jumped off as soon as I felt the bike slide, I landed on all fours.

 

[thehog]

What always perplexes me in regards to black ice is when you approach a icy patch not matter how many times you shout for the group to slow... 2-3 will speed up and bring the group down. Never understood it. Is also coupled by one HeMan who claims there is no ice and races through it breaking 178 bones in the process.

The last time I crashed on black ice I subsequently fell 3 more times just trying not get up off the road!

Stay in bed on those days!