may have to go make a few passes on the studded tires 
2012-02-09 02:32:31
16
Ice on Mellon Park trail
Well, I managed to wipe out for the first time in recent memory. It happened on the trail parallel to Penn, headed east. As I made the right to head towards Beechwood, I remember looking down to see my bike at some weird angle and then I was on the ground, pretty amazed at how fast it happened. I remember hitting my head and was a little woozy afterwards, but luckily the helmet took the worst of it - although my glasses were also jacked up. So I think it's reasonable to assume if I wasn't wearing a helmet my left temple would have taken the brunt of the impact. Debate what you will but I'm certainly glad I had it on and the straps were tight - I don't think my actual head hit the ground at all. My right knee and left palm are also kind of sore but hopefully not too bad.
I thought the trail was just wet, but when I got up it was obvious that at least that corner was covered in ice that looked like drops of water. I had my eyes up when i was making the turn because there was a girl walking ahead of me and I wanted to see which way she was going, so I wasn't looking at the surface. I'm not sure if I would have recognized it was ice anyways.
2012-02-09 02:12:14
Yeah, I'd certainly be interested to know if they help in that situation...
Also I was riding my cross-check with 32mm relatively slick tires and not my MTB with wide knobbies. Not sure if that makes a difference on ice but it would have been slightly less far to fall
2012-02-09 02:35:45
i know the feeling i went down on new years day on black ice i was on the ground so fast i never knew what hit me hopefully only about 4 more weeks of this stuff till warmer weather
2012-02-09 02:38:06
I wasn't on a bike today, but walking on both sidewalks and shoulders, I noted how icy it was, esp anyplace that didn't get constant traffic.
2012-02-09 05:00:29
Studded tires are great on snow,but when it comes to ice it makes absolutely no difference.You probably would have wiped out anyway at that spot, no matter what tires you had on. Hope your doing OK.
2012-02-09 07:45:06
"Studded tires are great on snow,but when it comes to ice it makes absolutely no difference."
I had to read that twice to make sure. This is the exact opposite of the truth.
2012-02-09 12:03:37
I thought Phil said 6 weeks.
Yesterday was def some surprising ice conditions. It's a bus day today.
Hope you're ok Salty.
2012-02-09 12:24:53
"Studded tires are great on snow,but when it comes to ice it makes absolutely no difference."
I had to read that twice to make sure. This is the exact opposite of the truth.
I did a double take too. Studs are worthless in heavy snow. I biked up some steep grades in freezing rain conditions (road was temporarily closed to auto traffic) and it was like riding on dry pavement. I wouldn't hesitate to take a corner with studded tires knowing the pavement had a layer of ice on it. With snow, I take it as slow as I do on slicks.
2012-02-09 12:27:25
I have taken a hill on studded tired that was closed because of ice last winter and made it up no problem, I would never have made it in a car. Studded tires work wonderfully on ice.
2012-02-09 12:34:27
It is astonishing how fast you go down on glare ice. (There is a tasteless joke hiding in that sentence, somehow.)
I wsa lucky to have not wiped out last night. I was at a class where the teacher warned drivers about the possibility of road ice.
Going home, as I was crossing the sidewalk on the Blvd of the Allies bridge over Junction Hollow the phrase "bridge freezes before roadway" definitely applied. Looked wet. I walked.
2012-02-09 16:29:30
I think maybe Lenny meant knobby tires, not studded tires.
2012-02-09 16:51:33
Thanks Benzo.....I did mean knobby tires.I cycle a lot in winter on "knobby tires" and wiped out several times on ice.It wouldn't have mattered whether I had road or knobby tires when I hit the ice and fell.
2012-02-09 23:07:56
thanks - I think I'm ok although I rode about 10 miles today and my knee is kind of painful (also when going up/down stairs). I hope it's just a bruise and not something worse.
i've certainly changed my position on whether studded tires are worth the trouble though. i think i had some hubris in thinking i'd be able to see and avoid any ice - or at least that if i go outside and it's completely icy i'd just walk/bus instead. i guess wasn't really counting on a somewhat isolated patch of mostly invisible ice in an inopportune spot in the dark. studded tires expensive but between needing a new helmet and my shifter getting jacked up they would have paid for themselves already.
2012-02-10 04:25:40
If anybody is looking for some ice adventure to test out the studs, there's a lovely patch of compacted snow/ice on broad st in east liberty... you could grab a dog at station street while you're at it.
2012-02-11 16:41:58
@salty-
Thanks for this report. It increased my ice awareness considerably.
2012-02-13 17:13:49