Wow, what a winter it has been so far.
Let me explain.
Last winter, as you can tell if you look at the beginning of this blog, we did not have a lot of ice. Snow yes, but ice no. This meant that I got away with using worn cyclocross tires for the whole winter and had no issues at all with slipping. However, this winter, so far, we have had more ice which affects cycling then we did all of last winter combined, and it is still fall.
So, with that in mind, consider the events of last Friday.
Riding over the ped bridge which crosses the expressway, I dumped the bike. The back end swung out violently to the right, and I went down like a sack of potatoes. Bruised my behind, and put a golf ball sized lump on my left elbow. The bike spun in lazy circles as it slid down the bridge, and I actually ended up tumbling a bit and in the process, skinned my knee.
Later that same day, after turning left onto Highland Road, I dumped the bike again - thankfully, I am smart enough to leave huge gaps in traffic when I pull out in the winter on my bike just in case this kind of thing happens. This time, the front wheel skidded out to the right and dumped me on the same knee and elbow. I wanted to sit on the kerb and cry in pure frustration, but I didn't. Instead, I went out and bought two 700x40c Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires with 120 studs per tire.
Take that winter, I mock you from my position of traction superiority.