“I hope I don’t regret this”
That’s the last thing I said as I removed my Nokian Extreme front tire from my winter bike. The Nokian has 294 steel carbide studs and hooks up on ice like nothing else. But, on dry pavement, it’s a noisy drag.
The road conditions were pretty decent, so I switched to a non-studded tire.
Six tenths of a mile later I was layed out on the ground. I hadn’t been looking ahead and found myself going fast on a 100 foot stretch of smooth ice. The crash was inevitable.
The bike was fine. I ended up with a crab nebula bruise.
A lifetime of cycling and still learning…
I’ve had a few crashes this year when riding without sutdded tires. The ones on the knees seem to hurt for a long time. The back roads up here have had ice on them since the beginning of December I think.