Yee-haa! You all missed the fun!
By nightfall I was doubting my ability to walk another five miles without dragging for hours. I’m usually tired by that hour and today was no exception. I looked at the weather forecast again… yuck! Finally I decided life’s too short to play it safe all the time. So… I headed out with the bicycle just at dusk. Had to walk it around or across a few patches of black ice, and had to leave it a half mile from my destination. Main Street is a mess (ice and water everywhere).
I got my cash, no problem. By the time I got back to where I left the bike it was too dark to really tell what was ice and what was bare asphalt and sand. Oh well… I figured I’d know soon enough if I hit a patch of black ice! Yup. Definitely. I’m kidding! Mostly. I know the lay of the land pretty well as far as where all the shady spots with permanent winter ice are, and all the spots where water runs across the road and re-freezes at dusk. It was pretty uneventful. The hair on my neck only stood up twice when I felt the wheels sliding just a tad. 😉
So I salvaged the most important errand of the day. I’m all set for Monday. Financially speaking, anyway.
Hi Paul,
I’m so glad to know things ended up well after the previous bad experience, and you managed to get the money and arrive back home safe and sound. I’m sure it took lots of will power to get out of the house again, by the way, but you did it, well done!!:)) As for the black ice, I can’t stand that stuff, it really scares me! My husband and I had some bad experiences with it while driving. Again, glad to know you got home safely!
Best wishes,
Nadia
Hi Nadia,
Black ice scares every person who has good sense! 🙂 I had a bad experience with it 18 years ago, shortly after I started driving. The stuff is no fun.
Best wishes,
Paul
What is black ice? Is it actually ice that is the color black? Is it more dangerous than regular ice?
I’m glad you were able to remain safe.
It sounds like a helmet may have been appropriate to wear.
You are making me truly appreciate my car.
I guess in a way that’s a good thing.
But I feel bad for you.
~Jules~
Hi Jules,
Short answer: Black ice is evil. 🙂
Long answer (more than you ever wanted to know about black ice):
Black ice is a term which refers to a (usually thin) layer of ice covering a road surface. It forms when warm(ish) rain falls on a cold(er) road surface, or when water left on the surface from rain or snow melt freezes due to falling temperatures. Black ice usually has a smooth surface so it is quite slippery.
The ice itself is clear, but it makes the road surface appear black. (Usually our asphalt roads look gray, except when wet or icy or when the asphalt paving is new; in those cases it is closer to black)
Black ice is very dangerous. It can be difficult to tell whether a road is just wet or whether it is coated with ice. Sometimes parts of it are just wet while other parts are ice. So you can be driving along on a wet (but NOT slippery) road and all of a sudden WHAM! you hit black ice. Under certain conditions, black ice has a nasty tendency to be wet on its surface, in which case it is EXTREMELY slippery!
Paul