[BlackNinja8]

I was 10 miles from home when the first snow flake fell…

Against my better judgment I decided to continue on since I thought it wouldn’t stick right away anyway – I was wrong. I fishtailed left and right down a long steep hill with no rubber to pavement contact and no ability to stop the bike. I was pumping the brakes as fast as I could and I was still picking up speed. Halfway down the hill I was looking for a safe place to lay it down because there was a sharp turn at the bottom of the hill and no way I could make the turn in this footing.

At this point the cars behind me backed way off realizing that I was most likely going down. Just when I was about to do the unthinkable I got a huge stroke of luck. Just after the turn at the bottom there was small single lane over pass which left about a 10 foot strip of snow-free pavement underneath it. If I could stay upright long enough and keep my front pointed in my direction of travel it was just enough for a clean panic stop. But because the turn was so sharp I would have to cross the double yellow and approach the clean pavement diagonally. Doing so meant that there had to be no oncoming traffic which I would not be able to see until I reached the point where I needed to cross over. If there was oncoming traffic then I would have to lay the bike down otherwise I would not have enough pavement at my angle of attack and I would go down trying to take the turn anyway, which would also mean bike and me crashing into the inner wall of the overpass.

A rather funny thought went through my head. I thought about the likelihood that I would not be able to stop on the clean pavement and how much I would prefer to fall on the nice fluffy snow. When the moment of truth arrived I cross the double yellow and applied a firm squeeze on the front and then locked up the rear bringing the bike almost to a stop. I had to get off the brake when I ran out of pavement but by that time I had scrubbed off almost all of my speed and I was now on flat ground. I crossed back into the snow, steered off to the shoulder, brought the bike to the slowest 1mph stop of all time. And then it happened…

…Kickstand down, I dismounted the bike and walked around towards the back. Stepping on my flattened snow covered tracks I slipped and went down. Embarrassed but completely unharmed ATGATT lol…
So yes I mislead you a bit. I went down, my bike did not. The drivers behind me pulled over and they were so genuinely relieved that I was okay. 3 separate cars offered to give me a ride just so I wouldn’t get back on the bike. I could tell they were absolutely terrified watching my descent down that hill. In that regard, I felt their pain.

In that relieved moment, I thought proudly that I had remembered all my MSF training and had executed a flawless injury averting maneuver. Then I remember the biggest lesion I got from MSF – a lesson that went ignored that day. If it is not safe to ride for any reason. Find another way, but do not ride. This time lesson learned.

Photos taken moments later...