Thursday morning coming down the canyon I actually pulled over and stopped on my gravity drop after my car felt like it was rolling excessively in the corners. I was sure I had a flat tire, but upon visual inspection on the side of the road and mechanical inspection when I got home that night, all was well and at 42 psi cold (44-51 psi rated snow tires).
Well, today I was zipping down the canyon with very light traffic and I know that if I can take one corner at 58+ I can roll over the flat and small hill that follows at the 50psl without putting it in gear. Just as I'm passing a big lumber truck in the middle of the corner my back end slides out. Talk about pucker factor! I was only doing 58 and the roads were clear of snow and ice and appeared to be dry. What I didn't account for was the build up of magnesium chloride (or whatever deicing agent they're using this week around here). Anyway, it took a little skill and a lot of luck to thread the needle between the jersey barrier and the truck and get the car back to straight, but I managed to come out of it without a scratch.
As I was driving home this afternoon there was a multi-car accident in the exact same place. While deicing agent may be great during the storm, it sure can render an unexpected surprise after the roads are clear and "dry". Two or three mph faster and the skid would have been unrecoverable and I would have hit the jersey barrier, without a doubt.
To borrow a like of one of my favorite shows of the 1980s:
