Originally Posted by
cyccommute
The best avenue of action is none at all. I automatically go rag doll, hold onto the bars and let the bike, my major muscle masses and my helmet take the blows. Same on ice. Trying to bail off the bike only leads to other injuries.
+1 to this. I started commuting recently, first w/ toeclips then with clipless. Skipping the sorry details about too tight straps and clipless newbieism, I fell about 5 times last year. By the 5th time I learned to just tuck in my elbows and knees and land on my side - minimal injury.
On topic, the other danger zone for black ice is any elevated structure (bridge etc). Radiative cooling can make a bridge surface be below freezing when the road around it is 35-37. I went down hard turning into such a bridge and nearly fractured my kneecap.