I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on January 12, 2012 at 12:06pm

It's a mess out there. I only got to ride 1/3 of the way home. After seeing two accidents on Lincoln (heading south from Pratt to Berwyn), I decided to walk safely on the sidewalk. Lincoln was in terrible shape. I was only able to ride Berwyn/Balmoral/Ravenswood. 

So fucking pissed right now.

Permalink Reply by Matt Wolfe on January 12, 2012 at 12:11pm

Came out of the office at 4:15 to discover my bike had gotten coated in ice.  Madison west out of the loop was fine aside from the bridge (walked it).  Halsted heading south was fine in the car lanes but they hadn't plowed the bike lane, so I took the right lane which pissed off a few jerks that were in a hurry to get stuck in gridlock from Roosevelt going south.  18th going west was fine.  A little dicey but nothing crazy and no serious ice until my little side street.  

Permalink Reply by Madopal (16.5 mi) on January 12, 2012 at 12:30pm

Yeah, the trick isn't you, it's the other drivers.   Sounds like we take a similar route, Jim.  I'm coming from Touhy/Central, and I basically stick to the side streets other than Bryn Mawr from the Sauganash Trail to Campbell.  I love Berwyn in the morning, but man getting across Western/Lincoln going back east around there is a pain.  They need a bike overpass over Rosehill or a contra-flow bike lane on Berwyn.

Anyway, other than the cager accidents, how were the side streets?

PS: Gene, you're riding a 'bent in this?  Hard core, man, hard core.  You have fat tires on that, or do you just slide around a lot?

Jim S said:

It's a mess out there. I only got to ride 1/3 of the way home. After seeing two accidents on Lincoln (heading south from Pratt to Berwyn), I decided to walk safely on the sidewalk. Lincoln was in terrible shape. I was only able to ride Berwyn/Balmoral/Ravenswood. 

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on January 12, 2012 at 12:43pm

Madopal, we're coming from basically the same place. I'm @ Touhy and Melvina (ish).

If I could find a route in the winter that lets me avoid Lincoln, I'd do it. So if you've got some suggestions, I'm all ears.

Most side streets were fine, though according to the WGN weather blog, close to the lake (which I am) is getting hammered (3.5-4" as of 4:30PM).

In times like these, I have no problem taking the lane; it's mostly that I'm afraid that other drivers will make a slight slide, or I may hit bump or something and go sliding around. Very scary.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on January 12, 2012 at 1:12pm

Not too bad. I didn't encounter any ice, just slush. Even the plates on the Randolph bridge didn't feel icy. For the most part, cars were traveling slowly and focused on the gridlock at hand. I passed way more cars than passed me.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Gebhardt on January 12, 2012 at 1:27pm

It was a dicey start but took Division from Orleans ST to California and through the park a little. A driver decided to honk at me when I passed him. Probably annoyed that I cut in front of him, buttttttt the thing was he was at a stand still with the rest of traffic. made no sense... sigh.... either way first time commuting through rush hour traffic while it snowed. took getting used too. A lot slower but it wasn't bad.

Permalink Reply by Minh on January 12, 2012 at 2:37pm

I don't know why so many of you think it's fun to ride to work in the snow because it's not. 12 mile ride home from work today sucked.

Permalink Reply by Bernard Joseph Hannigan on January 12, 2012 at 2:45pm

I WAS going to ride the trail today to check out the snow, unfortunately I saw a potential of ice under snow develop quickly as the temps dropped. I stood down. Good move.

Permalink Reply by Reddog (Cliff) on January 12, 2012 at 3:05pm

The ride to work this morning was a piece of cake, because it hadnt started snowing yet. 

The ride home was...interesting.    I took Oakley north from Lake st. up to Division, then west to Kedzie, then north again a little.  Oakley was pretty bad, but not as bad as I had feared.  I had hoped Division would be better, but I caught much more of the wind driven snow there as it was more open.

On the side streets there was much more ice-like compacted stuff, and on the main roads, I was plowing through a morass of grey sludge.  The worst part was the wind driven snow. It really hindered visibility.

It was certainly a much more focused ride than usual.

Permalink Reply by Madopal (16.5 mi) on January 12, 2012 at 3:20pm

I made it safe.  It's definitely much worse in the 'burbs.  Lincolnwood & Skokie aren't nearly as salted/plowed, and riding snow-covered icy tire tracks isn't too fun.  Not even my studded tires helped there.

The Sauganash Trail was a challenge, but I enjoyed it.  I also ran into another cyclist at Damen & Bowmanville.  We traded greetings and were happy we had our studded tires.  Not an easy ride by any stretch, but definitely worthwhile.  No one should beat themselves up for playing it safe today.  Some areas are no fun on a bike right now.

Also, I lucked out getting the wind as a tailwind, that's for sure.  Sorry for those of you who had to ride into it!

Permalink Reply by Vondo on January 12, 2012 at 3:23pm

Not to work, but I did ride around my 'hood, liquor store, bank, etc. it was around 6:30pm, other than not remembering to grab my goggles, it was nice to ride for a bit. The street was mostly clear and people were driving slowly.

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on January 12, 2012 at 3:33pm

It was a troubling ride home.  Franklin/Orleans/Wells/Halsted, all not good.  Had to mix it up in car lanes most of the time.  Be CAREFUL!

 

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