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Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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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.

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!

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.

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!

 

First ride in real snow!  Or rather mostly slush.  No real trouble heading west from the loop down Randolph/Washington to California, though the side lane on Randolph was a good empty road to adjust to some wobbles riding through a few snow clumps.  Discovered that the side street that got just enough traffic earlier to pack down a thin layer of snow was a bad idea and had to walk a block, but I was almost home by then.

My real deterrent to riding in the snow again is cleaning off my bike.  I tried bouncing the front and back tires to shake the gunk off, but it was too frozen on.  Had to brush it off in the entry way to my building and covered the floor in black water.  Ick.  I hope the roads are all clear tomorrow

As noted above the P.M. commute was a sloppy, sloggy, slushy challenge.  Several plows pasted me going in the opposite direction.  I was uncertain how to play it if one approached going the same way.  None did so I still wonder.

Friday morning will be a whole new ball game with over night air temps dropping.  This slushy business will freeze up like concrete.  At best the mains in Chicago will be plowed, sides and alleys will have ice under the snow.

I had a great time.  Not my first time in snow, but definitely the longest I've been out in it, and the most severe.  Took me an hour each way to and from Oak Park from Logan Square.  Plenty of sliding, but no falls.  Lots of fun!

If you have to take your bike into your place to store it and are sick of giant puddles of salty ick melting off of it go to a toy store and get a kids sled, one of the long ones for 2 or 3 kids.  It is long enough to set a bike in and will catch all the yuck that melts off your bike and save your floor.

I rode today and it was great.  I went goggle/glass-less though, which kinda sucked.  I'm still searching for the perfect pair but I'll probably just settle on a good pair of safety glasses.  I think H' said he uses them.  Felt like sand blasting my eyeballs at times, but got used to it quick.  I'm pretty sure I never rode in snow like that when I only had a road bike, so that was a first in... I dunno, many years.

Overall it was really serene out there.  Not many cars and the roads weren't too bad.  My tires handled everything really well, too.  

One thing that sucks is my rear Blackburn flea couldn't take a little snow tonight and has apparently bit the dust.  What a p.o.s.  That makes both the front and rear that have succumbed to a little inclement weather.  One snow ride?  Really??

Blackburn goin' on the shitlist for realz.  Wiggity wack as hell.   

  

The sides streets are a mess tonight and a few of the major streets I rode around 11pm were getting hairy. California and Armitage were unevenly plowed but vehicle traffic was at a minimum so it was fun to be able to ride calmly in the middle of the road and slip and slide over to the right when cars approached. 
I'm liking these new goggles I bought on the recommendation of Monica and Joe Sak. They're really light weight and flexible and the tint didn't bother me for night riding as I feared it might. The only issue was that some of the fine pellet snow came in through the vents and stung me a bit but it was nothing compared to what things would have been like with nudey eyes. 

What brand/model are the goggles?

Ash L. said:

The sides streets are a mess tonight and a few of the major streets I rode around 11pm were getting hairy. California and Armitage were unevenly plowed but vehicle traffic was at a minimum so it was fun to be able to ride calmly in the middle of the road and slip and slide over to the right when cars approached. 
I'm liking these new goggles I bought on the recommendation of Monica and Joe Sak. They're really light weight and flexible and the tint didn't bother me for night riding as I feared it might. The only issue was that some of the fine pellet snow came in through the vents and stung me a bit but it was nothing compared to what things would have been like with nudey eyes. 

Yes it was a challenge with nudey eyes today.

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