Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Nice am brisk. Nothing to shabby or too hard. Halsted and Roose were very empty of cars and bikers this am. Passover and Easter will hopefully keep it light on the traffic.

I ride north in the mornings so I had the headwind.  I figured I didn't need the rain gear.  Only got my arms and thighs a little soaked on top, not too bad and the main thing was my feet were dry and I wasn't cold.  Half way in it turned to frozen rain... and was stinging my face.  couldn't look straight ahead cause the ice shards would have stung pretty bad if theyd hit m eyes.  didn't have any sunglasses with me since I didn't know there would be eye stabbing mini-hail.

What did you ride? For reasons relating to my winter commuter hybrid's being in the shop, I toyed with the idea of bringing my brand-new road bike out for the commute. I decided against it because (i) I'm new to road bikes generally, (ii) my road bike still has standard-issue road tires, and (iii) the fierce headwind with (i) and (ii) made me unsure whether I was ready to handle it. I test rode the thing through a few wind tunnels and felt nearly blown over; I wasn't at all sure what to expect riding into a 30mph(!) headwind. I would have felt much better on my hybrid's wider tire and more substantial frame. But maybe that's naive?

Robert Underwood said:

I ride north in the mornings so I had the headwind.  I figured I didn't need the rain gear.  Only got my arms and thighs a little soaked on top, not too bad and the main thing was my feet were dry and I wasn't cold.  Half way in it turned to frozen rain... and was stinging my face.  couldn't look straight ahead cause the ice shards would have stung pretty bad if theyd hit m eyes.  didn't have any sunglasses with me since I didn't know there would be eye stabbing mini-hail.

Now I'm glad I didn't ride today...Reply by Robert Underwood 2 hours ago

   "I didn't know there would be eye stabbing mini-hail."

Having been off the bike for almost a week because of having to attend a conference in the suburbs last week, there was not much that could have kept me off my bike.  Of course it was only rain when I came in, and I have some clear glasses that I wear in the rain (or eye-stabbing hail), and I was southbound for the most part.  I might not be so happy going home.

I can confirm that there was eye stabbing mini-hail on the ride home north today before the standard snow kicked in.  The ride in was pretty nice.

I bailed out this morning. Too icy here in Evanston. Started out, got about a half block, and turned around. It's like everybody has put away their snow/ice equipment. If you ride today, be careful...
Sidewalks look clear. Hope the lakefront trail is.
I biked about 4 miles then put my bike on the train. It is pretty icy out there, and cars seem to have forgotten how to use their ice scrapers. Downtown streets look ok.
Streets are generally okay, with a few exceptions. The bridges in the loop, though, are really treacherous. Easily the worst I've seen this winter.
All overpasses are pretty bad, and Kinzie bike lane from the bridge to Orleans is really bad. Serious ice at Kinsbury. Dearborn from Kinzie to Wacker also not fun.

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