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Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Side streets were not cleared but the ones I was one were mostly packed hard enough to ride on. Damen was clearer, though not clear enough to ride in the bike lane. With enough layers the cold wasn't as bad as I feared but I really felt that northwest wind (a headwind for me most of the way). 

I rode to work yesterday, then two blocks before I got there, I remembered I had the day off.  Had coffee Starbucks and went home.  This morning I made it ok, Clark street was mostly plowed.  I left early to avoid the crazy people during rush hour.  last mile or so just rode in the road with the cars since they were going really slow. 

A bit of a physically challenging ride today, but zero incidents of drivers treating me like a practice cone.

I give it an 8/10.

It's been awhile since that happened to me, but I have done that before. I know how that feels.

Robert Underwood said:

I rode to work yesterday, then two blocks before I got there, I remembered I had the day off.  Had coffee Starbucks and went home.  This morning I made it ok, Clark street was mostly plowed.  I left early to avoid the crazy people during rush hour.  last mile or so just rode in the road with the cars since they were going really slow. 

I rode today, sticking to main roads instead of my usual Lake Front Trail route. A bit sloppy, but most streets were plowed and salted – although the bike lanes were close to unusable. The majority of drivers were accommodating. I stopped by the Winter Bike to Work "Rally" to pick up some free coffee and Clif bars.

I did the same thing! I've been on paternity leave for two weeks and it was my first day back to work, or so I thought. I considered it a "training ride" and blasted my way back home. The weather was pretty mild and the ride felt great. 


Robert Underwood said:

I rode to work yesterday, then two blocks before I got there, I remembered I had the day off.  Had coffee Starbucks and went home.  This morning I made it ok, Clark street was mostly plowed.  I left early to avoid the crazy people during rush hour.  last mile or so just rode in the road with the cars since they were going really slow. 



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

... although the bike lanes were close to unusable.

Does Chicago have the concept of a snow emergency, where after a certain size snowfall they do some sort of even/odd parking to allow the plows to clear streets to the curb? In the last round of snow it didn't appear that was the case, at least not on any side streets. The snow was just plowed up against the parallel parked cars, obscuring bike lanes.

Evanston hadn't yet declared a snow emergency this morning, though I'm surprised they didn't. The actual snowfall was difficult to judge because of the wind, but when I was out shoveling my sidewalks this morning it seemed like 4-6", which should have been enough to trigger the alert.

Last night along the lake was very pretty.  Today it's just too cold.

There are designated snow routes that parking is banned on if there are over two inches of snow. I am not sure if the city actually tows people from the street before they plow. That might be too much coordination for Chicago to handle.

Skip Montanaro 12mi said:



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

... although the bike lanes were close to unusable.

Does Chicago have the concept of a snow emergency, where after a certain size snowfall they do some sort of even/odd parking to allow the plows to clear streets to the curb? In the last round of snow it didn't appear that was the case, at least not on any side streets. The snow was just plowed up against the parallel parked cars, obscuring bike lanes.

Evanston hadn't yet declared a snow emergency this morning, though I'm surprised they didn't. The actual snowfall was difficult to judge because of the wind, but when I was out shoveling my sidewalks this morning it seemed like 4-6", which should have been enough to trigger the alert.

Skip, you are kidding, right?

As Adam said, many main streets have parking prohibiited after 2" of snowfall.  That actually works pretty well. Clear side streets to the curb in Chicago?  Bwahaha! 
 
Skip Montanaro 12mi said:



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

... although the bike lanes were close to unusable.

Does Chicago have the concept of a snow emergency, where after a certain size snowfall they do some sort of even/odd parking to allow the plows to clear streets to the curb? In the last round of snow it didn't appear that was the case, at least not on any side streets. The snow was just plowed up against the parallel parked cars, obscuring bike lanes.

Evanston hadn't yet declared a snow emergency this morning, though I'm surprised they didn't. The actual snowfall was difficult to judge because of the wind, but when I was out shoveling my sidewalks this morning it seemed like 4-6", which should have been enough to trigger the alert.

As Adam said, many main streets have parking prohibiited after 2" of snowfall.

This doesn't seem to have been enforced at all this winter.

I have seen no streets with street parking plowed to the curb at any point this winter--not Clark, not Damen, not Lincoln, not Broadway, not Devon.

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