The Chainlink

My first snow ride. Two words,...Absolutely terrifying

Two words,...absolutely terrifying. Today was my first snow ride to work and I must say that it was not how I wanted to start my Monday morning. I was fully prepared with all of the proper snow biking equipement and was excited for my first winter ride. After all everyone says that it is a lot of fun and I have always thought of myself as a courageous person, but not today. I was scared out of my mind the entire ride. I almost slipped twice within the first 500 feet. Turning back to go home and drive was an option but I figured it would get better once I got to a properly salted road, but I was mistaken. I had several cars honk at me and I was trying to avoid the snow/slush the entire way, not to mention the cars that flew past me and covered me with slush off of their cars. I dunno maybe this will be more enjoyable if its not so wet outside and people are not hurrying to try to get to work. I will continue to ride to work on cold days and days where there is a light snow but if its anything like today forget it.

Any tips to gain fearlessness while riding to work in these conditions???

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Permalink Reply by Ammo on December 9, 2008 at 8:39pm
I did a quick ride today, be careful slipping and sliding!! Fun as all heck though.
Permalink Reply by Vondo on December 9, 2008 at 8:47pm
I did a few miles out there around 6pm. Slippery slush and sloppy riding. I can't believe that I'm saying this, but snowboard helmet and goggles might be on my to-get liist if I plan to ride regularly through the winter. What do you guys think, would that be overkill?
Permalink Reply by JT on December 9, 2008 at 9:00pm
I think that may be a little overkill. The weather's not usually this bad. It's the cold that gets to me– usually there are only a handful of days where it's slippy slidey. I usually carry around a pair of clear sun glasses in case the snow/rain might block my vision.

Vando said:
I did a few miles out there around 6pm. Slippery slush and sloppy riding. I can't believe that I'm saying this, but snowboard helmet and goggles might be on my to-get liist if I plan to ride regularly through the winter. What do you guys think, would that be overkill?
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on December 9, 2008 at 9:31pm
Haha, are you tempting someone to start a different kind of 'bike overkill' thread?

JT said:
Maybe I should get discs too!
Permalink Reply by BalloonBiker on December 9, 2008 at 9:46pm
I left downtown around 7:30 and it was pretty scary. I made it up to Armitage, saw that a bus was ahead of me, so when it cut off at Fullerton, I was able to get ahead of it and catch it at Sheffield.

All of the biting snow in my face was awful. I almost slipped several times. Ugh. Oh well, busses can come in handy sometimes!
Permalink Reply by E A on December 9, 2008 at 9:54pm
I ended up walking to the EL and enjoyed every moment of it. Glad I wasn't in the slippery slushy mess on the roads. It was fun to be stomping through the white stuff....
Permalink Reply by Steve 3po on December 10, 2008 at 1:13am
i think its time for the I bit it in 08-09 winter thread...

h3 said:
Dottie said:
Sounds like a lot of people are falling. I fell for the first time last Thursday on the LFP (and slid across School St, but stayed upright). Is it always this bad in the winter?

Dunno. Didn't used to be. Last winter was tough and this one's not starting out too well. Prior to that the 5 or so years I winter-biked were easy. And come to think of it there were periods last winter that were pretty easy too, even though there were so many bad spells.
Permalink Reply by terryg on December 10, 2008 at 7:51am
I hope not...but it seems inevitable. Riding out of downtown up Milwaukee to meet some friends was a messy drag. It wasn't frozen though, so I guess there's that. I'm about to find out what's out there now, and I hope it's "just" cold. I'm hearing lots of people scraping windshields outside.
Permalink Reply by E A on December 10, 2008 at 8:05am
I hope the ride home tonight will be doable and not as slick. There have been bad days in the past, but I don't remember it being this bad this soon. On the up note... the weather warms up for the weekend!
Permalink Reply by Martin Hazard on December 10, 2008 at 3:39pm
Last night leaving work at 9pm I was thankful to have my ski goggles, as I had a several miles to ride straight into the wind and driving snow. Some of the areas did not appear to have been blessed by a plow in some time, resulting in almost an inch of highly compacted slush, in the process of solidifying into ice. With caution, I was able to negotiate these better than the cars. It was slow going though. Once I hit Lawrence however, I nearly caught a left cross, grabbed both brakes, and lost the front end. Somehow I recovered it, and was OK- after I got my anal sphincter to let go of my seat. The moral of the story, be careful, go slow, and stay off the front brake in slippery conditions.
Bike Winter Yo!
Martin
Permalink Reply by Ammo on December 10, 2008 at 6:40pm
woo!!! I don't know what's worse an audi or anal sphincter injuries.

Martin Hazard said:
Last night leaving work at 9pm I was thankful to have my ski goggles, as I had a several miles to ride straight into the wind and driving snow. Some of the areas did not appear to have been blessed by a plow in some time, resulting in almost an inch of highly compacted slush, in the process of solidifying into ice. With caution, I was able to negotiate these better than the cars. It was slow going though. Once I hit Lawrence however, I nearly caught a left cross, grabbed both brakes, and lost the front end. Somehow I recovered it, and was OK- after I got my anal sphincter to let go of my seat. The moral of the story, be careful, go slow, and stay off the front brake in slippery conditions.
Bike Winter Yo!
Martin
Permalink Reply by Dottie on December 10, 2008 at 10:28pm
Riding on Lincoln tonight, I had the pleasure of a car honking and passing within less than 12 inches. The man then rolled down his window at the stoplight to yell, "Ride in the bike lane, you idiot," to which I responded that the bike lane is covered with ice and please be aware of my safety, thank you. The ride was no fun at all.

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