Monday, December 13, 2010

Baptism In Snow

Well, the worst of that snow storm appears to be over and London Ontario continues to dig out. Last week's rides to and from work on Thursday and Friday were some of the most technically demanding I have ever experienced. I tried riding in on Wednesday, got a few blocks from home, decided it was too dangerous and went back home and grabbed the car. Things were made worse by the fact that I didn't get a chance to ease in to snowy riding, going from bare pavement to kookoo town just days after I started riding Mutant Winter again.

Thanks to the sheer volume of snow and cars mashing through it, the always treacherous "lightly trafficked" kind of snow often had strange hard snow/ice islands and ridges hiding underneath it. I walked my bike more than I ever have. "Giving Up" and walking it sometimes actually made the rides much less stressful, if a little tough on my ego.

This morning dawned much colder (approx -13 C / 10 F) than other recent ones. Warm wet snow yesterday and recent plowing made many of the backstreets into skating rinks. That is OK with me because the studded tires do fine on hard ice and I made much better time than in the shifting snow.

Just the same, it would have been OK to have one of these today...
pic source


I'm gonna be busy busy for a while, so I likely won't be posting again until Thursday when the FARATS voting begins. Try to behave while I'm out. Remember, Santa is watching and will punish you without hesitation because he is a very angry dude what with the melting of the icepack and everything.

Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K

2 comments:

Kokorozashi said...

I think I might put in an order for one of those bikes in that thar piksher as well -- it looks like we're all in for a snowy/icy winter, with more precipitation on the way! (My inner tough, resilient New Englander says, "Wicked!")

Steve A said...

It's always enlightening to hear about fall in Canada.

In case you haven't checked the forecast, it's supposed to be a frigid 73F down here tomorrow. That's 23C for you French Unit types. I imagine you'll get yours back next summer when it hits 40+ here.

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