Monday, February 21, 2011

The Iceman Cometh

For the most part nothing surprises me much anymore in regards to the weather. Sure, I remarked last week about having a blizzard one week, below zero temperatures the next, and then hitting 50 degrees the next. Well today it was ice. I guess it really wasn’t full-on ice. Yesterday it rained, snowed, sleeted, and everything in between. As a result the roads were covered with a half frozen mix of snow, slush, and ice. It was probably my worst commute to work I’ve had.


The ride home wasn’t much better and was actually made worse by the freezing rain / sleet that were coming down. While it was nice to just up on a bike and leave work right away instead of having to scrape a car windshield like many others, I didn’t appreciate the pelting precipitation on my face. Safe to say I regretted trimming my beard last night. If I was going against the east wind, which of course was also the direction of the rain / sleet was from, it wasn’t so bad I suppose. I knew where the bad patches of icy and slush were from riding this morning and was able to ride more easily even in the waning sunlight. What did catch my attention was the layer of ice that was forming on my gloves. At first I thought it was road spray that was getting on my gloves and freezing. Then I got home, got off the bike, and took stock of the rest of my parts. Not only were my gloves covered in a layer of ice but so were my jacket, helmet, and backpack. This was a new one to me. I’ve been wet from rain and have had snow stuck to me but never ice. I suppose this is yet another good reason to bike every day. I never know what I could miss and what new experience is down the road.

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