So it Snowed

 

Pulled off the Principal River Walk for this photo op.  Had I waited one minute, Mary's bike would have been visible, her NiteRider with new batteries anyway, where those street lights are.  Of note, when the city clears the snow from this trail, they also clear off the goose poop.  We have a problem with these dirty birds.

Not much goes on in the great state of Iowa during the winter.  But if a weather event is coming, the Weather People drink jars of coffee and take some of these and get totally wired.  Iowans get near hurricane level of warning of a potential snowflake falling on the land between two rivers.  And so it was for the week of January 15-20, 2023.

Wednesday, January was D-Day err S-Day.  For Capital City, Des Moines, on the edge of the Warning/Watch/Ground Zero calls for upwards to 7" were made.  As S-Day and 0-Hour approach, 3-5" were the final guess.  The "official" total at the airport was 4.8" but I think my neighborhood to downtown received 3".  But it was a wet and heavy snow.

I had to be at work by 6 am Thursday.  I was prepared.  The Verenti Substance, my gravel/adventure/zerstörer/heavy road bike was ready.  Sitting uselessly in my kitchen with its 45North studded tires and gen hub light, it was time to put it to work.  Lace on some boots, dress for a wet 31°F and head north.  At the last possible moment, Mary said her light had dead batteries and I almost pulled the AA NiteRider off the Verenti (I kept the mount on and placed a light on it for comparison purposes since the Busch-Mueller is new to me) but decided to stop what I was doing and find her a fresh pair of AA batteries.

Off I go into the silent white death.  Of course, since the snow began in earnest at 7 pm the night before and just ended as I was prepping to leave, and enough cars had driven on the street to destroy all traces of virgin snow making riding anything other than a fatbike with 7 psi in its tires a pain I elected to take the sidewalk for the 3 blocks necessary to reach the plowed road.  It was a good thing that I kept the NiteRider as I could keep the front wheel spinning fast enough to provide solid light.  Weird.  But when I reached 1st Street I adequate speed for have light.

The pedestrian bridge and trail to Gray's Lake was cleared.  Well, half the bridge was done.  The concrete blocks that prevent people from driving their fishing trucks/cars on the bridge also prevent city snowplow trucks from accessing it.  So UTVs have to clear the snow on that bridge.  The rest of the journey to work was fine.  I saw one set of bicycle tracks.  I also padded my miles by biking a longer route.  Traffic consisted mostly of any vehicle that could carry a blade to push snow.

Soon the decision of where to park had to be made.  My usual spot is next to the building that I work in.  There is a modicum of protection from rain and snow as long as it is a light rain or snow.  But if the precipitation looks bad, I park across the street in a well-protected area.  I chose the former.  When I parked at the rack, I noticed that the batteries in my NiteRider were dead.  Glad I did not give that light to Mary!  We were to receive on a light amount of snow when the counterclockwise rotation blows in the left-over arm of the system.  It did snow for a bit.  However, I did not count of melting snow being blown on to the bicycle.  The "cockpit" of the bike was more than glazed with ice.  My helmet had spikes!  Would my head get wet as the ice melted from the escaping heat of my noggin?  I was not sure if the brakes would work.  No scraper so I dropped the helmet in an attempt to remove ice.  A few karate chops on the brake levers to get them to move.  Used my keys to chip ice from the computer mount.  Unfortunately, one must remove lights, flashers and computers from bikes lest they be stolen.

I place my helmet out front to hide the gen hub light.  My faith in humanity is so low that I think someone may contemplate pulling it off.

These bicycle racks suck.  Difficult to park bikes with disc brakes in them.  I like to use the side of the rack.  Perhaps I should use the rack against the building.  I have yet to see a bike parked at that one.

The bike functioned adequately, and I got home safely.  I even stopped at the store on the way home. Back inside the house to thaw out.  I placed the helmet on the sink to melt!  Lesson learned: on days like this, park across the street.  BTW I did see a heavy roadie parked at the protected racks.  Smart person!

2022 In Review

 

The Myth of Chevian Bicycling!  January 1, 2023.  Second night in a new bed and new bedroom thus a restless night's sleep.  The need for coffee finally overwhelms me and I arise at 6 am.  After taking care of the livestock, dog and cat, and brewing that precious coffee I go to my computer and make the final entry for 2022.  I'm lo-tech.  I use wired Cateye computers and enter the readings manually onto an Excel spreadsheet.  Then I send the documents to the Mothership somewhere in Cyberland.  Back in the early 1990s this was done on pen and paper.  My Excel Bike Log goes back to 1994.

A new year and a new task.  Record all the odometer readings for every bike ridden the previous year.  Start with December's entries and go through 2022 backwards.  This is the easiest way to get the final reading for each bike.  At least one bike had a computer stolen or broken and thus did not record every mile.  Interesting as going backwards through time reveals when the last ride for each bike was.

Of note:

Trek 520--552 miles last ridden on July 27th when we completed our ride across Minnesota.  I like to use this bicycle for its intended purpose, touring, not hauling beer for a 15 mile ride.

Tandems--we have two, one for touring and one fast one.  At time of purchase our most expensive bicycles.  Despite lots of miles in 2020 exploring empty trails during rides of "isolation" the Fisher Gemini did not roll once in 2022.  Our Cannondale RT3000 was ridden once for 39 miles in 2022.

Gravity Vanquish--single speed commuter accumulated 615 miles mostly on the daily 4 mile round trip to work and back.  It would have gathered more miles but it needs brake pads that for some reason I have not been arsed to order yet.

Verenti Substance--imported gravel/adventure bicycle that really has not seen gravel but makes a great all around bike from loaded touring with front and rear panniers to now fitted with studded tires for 3 months of dangerous conditions.  This bike took over commuting duty.  I added a gen hub lighting system thanks to Chris Cornelius selling me a set of wheels with the required hub.  It was the only bicycle I rode in November.  With the exception of another bike, the Verenti was the only bicycle I rode in December.

Trek FX 7.5-- 15 winters of commuter service.  167 miles.  I retired this bike last week.  Too much work ($) needs to go into it.  Frame looks damaged as well.  Removed its 45 studded tires.  I will purchase a disc braked hybrid sometime this year to replace it.

Highlights of riding this year:

RASDak--Ride Across South Dakota.  Takes 7 days.  Took my Domane and discovered that dual Iso Speed shock systems makes a flexy bike hat 39 mph when trying to get that 40+ mph.  When organized ride.  Place to stay every night and showers every day.  Imagine a well-organized Ragbrai with only 200 riders?  Paradise!

St Cloud, MN to Fargo, SD and back.  Two seamlessly interconnected paved trails for 140 miles with towns every 5 or 6 miles!  Flat, beautiful, peaceful.  Fergus Falls to Fargo and back, one day each way, on smooth empty county highways.  We did this instead of Ragbrai.  Need to do this again with friends.  "If you could just see the beauty, these things I can never describe."

My riding really died out toward the end of the year.  Seemed to rain every weekend.  I got salmonella during thanksgiving break.  Then it got cold.  Then the Arctic Blast dropped temperatures to -10°F.  Motivation?  There was none.  Knowing that the FX was dead and trying to determine which bike should get the studded tires also held me back.  Which bicycle to sacrifice?  A few months won't hurt, will it with all the salt and sand and dirty snow and freeze/thaw cycles...  2022 was my lowest mileage years since 2009.

So I plan to smoke some Hopium and ride more in 2023.  Take a chance and say I tried.