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!