I Rode. I Slid. I did not Fall.

Against, or because of, my better judgement, I rode on Friday. We had watched two different weather forcasts Thursday night. The local guy said a dusting at most on the grass. The KC guy said at least an inch. I figured the KC, who is pretty accurate, had it right. And I thought I'd just decide in the morning. Well, I saw the snow but said 'What the hell!'

I learned a few things on this ride. First, I'll be putting the knobbies on the bike before the next snow fall. I didn't fall, but I had to put my foot down a couple of times. The fresh snow was fine. But riding in the car tire tracks was not fun. The cars had compressed things and then shifted them just enough to be slippy, without being obviously bad.

I also had a heck of a time getting the rain cover on for the ride home. I was loaded down with the towel I had used all week AND a 15 pound book I had lent to a buddy at work. I also did not wear as much for the ride home as it was 10 degrees warmer and not snowing. This made the panniers bulge. And the rain cover didn't like that all that much. It made little tearing sounds while I was putting it on, but I think it was just stretching the seams a bit. There are no obvious signs of damage, anyway.

I figured out that I can ride in the snow. Which is good. I learned that the dual glove combo works for snow as well. The snow did slow me down. It added about fifteen minutes each way to my commute. I had to rush through the shower portion of my morning... Other than that, the ride was pretty successful.