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.

Dry Ride In

I rode today, despite the threats of rain and snow. I still have the commuter tires on the Hilltopper; I haven't switched back to the mountain tires like I had originally planned.

I did gear-up without checking the weather before I left. So I had the full rain and cold package on. This wasn't much warmer than my standard cold gear, just rain pants over the warm-ups and my Bean's ski shell instead of the water-proof windbreaker.

All-in-all, I felt a little foolish with the hood up and nary a drop of rain anywhere; in fact, it looked as though it had already passed through... There is a chance for rain or snow this afternoon, so we'll see if I get any use out of the rain gear today.

I also put the rain-cover on the trunk bag. It was a tight fit, as I had the panniers stuffed with some re-supplies for the week as well as my usual stuff.

I'm hoping to get some pics posted, but haven't been using my time wisely, apparently. Too much time watching the Steelers game yesterday... Next week against the Ravens will, again, be pretty tough. We can beat them. Especially if the running game is as good as it was yesterday. Unfortunately, we don't get to play the Charger's defense again.

Ride on.

YTD: 63miles.