2/18/2008 Ride Report

A little icy. A little cold.

I was a little reluctant to ride, but I thought it would be a good chance to see what a commuter would experience if they were forced to ride under these conditions. It was icy. Riding on the crusty ice on the berm seemed to help. I attended the winter weather seminar by Chris Luers a few weeks ago. He made a point of warning us to avoid the painted lines and words on the streets when it is wet (or icy). I made a boo-boo. Right out in front of Columbus State I hit the T in STOP. I slid sideways in slow motion. Then someone grazed my helmet with the rear derailleur. No harm.

We headed over to High Street which was getting treated by the street crews and became a little better. Traffic was lighter than normal because of the weather. We slowly made our way up to the starting point. At one point some pedestrians started yelling at us. They kept saying something about the police. I believe they may have mistaken us for bike officers. I ultimately yelled that we were not the police. Jim and Jeremy were there. Jim was breakdancing when we pulled up. I don't know why though.

We headed down High Street and stopped at Long but decided it was time to call it quits.

7 miles total. One bruised elbow. One lesson learned.

Lesson learned: Take the bus. When the roads get icy, it is not worth risking life or limb to ride. Unless you have studded tires. But we are not going to get into that at this point.

Sidenote: On my commute back home the road crews did a great job of clearing the ice from the highways and the main roads. The side streets were horrible.

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