Commute

My commute yesterday went well, albeit it had some seriously sketchy conditions on the path. I have never seen it so bad!

I went to be so late on Monday night, that, I figured I wouldn't be able to get up. However, I woke up at about 4:45 to go to the bathroom, and, just stayed up. The coffee maker was set for 5am, and, I had to manually start it! Anyway, I slowly sipped my coffee, and, prepped everything for the ride in. I took a suggestion from uber-commuter guy Mike Prendergast, and, started warming up my hands prior to going outside to ride by wearing gloves in the house. It really works! Thanks Mike!

As I rolled out, there was some residual snow and ice on the perimeter of the street close to the curbs, but, not much in the middle. Once I crossed Irving though, everything changed. It was an ice rink! I couldn't believe it...usually our street is worse!! It cleared out once I crossed Federal, but, eventually got worse once I jumped on the path.

Traditionally, there are 2 areas on the path that are just plain AWFUL when the weather turns snowy & cold. The first is the stretch from Downing/Corona around to University (the Speer section tracking along the Denver Country Club), and, the second is the bridge parallel to Iliff, after you cross UNDER Iliff. These two areas just suck for sun exposure and snow clearance. Anyway, in the dark at 5am with a shit-ton of ice & snow, these areas aren't any better. While I am keeping the studded tires on indefinitely, I'll have to make sure I use the more lugged ones in the future for when there is still snow existing. The A10s are stellar tires and handled EVERYTHING just fine, but, the Snow Wolfs I have are better in the snow by a little bit. Either way, I made it in. One thing I noticed about riding in these icy/snow conditions is that while I originally thought I was slipping and sliding around on the studs, I actually was just sliding over the ruts, and, then, the studs would bite. Sure there were times when I thought I was going down, but, I never once lost traction. It was freaky (and impressive!).

The ride home was a little different for me. My plan was to try to leave BY 4pm so I could pass through these 2 areas with some level on sunlight. The ice & snow had either melted or turned to slush, and, I sailed through the sections with ease! Once I made it about 5 miles or so FROM the house, I started to feel it. I was tired, everything got cold from being overdressed and soaked with sweat, and, I was straight up HUNGRY. I made it home fine, but, was super tired and hungry. The 5am wakeup was catching up with me.

I'm glad I did the commute, and, while this one took roughly 10 minutes longer than usual, I'll be back to normal after another week or two of riding.

Stay warm!