Sunday, February 14, 2016

Snow Commute Follies

Just a bit of photographic evidence that I'm not normal, like you need a picture to know that.

If I knew anything about photography, I could do something artsy with this "tracks in the snow" shot:


You can see near the top where things got deep and sketchy. Guessing I swore there.

That little jaunt led to one of my favorite effects of winter riding: Rim fairings!


Gear nerds: Those are 26x1.95 Nokian Mount and Grounds. Not much to say about them other than they work. Haven't been on my tuchus yet this winter, knock wood.

Here's something I'd never seen before:


This happened during a morning commute when fresh powder was falling. As near as I can tell, snow hit the front of my seatpost as I was riding, melted, and then refroze. Of course, it probably re-melted, ran down my seat tube, and is rusting out my bottom bracket shell as we speak. Circle of life.

More fun with precipitation: Here's proof that my latest bag purchase (yet to be reviewed, but give it a few more months of abuse) is waterproof as advertised...


That's melted snow beading up on the outside of an Arkel Signature D backpack. Neat effect that -- again -- could be documented better by someone with more photographic talent than an orangutan.

Spring's coming, I hope. In the meantime, keep the rubber side between you and the slippery stuff, dear reader.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

congrats on not leaving a big print of your backside in the snow! :-)

The tires look pretty effective ... but I thought you swore off of spiked tires? What's the story?

We got 2 to 3 inches of snow here. Not quite enough to get out the cross country skis, and too sloppy to subject my poor bike to it. And to be honest, a bit too warm for my tastes. Too easy for the snow to just turn into ice after a tires compacts it. Now we've got a few days where the snow will melt and then refreeze overnight. In other words, the snow is trying to kill me. Or maim me, perhaps?
Either way, I'm looking forward to spring.. only 5 more weeks!

Steve in Peoria