Tundra_Man 

Horrible flooding. The river has logged its highest level in recorded history. Homes and businesses are underwater. My house is OK, but I feel a little guilty as I have friends who have lost everything.

I had a Dr appointment at 7:30 this morning. Normally it would be a 1/2 hour ride or less from my house to the hospital, but the MUP and a lot of roads are underwater, so I knew I would have to get creative with my route. I left the house at 6:30 to give me a little extra cushion.

I found a road that went over the river that was still open. Unfortunately that meant every other car in the city was also using that same road. I decided to bite the bullet and just took to the sidewalk as fighting the traffic on this stretch was more than I wanted to deal with today. It was a long stretch without driveways or intersections, so it wasn't much different than riding the MUP.

The ground is still frozen and the temp dropped to 25F overnight, so all that standing water started to freeze. As a result there was tons of rutted ice on the streets. Last night I thought maybe I could get away with the hybrid without studs, but this morning there was no question I needed the winter bike. Even with the studs there were some ruts that were pretty treacherous.

Made it to the hospital in 45 minutes, so I had a few minutes to relax and cool off before the appointment started. Afterwards I rode another couple miles to work.