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Old 08-19-19, 07:26 AM
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HPL
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Ice/Winter Riding

Growing up in New England allowed for many attempts at riding on ice and snow; one year ago in April during my vacation I was setting up a road bike for hill/mountain climbing and it seemed like every other day it would snow in the morning, warm up just enough to melt the small snowfall as well as the snow banks on the roadside in the afternoon. I didn't ride because of the salt slush that would be sprayed up at me and the bike; so I'd go the next day when that extra water cleared up; unfortunately, it would get really cold having clear skies at night and would freeze just enough of the previous thaw to make things somewhat dangerous due to there being a few "bad spots", but still enticing me to travel at a speed not normally recommended for the conditions. Main problem was if a car came from behind and I lost my "wiggle" room to avoid the black ice pockets in that travel lane; pretty much gave up to avoid an ugly incident. I remember only testing the bike for 8 miles; I didn't even bother with my insulated bike tights, just worn some jeans with "long johns" underneath to take the potential fall abrasion if it occurred.

As a kid we would take old tires and thread short wood/sheet metal screws (longer screws just bent over in the tire) from the inside out and head up the lake to try out "ice racing" like the motorcycle ice track racing we'd see on TV (do they still do that?). It didn't take too many falls after getting up to speed in a straight line and then trying to due a very "lazy" cornering maneuver; never even got 90 degrees through the turn before wiping out. Best thing was to aim for some snow on the ice which afforded some "traction", but that was probably due more to the tire tread than the screws; regular snow boots didn't exactly help our cause.

After leaving college, I took a somewhat insane (no preparations) trip from Massachusetts (home state) to Washington D.C. to Champagne/Urbana Illinois during February and March; big Sis lived in IL, I only went south first to hit some "warmer" temps. I never fell during any of the riding whether snow, ice, etc., but I do remember dropping to my side a couple times trying to track stand at lights while strapped in. I believe I was riding 1 1/16" touring tires on my Peugeot. Temperature proved the biggest factor both during riding (ambient and wind chill) and camping as I did not bring a tent due to already hauling about 30 lbs on my back and on a homemade rear rack. I wore a full leather ski mask over the face; probably why I got escorted out of a couple towns to next town line by the local cops. I felt like Rambo, but I wasn't turning back to lay waste. Feet regularly froze from wearing mesh running shoes; happy to have all my toes intact! Started to melt the soles of my shoes when trying to thaw feet by the fire when snoozing. I'd love to cover that same course again (37 years later), but in the Fall. Bear Mountain over the Hudson river was a "bear'! That bike ended up getting stripped of paint when I returned home via a car my brother-in law and I rebuilt and drove back to New Hope, Pa, where the tranny promptly died in his dad's driveway after driving it in reverse some miles after a "small bender" one night. I was waiting for those cops again! Ah, the memories.

Last edited by HPL; 08-27-19 at 07:27 AM.
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