The Fat Guy In The Back
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 2,536
Bikes: '81 Panasonic Sport, '02 Giant Boulder SE, '08 Felt S32, '10 Diamondback Insight RS, '10 Windsor Clockwork, '15 Kestrel Evoke 3.0, '19 Salsa Mukluk
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Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1803:
New Year's day was a holiday, and then I took the 2nd off because I had some vacation time that needed to be used. So today (Jan 3rd) was my first commute of the year.
I actually rode 14 miles on the 1st. My LBS does an annual New Years Day ride. Most years I'm traveling on New Years Day, but we got home late on the 31st so I was able to join in. There was a pretty good turnout. Probably somewhere between 80-100 riders. The temp was a reasonable 22ºF, the sun was out and the wind was a relatively South Dakota calm at 12 mph. And the post-ride chili afterwards was delicious.
This morning was kind of strange. The forecast called for clear skies. From doing the New Year's ride I knew the MUP was mostly clear with only occasional patches of ice. I decided to pack for my road bike. I figured the increased speed of the road bike on the clear pavement would probably offset the few times I would need to walk across the icy spots.
However, when I got up I looked out the window and saw snow falling. There was probably 1/8" down on the ground. That was completely unexpected. So I changed plans, repacked gear and took my mountain bike with studded tires. I rode through falling snow for about six blocks when suddenly it stopped. Now no snow was falling, and there was no longer any snow on the pavement. I guess the falling snow was limited to the area right around my house. Never seen it quite that isolated before.
I thought about turning around and going back to get the road bike, but didn't know if I would hit any more snow (I didn't) so I just kept on riding that bike. It's definitely slower than the road bike. The temp wasn't bad at 24ºF and there was a light 10 mph headwind.
As I was riding I heard a weird noise which sounded like a tire crinkling as it's going flat. I looked down and my tires appeared OK, so I kept going. Then I heard it again. Then again. I pulled over to give my tires a squeeze to make sure everything was OK. As I was standing there motionless, I once again heard the noise and figured out it was coming from inside my bag. Turns out I had an empty plastic water bottle in my bag and it was crinkling and popping as the air inside it cooled and lost pressure. That was kind of funny.