Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1309:

First "winter" ride of the season, and it was a doozy. 28F with a dusting of snow on the ground, with a layer of ice underneath that. But the big challenge was the 30-40 mph headwind with gusts pushing 60 mph.

I had packed for the road bike because frankly, the weather people were hyping up our first winter storm of the season so much that I had a feeling that there was no way the actual weather would live up to the predictions. Well, I was half right. We didn't get the 2" of snow and whiteout conditions they were saying we would, but it didn't completely miss us like I suspected. They were spot-on with their wind prediction.

Thankfully a couple weeks ago I got my winter bike all tuned up and ready to go, so I transferred everything out of my backpack and into my panniers and left the road bike on the hangers. Riding a fat bike into that wind was slow. I was working hard just to maintain 5-6 mph. Going down hills I could hit 9-10 mph if I pedaled hard. It took me 40 minutes to ride the 4 miles to the office and I arrived a sweaty mess. Had my wheels slide out from under me a little around a corner, but kept the bike upright so it was only a minor "clenching" moment.

The wind was brutal enough that the radio is reporting at least 10 semis that have been overturned on the interstate, and a lot of cars in the ditch. I actually conceded a bit on riding my bike. I have a doctor's appointment later this morning. Normally I would just ride my bike there and back to the office, however with this wind (and the fat bike) I would probably be looking at a couple of hours total commute time for what will probably be a 15 minute appointment. My wife offered to come and pick me up and take me to the doctor, and then return me to the office. After a bunch of hem-hawing I decided to take her up on it. It's not that I couldn't have made the ride, but the idea of having to stay a couple hours late to make up the time on a Friday wasn't all that appealing to me.