The Fat Guy In The Back
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Posts: 2,533
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 1859:
All weekend they had been predicting doom and gloom with the weather forecast. I had heard predictions of up to 19" of snow. Yesterday morning instead of snowing, it started raining. It rained all day, night and until about 8 AM this morning. Had it been snow instead of rain, we would have gotten walloped pretty hard.
This morning it was still raining, with a temp of 33°F. Probably the least fun type of weather to ride in. Knowing that there might be some slick spots with the temp this close to freezing, I rode the winter bicycle with studded tires. As a bonus, that bike has fenders to help tame the spray from the wet roads.
My commute was cold and slow, but mostly uneventful. I had a medium force headwind the whole way to work, which made my wet skin even colder. But I survived. There was another rider going the opposite direction on the MUP that didn't have any sort of head covering or gloves. He looked really cold. Usually people riding in conditions like these without proper gear are low income/homeless, or lost their license via DUI. I've seen this guy commuting fairly often, and don't get the impression he fits in those categories. So I'm not sure why he wasn't wearing warmer clothes.
Right after I got to the office the rain finally turned to snow. It's coming down pretty hard at the moment. Unless it switches back to rain and melts everything, I'm going to have a snowy ride home after work.