Mountain - Plains - Colorado Front Range Buried

It was a real challenge, cycling the 8 miles into work today. Not a ride for amateurs!

I rode 14 miles in this morning... and it took me 10 minutes less than it took my boss to drive 17. :p It was fun!

oilfreeandhappy went pro? :p

I'm gonna go for a ride around the neighborhood when I get home. My hat's off to you guys riding to work in this stuff--

Getting some snow out there?

It was a little chilly on the ride in this morning. Once again, though... the bike path was the best part of the ride. I even passed the people out there plowing and shoveling. I think it made them feel good that someone was using the path. Either that or they were laughing at me. :p

They plow and shovel bike paths out there?????

They plow and shovel bike paths out there?????

Yup. :) Well, the major ones, anyway. They didn't bother to plow the sidewalk/bike path along one major road near my home... I tried to take it to go to the store last night, but it was REALLY bad (partially melted/walked on and then refrozen)... ended up just taking a lane and letting the cars go around me.

The bike paths tend to be in a better shape than the streets. Thornton was a little behind the last 2 days.

Your guys are the bomb!!! No way I'm going to get my little bum out there and pedal :) Yep and I have lived here all my life and still a whimp when it comes to 10 degrees or cooler. :)

What kind of dogs are those in your avatar? We have two Lhasa Apsos.

Snow is headed our way (I think) here in New England for tomorrow. Will be the first of the season. Not really looking forward to it, since I still have my Goodyear Eagle F1's on the GLI (i.e., goes nowhere in snow). May be a work-from-home day :D.

It's not so much the snow I mind, it's the aftermath of all the sand on the roads. You guys get that much out there in CO?

They use chemical treatments for the roads out here. It yields a whole other set of issues. A car or bike covered in it needs to be cleaned as soon as possible to prevent corrosion.
As I discovered this morning, while they plow the paths, that does not mean they are clear. I negotiated 10 miles of hard packed snow and ice this morning. At least the warm up is beginning.

yeah theres still some dicy spots in fort collins. i switched to 38c knobbies the night it snowed, which totally kills my commute time and i keep waiting for the roads to be clear enough so i can switch back to my slick 25s. this morning it was close once i got onto the big arterial, but the neighborhood streets are still a rink. supposed to be 40 and sunny today so maybe it'll burn that off and let me get back to slicks tomorrow.

last week was pretty harrowing, i can handle cold, i can handle ice, i can handle snow, but it was a lot to do at once. particularly since i commute from 5:30 to 6:30 am, when its coldest. and still dark. for 15 miles.

They use chemical treatments for the roads out here. It yields a whole other set of issues. A car or bike covered in it needs to be cleaned as soon as possible to prevent corrosion.


Ah....that doesn't sound like fun (or very healthy). I would assume though that it clears the roads pretty fast with minimal "mess" left on the roads?

It is supposed to keep the roads from freezing. While it does work and is less annoying than sand it leaves everything dirty as all heck.

This morning's ride was stressful. The ride home was almost as bad. While it did hit 57 today, parts of the trails I use are still frozen. Ah well. Time to use the light rail for a day. I just do not find snow that amusing. Perhaps, if I had a wider tire than 28mm.

I'm sure a cyclocross tire would fare pretty well, since it's skinny enough to slice through the snow, but still give you some grip.

I'm going to purchase a new wheelset like Mavic Aksiums for my eventual roadie build. In the meantime I was going to use them as a backup for my touring bike. However, I may throw my 28s on the Aksiums (provided that it goes that wide) and purchase wider and nobbier tires for the touring bike. Then after the roadie is built I will take the 28s off and purchase a third wheelset. That should annoy my wife. :p
I'm making this way to dang complicated.

Reading your sig, I'm assuming you like PB&J's.....kinda weird, but about a month or two ago, I started having HUGE cravings for them. Hadn't had one in years...come to think of it, since I was a kid. Now, I can't get enough of them. I could seriously eat like 4 of them right now.

My other recent favorite is tuna sandwiches, but I add some black pepper, thyme, and either celery salt or oregano (depending upon what I grab first) and mix that in with the tuna. Gotta use Miracle Whip too instead of mayo, and then slice up some tomatos and toss on those nice pre-sliced sandwich pickles onto some wheat bread, and yer good to go.

Dammit, now I'm hungry.

LOL! I would also be hungry after your post if I was not already eating a donut. Whoever brought these in to work this morning needs to be shot. :p

I like donuts.....original glazed from Krispy Kreme, or if I'm at Dunkin Donuts, either the honey dipped (glazed) or chocolate frosted.

Hum. I haven't had a honey dipped donut from D&D in years. I don't eat donuts very often...can count on one hand the number of times per year I do....but now they're sounding really good.

I really need to stop thinking/talking about food. I still have another 10 pounds to lose to hit my target (and we all know, the final 10 are the hardest).

I hit my target last summer. I'm sure I've rebounded in the other direction a little.
I had to increase my food intake to make it through the week without collapsing. 45 miles a day does that to you. An excuse to eat! :p

yeah theres still some dicy spots in fort collins. i switched to 38c knobbies the night it snowed, which totally kills my commute time and i keep waiting for the roads to be clear enough so i can switch back to my slick 25s. this morning it was close once i got onto the big arterial, but the neighborhood streets are still a rink. supposed to be 40 and sunny today so maybe it'll burn that off and let me get back to slicks tomorrow.

last week was pretty harrowing, i can handle cold, i can handle ice, i can handle snow, but it was a lot to do at once. particularly since i commute from 5:30 to 6:30 am, when its coldest. and still dark. for 15 miles.
Everything was pretty clear on my ride today. Occassionally, at intersections there are still some frozen patches with ruts. I ride through the Edora Park parking lot. That's quite a challenge. There were some spots where I got off and walked. All five days last week, and so far, both days this week. When's the next snow? Looking forward to it!

Some of the folks at work asked me, "Did you ride to work today?". I stole another BF member answer and told them, "Heavens, yes. I'd hate to drive a car in these conditions".:D

i used to live on that side of town and rode thru the edora parking lot when that block of timberline was closed last summer, so i know what youre talking about. now i'm over by city park and i work in loveland so i take shields all the way down. the coutry road south of harmony is in great shape, but yeah theres still some nasty intersections in town. Theyre really inconsistent in terms of whether they plow bike lanes or not, it changes from block to block.

The worst is that my cul de sac is still a big long ice rink, so even though the rest of the commute is mostly slick ready, i need knobbies to get to the end of my block. guess i'll keep them on through the weekend at least. but yeah, even though its stressful, it beats the hell out of driving on I-25 in this crap.

What kind of dogs are those in your avatar? We have two Lhasa Apsos.

Snow is headed our way (I think) here in New England for tomorrow. Will be the first of the season. Not really looking forward to it, since I still have my Goodyear Eagle F1's on the GLI (i.e., goes nowhere in snow). May be a work-from-home day :D.

It's not so much the snow I mind, it's the aftermath of all the sand on the roads. You guys get that much out there in CO?

GuitarWizard, my dogs are alittle Westy and a minature schnazer. They are great dogs.

Its funny that you asked about the snow. No we don't usually get that much snow in Colorado on the front range. The mountains yes, but not the front range. Its been usually cold the last few weeks so the snow is still melting :( WAH!!

Heh....I like small dogs; wouldn't trade mine for anything.

I was always under the impression Colorado got buried with snow, but over the last few weeks of reading up on the Denver area, I'm finding that's not the case. A close friend of my gf's family lived out there for years, and moved back east due to the "harsh" winters out there, or so I was told. Soooooo.....now my gf doesn't really want to move out there because of what she's heard about the winters out there, but I do. She wants to move to South Carolina, and that is simply not an option. The really funny part is she hates hot weather and humidity...but, her best friend is going to be moving down there in a few years with her significant other and she wants to be near her.

I hope she enjoys South Carolina :D

Winters are fairly easy here. I had a worst time in my hometown, Richland Washington. Very little snow but plenty of wind and occasional freezing rain. Very few cold weather related events trump freezing rain. ugh

i spent 4 years in colorado, then 6 in chicago, and now 2 more back here and colorado winter is so cake compared to chicago.

we get like 300 days of sunshine a year and even when it does snow itsusually gone ina couple of days.

though i will say this particular dumping has been on the ground for an unusually long time. product of a snow immeiately followed by a subfreezing streak.

It's 18 degrees and windy as hell here in CT at 8 a.m. today :(

Hopefully it warms up a bit so I can ride somewhat comfortably later on.

get ready

It's already here. I took the train in and the few coworkers at work thought I was nuts. That and themselves since most are heading home. Imagine if I had cycled in.

Yeah I'm staying home today. I'll do most winter storms... not blizzards.

I was all ready to go out the door on my bike, and my boss called and said they're not opening the office today. :(

I'm getting ready to run to the store, instead.

I feel like complaining. It is bad enough that I decided to go to work. However, my wife took the kid to daycare on her day off so she could go into work in a blizzard to finish her employee schedule. WTF?
The daycare even mentioned that they wanted to close early. ugh!

I was all ready to go out the door on my bike, and my boss called and said they're not opening the office today. :(

I'm getting ready to run to the store, instead.

Yay for snow rides! It's seriously the funnest ever. It's only good on the first day, once the foot prints and tire tracks freeze up, it's not as much fun.

riding the 4 miles home yesterday morning wasn't too bad, other than the wind gusts. (i work 7p-7a nights)

i skied to work last night, and will be skiing home with fresh tracks in another two hours!

i'll agree with a few of the others. after two winters in the boston area, winter on the front range is cake.

Man I wish I was back in Raton - SNOW DAY! I could be beating around on my snow bike pulling Texan Suburbans out of the bar ditches! ;)

3 foot snow drifts with a howling wind is easy?
Well, compared with freezing rain I guess so. That and our population density is far lower. Just wish they had a few more snowplows. :rolleyes:

Snowplows weren't really the problem... too many people out on the roads. The plows they do have spent a LOT of time stuck yesterday because of all the fools out driving around in that crap. Didn't help that people were getting stuck and abandoning their cars in the middle of roads.

Not to mention that with up to 3" an hour of snowfall, it'd be damn near impossible to keep the streets plowed decently, anyway.

Very true. However, you forgot the wind. I imagine with that wind shortly after plowing a road it would be covered up again.
That reminds me, I should invest in a set of snowshoes or cross country skis.

so, is Jason Abernethy on this board?
http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//Snowstorm.sff_COAO103_20061220145937.jpg

article (http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20061221/D8M5D3PO0.html)

Yeah, conditions were PERFECT for cross country skies. Wish I had a pair lying around.

Yeah, conditions were PERFECT for cross country skies. Wish I had a pair lying around.


Yep, it was! Broke trail on the way in last night, skiing home this morning, was able to get a decent kick/glide going by sticking in some truck tire tracks.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=254630

(you'll have to reg to see the pics, i think. snow ride of the other day, and skiing home this morning.)

Ready for part Deux???? Forecast says up to two more feet. :) Have fun and be safe out there!

Guys, how do you even ride in snow? I'm not going to try it with my only bike (which I don't know how to clean), but here's the problems I imagine....

1. Many times the effort to power through inches of the stuff
2. Making a total mess of your bike (and yourself)
3. Dangerously slick conditions = not something you want to worry about in traffic!
4. Putting a foot/your feet down constantly due to ice, snow ridges, continually uneven terrain, ect.
5. Pissing off already on-edge and cranky drivers on more narrow-than-usual roads

Of course, I don't ride in rain either, so I still have a lot to learn/buy. At least I can understand how simple cold temperatures can be mitigated by wearing the proper clothing.

Guys, how do you even ride in snow?

Just stay in this kid's tracks. This was taken from my front door on Friday.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p13/samsea/DSCN0399.jpg