I don't suppose that DC drivers could be convinced to just learn to drive on ice? Only highways and expressways are salted here, and we seem to get along just fine. Hills and four-ways on lower speed roads are merely graveled (which makes for amazingly terrible gravel drifts come spring, but the city is mandated to clear them out by late May, I believe).

Full on heatwave here, with temps into the lower 20s (F)! It always amazes me how warm reasonable winter temps feel after a cold snap. Much like the wind, acclimatization can be a beautiful thing when it goes in the right direction.

Unfortunately, warm temps plus fresh snow makes for a sweaty ride. Especially when one attempts to ride off trail! The Fish Creek estuary, swampy in the summer, freezes solid in the winter and is commonly used as a skier's shortcut from my neighborhood to the Coastal Trail. I though that I might try biking it on the way home tonight, because how hard could it be to stay on the packed ski track? Well, when the track is only 3" wide and buried under several inches of fresh snow, considerably hard, it turns out. Had to push through the grassy bits, could ride over the solid ice bits, but overall my shortcut was pretty much a longcut.



^From the railroad trail that links the estuary to my neighborhood, lights are only on because the iPhone takes terrible night photos; I had more than enough ambient light from the city glow reflecting off of the snow to navigate by. The trail had a few hills so steep that I couldn't gear low enough to ride up in the fresh snow, and had to walk. I think that I might swap out the 36t chainring for a 32t for the remainder of the winter.