Hey y'all. I haven't posted in a while; the last "how was your commute" thread that I participated in was the 2011 version. Since then my commute has gone from 2 miles to 7, which is awesome, and this past December I put together a dedicated winter bike, a Surly Pugsley, which is also awesome, if not awesomer. As per Murphy's Law, the winter I built a fat bike has turned out to be one of the mildest winters on record, with as much rain as snow falling (and then immediately freezing) on Anchorage. Weird winter all around North America, eh Polar vortex sufferers?
And now Spring is trying to... spring, with daytime temps up to 40°F and clear sunny skies slowly melting the winter's worth of ice. Of course it still drops to 10°F or so every night, so the thaw is slow, and the morning ride is slick, so I foresee studded tires in my future for many more weeks to come. Because, while there's a lot of dry pavement around, there's also this:
And this:
And this; look at that sissy boy walking around the flow. Saddle up and ride the ice dragon bro! You've nothing to fear except gravity and broken bones:
Seriously though, get some studs, because I rode over this just fine, and then almost ate it when I stopped and put a foot down to snap a pic:
Water in the tunnel? Huh, it looks like choppy ice to me. I rode over this yesterday and this morning and nothing happened other than a four inch wide rooster tail (god I want fenders):
Yeah, so I'm just gonna ride through like usual and SWEET JESUS JONES!
Okay, so only I made it about two bike lengths in before I broke through, nearly tipped all the way over into the drink, then splashed out on foot, pushing the bike. Turns out that chopped ice surface is only a couple of inches thick, under which is about 6 inches of water. After making my way through, I pushed the bike back into tunnel for a pic. Can't complain too much, though, as I had waterproof boots, and got a free rim wash out of the deal. Gotta love breakup season.