A brief
Florida vacation got unintentionally extended by one day by the blizzard (Jet Blue just didn't want to fly on Tuesday), one of those no-sympathy situations. Did note some nice looking bike paths on Sanibel Island, something for another trip. Managed to get back in time to practice my other Winter sport (snow shoveling).
Back home and back to work, and finally back on the bike, a 10-mile ride this evening to Lexington Center, mostly on the Minuteman, with light snow and temperatures falling into the 20s accompanied by a wind that rose as the ride unfolded. Took the Winter bike, my 1987 GT Karakoram, a rigid 26" mountain bike running Nokian W240s, studded tires with an aggressive tread.
The roads in Arlington were mostly clear but rendered narrower by the snowbanks on either side, and at least one driver was definitely unnerved and somewhat dangerous... they get that way any time the weather is noticeable. With narrower lanes to play with, I found myself getting cut off by cars--and one bus--a couple of times.
The Minuteman, once I reached it, was plowed and rideable (with treads and studs, anyway) in both the Arlington and Lexington segments, with surfaces mostly packed snow, some bare pavement, some ice. Kudos to the Arlington DPW and the Friends of Lexington Bikeways for moving all that snow. It's a good time to pitch in a few bucks with
Friends of Lexington Bikeways to help get rid of the next storm's load.
The Egg made it through the blizzard.
Most every cyclist I encountered was running studs tonight, with the possible exception of one vexed rider who was cussing a blue streak while pedaling down the hill into Arlington Center.
The tracks in the snow suggest that some folks rode straight, some rode curly (apologies to John Prine).
Some snowflakes blazed through the headlights like meteors, some floated companionably along with me in a tailwind.
Arlington's Great Meadow's snow pack glowed faintly in the diffuse light.
There were three bad patches on the Arlington segment of the Minuteman, brief fields of deeper, soft snow that courted skids, one adjacent to Russell Place, the other two in the vicinity of the skating rink. All seem to have been unintended side effects of either the plowing of the path, or perhaps, in the case of Russell Place, of folks operating snowblowers adjacent to the path (oops!). Lexington had a soft patch, too, up near the Center where the kids from Cottage Street have improvised a little sled run again this year.
There's a hard freeze in progress, so some of tonight's snow is likely to be tomorrow's ice.
rod