Same story of the week: ice.

25°F this morning but no wind (yet) which is really weird for South Dakota. 98% humidity though, so that made the chill go right through me and it felt colder than it actually was.

It unexpectedly turned into an interesting commute. I am working at a different location this morning so I took a less used route for me. One portion was on a MUP that was covered with a lot more ice than I expected, and I was expecting quite a bit. Not riding studded tires today due to the distances I'll be riding and the fact that it's supposed to be 50 degrees by noon.

At one point I was riding over a fairly large expanse of ice when suddenly it gave way and I discovered the puddle was about 4" deep. One foot got wet, which then proceeded to turn into a frozen sock puppet a couple miles down the road.

However a more interesting event was that about a mile later I came to a downhill section and went to shift into a higher gear and... nothing. The puddle had splashed water on my derailleur which then proceeded to freeze in place. I broke it loose with my hands and got the bike into the right gear. Must have still been moisture in the drivetrain though because every time I wanted to shift the rest of the way to work I had to stop and break the frozen derailleur free again. I finally got tired of it and just picked one gear and didn't shift.

Then, the next surprise came when I was getting ready to leave the MUP and get back on the streets. I hit the brakes to make the curve and... nothing. Surprise! The water from the puddle had frozen on my rims which meant I had no brakes. I aborted the turn and went straight on the MUP until I was able to slow myself down. Took about 1/2 mile of pedaling while engaging the brakes until I heated everything up enough to melt the ice and let the brakes start working again.