Welcome to spring in South Dakota. Woke up to 3+ inches of wet, heavy snow and still falling. Pulled the winter bike down from storage. I knew I was tempting fate two weeks ago when I cleaned it up, lubed and adjusted it before I put it away for the season. Looks like I get to do that again.

Temps were hovering right above freezing and there was a steady north wind. I made it less than three miles into today's eight mile commute when my chain started skipping. Ice had built up in the cassette and derailleur and quickly turned my 21 speed drivetrain into a 0 speed. I pulled over under an overpass and tried to clean it out the best I could with a stick. I managed to get one really low gear working and continued on towards work.

About every mile and a half the ice would build up again and I'd have to stop and use the stick to try and unjam the cassette again to get this granny gear working. Slow going.

I made it within two blocks of the office and was waiting at a stop sign, when some yahoo in a car thought it would be funny to swerve over through a deep puddle as he crossed in front of me and completely soak me with a tsunami of slushy water. Idiot.

I was tempted to work from home this morning, but I had a meeting scheduled so I decided to brave the ride to the office. The way this day has been going so far I suspect the person I'm meeting with is going to cancel on me anyway.

Most days, bicycle commuting really isn't that hard. Today, not so much.