Today was the kind of day where I really second-guess as to why I commute during the winter.
Yesterday we got about 2" of snow. When it started coming down, the temps were in the 40s. By this morning the temp was 19F. The wind howled all night, topping 50 mph, but by this morning had calmed to about 20 mph.
I rode my winter bike on it's inaugural ride of the season. I put brand new studded tires on about a month ago after I had worn out my previous pair.
The warm ground temps, combined with the cold air temps, combined with the snow made for a layer of very lumpy ice with a crunchy layer of snow on top that was firm to the touch but cracked once weight was placed on it. It felt like riding across a layer of peanut brittle. It wasn't like a finer snow that would easily give way as I plowed through it. This had just enough girth to make my wheels climb over the top of it, but then immediately collapse under the weight of me and the bicycle. It was a tremendous amount of resistance. As I went under bridges I would have a dozen yards or so of clear pavement that reminded me how much this little bit of accumulation was slowing me down.
Originally I was scheduled to ride 8 miles to our office this morning for a meeting, then 9 miles across town to a client's office to finish the day when I would then ride 4 miles home. It didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't have the stamina to go that far on the unplowed roads and MUP, plus the headwind. It wasn't critical that I attend the meeting, so I bailed on it and decided to ride the direct 4 miles to the client location.
Usually on nice days this 4 mile route takes me 15-20 minutes. Today it took me 45. I averaged about 6 mph, and it was everything I had to maintain that pathetic amount of speed. I arrived completely drenched in sweat and am still sucking wind trying to catch my breath as I type this. I am really hoping they have everything plowed by the time I have to ride home this evening.
Now that I'm here my commuting streak remains intact and climbs to 421 days. And I'll probably forget how miserable I was this morning and do it again tomorrow.