So Friday's ride home was a notable one. By the time I left the office we had 4"-5" of snow on the ground with 20+ mph winds blowing it around and making for some drifts. The temp was somewhere around 8F and the wind chill was around -11F. To get home I had to ride straight into the wind. The plows had only cleared off the main thoroughfares, which meant every car in town was trying to use those roads. I opted to take the MUP even though I'd be riding through uncleared snow.
I knew it would be a slow ride on the MUP, which didn't really bother me. Given the temps the snow was powdery and hadn't yet been trampled down by pedestrians and other bicycles, so it wasn't too bad blazing a trail through the virgin snow. A couple of times I felt my wheels leave the pavement as this section of the trail is anything but a straight line, and I couldn't see anything but white snow so I was riding by memory. It took 1/2 an hour to go the three miles I had to ride on the MUP. So, 6 mph average. Not bad, really, considering the conditions.
Then I got off the MUP for the last mile home, which takes me up a steep hill. This road hadn't yet been plowed, but the snow had been packed down by hundreds of cars so it had the consistency of damp sand. My wheels would ride over the top of the compacted snow rather than cutting a path through it. The compacted snow didn't have much grip on the pavement, so it would slide out from under me. I had to put my bike in the my lowest "ridiculous" granny gear (22 front ring, 34 rear cog) and even then at times I had to stand up to force the bike through the muck. Holding a straight line was absolutely impossible. I'm sure I looked like a clown as I weaved back and forth across the road barely holding any speed. My odometer told me that in this one mile stretch I nearly doubled that mileage when accounting for the actual path I rode. I was so unstable that any time a car came I would pull over and let the car pass so I didn't risk suddenly darting out in front of them, which was good because my heart rate was stratospheric and I needed a rest anyway. A couple times I had to pull over without a car passing just to try and catch my breath. It took more than 1/2 hour of high intensity effort to ride that final mile. When I finally made it home, I was completely drenched head-to-toe and a physical wreck. I was so wiped out that I felt like crap the rest of the evening and actually cancelled our plans to go see a basketball game because of my condition. In retrospect I probably could have gotten off the bike and walked the last mile faster than I rode it, but where's the challenge with that?
So fast forward to this morning. Last night Google told me the temp would be about 9F for my ride to the client location. I didn't even check our thermometer when I left the house. About a half mile down the road I thought, "Sure feels colder than 9F." When I checked my phone, sure enough it was 1F with a -16F wind chill. Thankfully the wind was at my back so once I got warmed up it wasn't too bad of a ride.
When I got to the client's office, I walked in the door and saw... darkness. I'd forgotten today was MLK day and they're closed. It's not a holiday at the company for whom I work, so this fact completely slipped my mind. I weighed my options: 1. Head back out the door and fight the wind 8 miles to our office. 2. Head back home and fight the wind 4 miles there, try to work remotely and probably don't get much done with my wife and son at home. Or, 3. Just stay at the client location and work like I normally do, albeit in a completely quiet office. I opted for option 3. I'll probably get more done with nobody to interrupt me. I'll get the coffeepot to myself, and there's no risk of anyone bringing in doughnuts or bagels to temp me to eat something I shouldn't.
Don't tell anyone, but seeing as I was the only person here I decided to just change my clothes in my cube.