Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1614:

Today wasn't the most challenging commute I've had this winter, but it was the most challenging I've had in probably the last month.

We received 2+" of fresh snow yesterday. It started with a couple hours of steady rain, which left a nice wet layer underneath the new snow. Then the temps dropped into the teens causing all that wet, slushy stuff to freeze solid into ruts and chunks of ice. Then the wind came up hard and blew drifts of snow over the top of everything.

When my alarm went off I could hear the wind howling. That never puts me in a good frame of mind for the commute. The temp was 14°F, and it's supposed to continuously drop throughout the day. Had to fight the 20+ mph wind on the way to the office, but at least I should get a good push home.

Because of the rough surfaces caused by the frozen stuff, I chose to ride the fat bike. That turned out to be the correct choice as there were a lot of spots I slowly rode through where the thinner mountain bike tires would have forced me to walk. Even with the fat bike, there were a couple of places where the snow drifts were 2+ feet deep completely blocking the MUP and requiring me to carry the bike for many yards until it got shallow enough to ride again.

Between the temp and the wind I was pretty cold when I arrived at the office 4 miles and 40 minutes later. But I made it, so that's what counts.