Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1630:

First commute of the year on the road bike! I felt like a wild man. Seriously, it's amazing how much faster this bike is compared to my others. I can average 3 mph faster than my hybrid bike and feel like I'm putting less effort into pedaling.

I'd say 80% of the snow has melted. There are still areas with mounds of dirty snow where snow shovels and removal equipment had piled it up. They sit there looking like tiny glaciers. But the pavement it nearly completely clear now. Most of the snow and ice patches that linger can easily be ridden around.*

Google said 34°F and my kitchen thermometer said 40°F. I wore my regular full finger cycling gloves instead of my winter gloves. I think Google was closer to accurate as my fingers were pretty numb. But there was hardly any wind so that helped. It's supposed to be in the upper 60s for the ride home so I packed a pair of shorts. That will feel really nice after this long winter.

*Had one "OS" moment. As I was going under an overpass that I knew previously had several inches of rutted ice, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was mostly clear with just some standing water on the pavement. "The last few days of warm temps must have melted it off!" I thought to myself. I didn't slow down. As I hit what I thought was standing water, I was surprised to discover it was actually the same patch of thick rutted ice hiding in the reflection of the sun. At that point there was nothing I could do but hold on. Somehow I made it across the bumpy ice without hitting the ground or puncturing a skinny road bike tire. I'll have to learn from this incident and take heed going forward, as it looks like this stretch of rutted ice is going to stick around for a while.