I was nearly defeated by the weather, but I prevailed! Yesterday it was raining and cold, so my bike got soaked. This morning I woke to see the ground covered in ice, with a nice layer of ice pellets on top. Thankfully, I had installed my winter tire and did some other tune ups the night before, so I wasn't too worried about traction. However, I did run into trouble just a few minutes into the ride: my brakes froze!

It would seem that the rain from yesterday had worked its way into the brake lines and froze soon after hitting the cold air. Luckily I was still on the side streets, but I had to use my feet to stop! I limped home and got to work restoring my brakes.

With a bit of a struggle, I managed to free the cables from the housings. I wiped the cables down with a dry cloth, then flushed the housings with WD-40. I then packed the ends of the housings with marine grade grease, which I'd been intending to use for a while, but never got around to it. With everything put together again, and more globs of grease anywhere water could get in, I set out again. The brakes worked perfectly, smooth as silk.

Mother Nature slowed me down this morning, but she didn't stop me. Boo-yah!