Retro Grouch 

Looking out my window watching the plow guy clearing around 9" of snow from the condo lot. High temperature today is projected to be -3F.

Back in my "Dirt Dudes" mountain biking days this weather would not constitute an excused absence. Skip a Saturday and you might have to wear a tutu the next week. Uphills were hard because you had no momentum or traction. Downhills were interesting. Heat from our brakes would melt the snow and moisten our rims. Then cold temperatures would glaze ice onto the brake surface. The only way to slow down was to find some deeper snow to steer into and hope there wasn't something bad under there.

I don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

VegasTriker

I was living in the Midwest 40 years ago during the last really cold snap. There was a period of two weeks in January when the temperature did not go above zero degrees F. It happens that was the year I was car-free and relied on a Honda 350 motorcycle and a bike to get around. It wasn't very smart to ride the motorcycle when the roads were snow covered so the bike was my main form of transportation. If I wore enough clothes to stay warm on the bike I would have to quickly shed a few layers upon entering a building or get overheated. It was a road bike with narrow tires so it didn't give the best traction. I bowled over a young lady once. She stepped off the curb in front of me and I couldn't stop in time. Neither of us was hurt by the incident.

It's nice to look out the window this morning and see bright sunlight. It probably reached freezing overnight but yesterday was in the upper 50s with a light wind by noon. Rode 15 miles with a group and the only person to complain about the "cold" was a teenage kid who came wearing bike shorts and a long sleeve jersey. He wasn't the only person riding in shorts.

David Bierbaum

I honestly think the snow is deeper than the front wheel of your recumbent, RG!

I am trying to console myself with the fact that this deepfreeze will be greatly curtailing the insect population for next Spring. Looking at the 14" of snow on my driveway, which I will wait until tomorrow to clear, thank you, I need all the consolation I can get, to counter the abomination of my desolation at the devastation that snow will wreak upon my poor back.

I have a snow blower... with flat wheels that refuse to take air, and an engine that will not turn over until my deltoid detaches from it's moorings. And, whenever I used it, the snow ALWAYS blew back into my face...

dbg

I shovel. And this past week has exceeded any totals in the 20 years I've lived at this address. I usually still ride to the train station and sub zero makes the snow easier to ride ...as long as it's plowed. Problem today is the high winds and drifting. Can't ride through drifts well at all --so I wimped out today.

I too remember that year in the midwest when we spent several solid weeks of temperatures below zero F.

stapfam

Just wondering if we are going to get snow this year. Floods and wind is our problem this year but when it snows- there is only one place to go and that is up on the hills.



Taken last year-Haven't got out in the wind this year yet.



But mountain biking is also about get muddy.

NOS88

Me too, and I never did!