Snow, snow, snow.

As most of you know, it really snowed on Friday here in North Texas. We got about 6 inches at my house, and of course I had to ride in it. It has taken me a few days to get around to posting my report, and I'm sorry. I know that all of you were waiting to see what I had to say about the storm, and to keep you all hanging is unconscionable.

I took my phone screenshot a little later in the day but aside from the time not much changed, display wise. 

We took a vote in the house and decided that pancakes were again the order of the day, so I got bundled up, took off for the store, and fell about six times in the fresh powder. Not just because there was ice hidden under the six inches of snow, but because the snow itself was pretty unstable under two wheels. My first fall was in my driveway, the second in the street at the foot of my driveway, and then about every hundred yards or so. The falls didn't hurt (and I was wearing a helmet, yes) and I learned between falls. By the time I made it to the store I was an old pro at the extreme countersteer and had figured out how to stay up. Mostly. 

I got my groceries (including wine for the wife - crucial supplies) and made my way home without falling once. All of this was happening at about seven thirty in the morning, so there were really no cars around, and it was really cool riding on all of the fresh powder and making the first tracks on my street.

I took this photo after I got home without falling - I put my foot down a few times, but didn't fall. If you look closely at my tires, you will see that they are fairly smooth, and they really didn't treat me very well when I took a little afternoon ride. If I hit deep snow, I ended up falling because my rear tire couldn't get any grip due to the snow in the little bit of tread that was there. I rode around in the afternoon snow for about half an hour until my dog came outside and pulled me over. As I said before she doesn't like bikes (or anything with two wheels) and was very pleased to have caught me. She pulled me over so hard that my saddle got knocked loose from my seatpost, so I took that as a sign that my snow riding day was over. 

It's supposed to snow again on Wednesday of this week, and I have a set of knobby tires mounted to the wheels that originally came on my High Sierra up in the attic. I'm going to get those out and get them put on tomorrow night. If I could count on DART to run when the weather gets bad I'd tell you that I was going to commute on the snow day, but I'm not going to get your hopes up. 

Ridin' Icy.

I said I'd ride today, and for a change, I rode. Then I stood in the cold for 40 minutes and rode back home.

I'm pretty sure that anyone reading this was affected by the giant blizzard storm of aught-eleven, so you already know that here in North Texas we got nothing but ice, and then another night of freezing temperatures. This morning, there were a few dry spots but plenty of ice sheets on the roads, both black and otherwise. I woke up, had coffee, watched the news, and checked the DART website to make sure that the trains were running. While I was disturbed to hear that Oncor was scheduling rolling blackouts, I figured that things like public transportation wouldn't be affected, because those things are important in order to keep us citizens off of the icy and dangerous roads. I loaded up the bike, lowered the tire pressure a bit, and was off.

It really isn't that hard to ride on the ice, I guess. I was able to pick my lines pretty well and only slipped a couple of times, but didn't fall at all - I could feel the rear wheel slide out, but I am apparently incredibly graceful on two wheels and was able to recover my balance immediately. The discovery that I have that kind of skill really pleases me, and I really can't express how much.

I did have my coffee cup holder mounted on the bike today, and had a cup full of coffee in it. I ordered a new fancy schmancy cup to use in it, but for now I am still using the same cup that thows out little spills if it gets to be too rough a ride. On one of my slips today a little bit of java got tossed onto my bars, and when I got to the train station I realized that it was so cold that it had frozen on my bars.

The coffee on my bars.

As I rode up to the platform I actually took my only spill of the day. I hit a patch of ice right as I got to the ticket machine and the bike shot out from under me. Luckily I was able to put my foot down on the one dry patch on the platform and save myself. The bike spun away from me, but didn't sustain any damage.

I stood on the platform waiting for the train about 40 minutes.

I waited until the digital sign above me changed and said "Sorry Suckers, Blackouts Mean No Train for You."

Sadly, it didn't photgraph well.

I rode the bike home, had a few more slippery moments, and even had to dismount a few times because I hit such big patches of ice. I made it home safely and ended up spending the day at home with my family. I did ride to the grocery store in the afternoon for wine restocking,and the route to the store was about 90% clear - there was one bad patch, but I hopped a curb and just rode through the grass. Today was an adventure for sure, and really a lot of fun. The schools are closed again tomorrow, and the roads are still pretty icy, so I'm probably going to make another run at riding the train. If I do, I will try to make a post of it.

I have been saying it for 2 years -finally riding in the snow.

We were awakened at five thirty this morning by the power in the house going out. Thankfully, by the time I found the flashlight the power popped back on. I was a little worried because we have been through a long power outage before and I certainly didn't want to go through it during this cold snap.



Those little white dots on top of the photo represent sleet, and it was coming down hard this morning. I heard a little squeal from the bedroom and I immediately knew that school was canceled and that my daughter and wife would spend the entire day in their pajamas. I, on the other hand, decided that today was the day I would do some snow riding and stop being a wuss.

After everyone woke up we took a vote and decided that pancakes and bacon were the order of the day. We had pancake mix, but our maple syrup supplies were low, and our bacon stash was exhausted. With everyone else in the house calling me crazy I put on my long underwear and my Han Solo jacket, hopped on the High Sierra and spun my way to the store. The sleet on top of the road gave me enough grip to ride and not slide, so the trip to the store was fun but not dangerous at all. I'm guessing that once it warms up a little today that the roads will melt enough to really give us a problem for the morning commute tomorrow.

I got to the empty store without seeing a single car, grabbed the foodstuffs and checked out. Everyone at Tom Thumb knows me as the "bicycle guy", and the checker this morning was shocked that I would ride in this weather. She actually walked me to the door so she could watch me ride away. She asked me, "How do you ride that thing in the snow?". The only answer I could come up with was "very carefully."

I rode home without any real excitement, made breakfast for the ladies, and then got ready for the day. I drove to the office, and as I said, I am worried about tomorrow morning's commute. I'm hoping that my wife's school is closed tomorrow as well so she doesn't have to leave the house again. I'll be riding the bike and the train tomorrow to get in, but I sure don't want her driving, after seeing what the roads are like today.

As the say in the webs, "pics or it didn't happen", and while I don't have any photos of myself riding, I do have a photo of my bike in the snow after I came home.


Saddlebag full of bacon and maple syrup.

It's cold here in Texas.

It's cold (again) here in Dallas, and they tell us we are going to have snow again tomorrow. If we get 2 inches of snow, we will have had the snowiest winter EVER here in North Texas, which is kind of interesting, I guess. I didn't ride the train last week, though I did get a couple of bicycle rides in around the neighborhood. IF it snows tomorrow, and IF I am not a big weenie, I will ride the trian in tomorrow. I do have another post to make about a train trip my daughter and I went on this Saturday. As I've said here before, she is loves trains, so when we had a Daddy/Daughter Saturday to spend together we ended up taking the DART train down to Lovers Lane and having a Krispy Kreme together. I've got photos, but I need to get them off of my camera in order to post the blog here.

I have been hitting the trainer in the garage - that's going well, as is my weight loss regimen. I've been counting my calories with an app on my iPhone, and have lost about 10 pounds over the last couple of weeks. I'm still a damn sight too heavy, but I will be thin by the end of the summer. My goal is about 185 (which is a net loss of 33 pounds, and I think that if I'm careful about what I eat, and if I ride like I did last year, that I should be able to reach that goal. Luckily for me my neighbor has taken up road biking - though I am a little concerned that he is always telling me he averages 25mph. I'll be totally honest with you here and tell you that I generally average about 10mph slower than that, so I don't know how well we will be able to ride together. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to getting things fired up again as the weather warms.

I do have my roll of dollar coins, so I am ready to get on the train as soon as I decide the weather is acceptable to my delicate constitution. I dont' know if you all look forward to these posts, but there will be more of them coming your way very soon.