Friday, December 11, 2009

deep freeze


(Not my bike - we don't have snow... yet!)

The Seattle area has had quite a bit of cold weather lately, cold air that has drifted its way down from British Columbia and the Yukon.

With overnight temps in the teens, something we don't get around here much in the 30+ years I've lived in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, I have chickened out of the bike commuting this week, mainly due to concerns about black ice. My commute has me riding through a construction area which often has water running across the shoulder or the street - this condition has existed prior to the construction - and I'm concerned hitting this area could lead to a broken collar bone, wrist, arms, rib, or worse. (I'd read stories online of other bike commuters doing these things while crossing icy bridges or overpasses).

So, yeah, I'm a chicken this week, but at least I won't be on crutches for Christmas. I intend to drag out the trainer this weekend so I can still get some "miles" in and in the meanwhile, I'm hoping for rainy weather in the 40s returns soon... that's pretty twisted and sick, huh?

Note: I'd love to test ride a set of Schwalbe Marathon Winter HS396 studded bicycle tires and write a review if anyone has some to loan me :) One of our LBS here in Renton, GHY Bikes, has them in-stock and they're around $80 each if I remember correctly.

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