After the Ice has Melted

After having some really nice days throughout December and January, I was pretty happy at the amount of biking I was able to do this winter. True, I was on the treadmill more in January than I was outside, but at least I could satisfy my biking urge from time to time.

Then came February. Whole 'nuther story. With snow on top of snow on top of ice and more snow, there was no chance for me to attempt a ride. A few brave townies were getting out on the streets, but out here in the country the road conditions were pretty well impossible.

So the ice and snow finally melted enough for me to chance it yesterday. I did a fairly short ride on my Specialized hybrid over the most exposed part of the bike trail between Hamel and Staunton. There were still several stretches that I had to walk. I tried riding through the shallow snow, but found that there was still quite a bit of ice under that snow. There was also a cake of ice throughout the trail in Worden, which I realized was the result of the snow getting packed down by four-wheel ATV riders riding on the trail. It's illegal to do, though I mostly see the problem on the unpaved sections of the trails where the four-wheelers tear up the surface.

It was 50 degrees F yesterday, and I wore shorts, but didn't think about the freezing spray of melting slush on my feet and ankles. Even with fenders I got wet from the knees down. But after a few miles I warmed up and had a good ride.

Today looks like a repeat of yesterday's temperatures and wind, but cloudy instead of sunny, so that makes it seem even cooler to me. But I'm pulling out the 1961 Raleigh 3-speed for today's ride and planning to wear street clothes. I purposely have no bike computer on the Raleigh. I don't know how fast I go or how many miles, though I can usually guess pretty closely if I want to. The idea is to just ride with my head up, look around and enjoy my ride.

I did end up getting a new set of alloy Northroads handlebars and stem for the Raleigh. The original handlebars and the replacement Raleigh stem looked great, but I could not get my position right. The original Raleigh stems are only 5.5 inches long, so I couldn't get enough height. And I found a nice replacement handlebar that were longer in the straight section sweeping back. This has improved my position a lot, and I plan to continue tweaking this bike so I can enjoy longer and longer rides on it.