Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Snow + bike = sore morning

We got a few inches of snow yesterday. The flakes were light and small in the coldish temps (0F or colder). And I needed to get home, 7.5 miles from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul.

Traffic in downtown was snarled. The roads were slow, and people would creep into the intersection on a green or yellow (or red!) and would be stuck there, blocking traffic for one or more lanes. And then the honking would ensue. It did everyone a great bit of good, as you can imagine.

The trip takes me about 30 minutes on clear, dry roads in 3 season temps. Snow and/or cold increases my time my an exceptional margin. Yesterday, it took me 80 minutes to get home. It took a buddy of mine 90 minutes, by car, to get from downtown Minneapolis to Inver Grove Heights. Ouch.

I spent the majority of my time on the sidewalks. The snow was simple powder and not packed down, unlike the snow on the roads. The only hard areas were when the snow was not shoveled from our storm this past weekend, and the lower layer was iced. Add some snow on top of compacted ice created exceptional difficulties. This morning, my shoulders are sore from the vibration of the handlebars.

Also, it was -30 (F) in northern Minnesota yesterday morning. Exciting!

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