A Wee Early Yet.
As my car slid laterally for a brief moment as I drove through the wide, sweeping turn on Raspberry next to the Dome, I was reminded that, yes, ice is still a thing.
This was new ice. A puddle from the melting snowbanks that had glazed over quite nicely overnight, and thus not subjected to sanding or other impurities that might make it less slippery. Ice is everywhere in town, but most of it is so dirty that it provides decent traction. For the most part it's melting, draining away, and evaporating. However, where it puddles it freezes each night, then melts by afternoon. Or not. It's the "or not" that's making me cautious at the moment. Sometimes the water sits on the top of the ice, and what appears to be a puddle that will merely get you wet and miserable turns out to have the potential to make you broken and miserable.
As I've learned, it doesn't take much lateral movement to take you out on a bike- especially when you're not ready for it. An injury at this point in the season... well, the season hasn't even started yet. I need to remind myself of that every time I get tempted by the siren song of a short stretch of dry pavement.
I can wait a week or so for conditions to improve. I don't care if I was on the road a couple weeks earlier last year. That was last year. This year is different. Slightly colder temperatures and later snow means the white stuff that's out there isn't going as fast as I'd like.
I can wait, but it's not getting any easier.
This was new ice. A puddle from the melting snowbanks that had glazed over quite nicely overnight, and thus not subjected to sanding or other impurities that might make it less slippery. Ice is everywhere in town, but most of it is so dirty that it provides decent traction. For the most part it's melting, draining away, and evaporating. However, where it puddles it freezes each night, then melts by afternoon. Or not. It's the "or not" that's making me cautious at the moment. Sometimes the water sits on the top of the ice, and what appears to be a puddle that will merely get you wet and miserable turns out to have the potential to make you broken and miserable.
As I've learned, it doesn't take much lateral movement to take you out on a bike- especially when you're not ready for it. An injury at this point in the season... well, the season hasn't even started yet. I need to remind myself of that every time I get tempted by the siren song of a short stretch of dry pavement.
I can wait a week or so for conditions to improve. I don't care if I was on the road a couple weeks earlier last year. That was last year. This year is different. Slightly colder temperatures and later snow means the white stuff that's out there isn't going as fast as I'd like.
I can wait, but it's not getting any easier.
Comments
Post a Comment