slippery cycling
Now that I'm not on a school schedule I find that I have to work a little between Christmas and New Years, but with the weather finally turned wintery I was happy for my chance at the first ice cycling of the season. I only fell twice!
fallen
The path was plowed yesterday but not down to pavement everywhere; and even if it had been it wouldn't have mattered because more freezing drizzle fell overnight, so the whole thing was pretty much a skating rink. In order to stop without falling I had to put a foot down, but even then I slid a good 10 or 20 feet. It was a little surprising the first time, but then I was ready for it.
If the whole surface were flat, I wouldn't have had any problems; once you get used to the disconcerting sensation of the back wheel sliding out from under you you realize you can pull it back in and keep yourself going forward. As I said a couple years ago, ice biking is easy as long as you don't have to speed up, turn, or stop. When the icy ground is uneven, though, things get trickier—and it was just warm enough in the middle of the day yesterday for other cyclists to have left shallow tracks in the ice. It was one of those that brought me down on the way in to work. But the whole thing was so slow—I knew I was pretty much out of control and heading for the side of the path, but I had plenty of time to think about it and my landing was charmingly soft. And all the moments I didn't fall I was reveling in the challenge of the operation.
Unfortunately, I had a deadline to get to work, so in Lexington I abandoned the path in favor of the better-plowed and salted road. And on the way home I was feeling tired and again went most of the way on the streets. But the last little bit was back on the ice, giving me the opportunity to fall one more time just before I got home. Again without damage, so I can look back on the day with nothing but pleasure.
That said, having done it once... I won't complain if conditions are a little better by next week when I have to do it again!