In Which I Dodge Snow for 30 Miles

On Dec. 26, I had a pretty afternoon Boxing Day ride. It was cool, and my feet did get painfully chilled on the ride, but I enjoyed very pretty skies as the lengthening day faded. Lengthening, but still short—these are days when lights on the bike are a must.

Anyway, I thought it might be my last ride of 2020 because snow was in the forecast and did fall Sunday.

But it was less than an inch, and I had to go to campus for a few hours Monday. I hate to drive to campus when there are perfectly good bicycles in the world, particularly in my garage.

My mountain bike on driveway awaiting departure.

Still, a Monday ride was a gamble. I had shoveled my sidewalk, but the long ride up the hill on C Avenue would be on a walkway not yet cleared. And while part of the route would be on important streets that had been cleared by the city, more of the ride would be on quiet streets that I was pretty sure would not have been scraped.

As I wait for light at Collins Road, I look back at uncleared sidewalk that I just rode on. The narrow track is from my tyres--the wider one is where I put my foot down both to aid braking and prevent a spill as I came to a stop.

I have a sad history with snow and ice. My only bad fall was on E Avenue one January day when the hybrid bike I rode back then slipped out from under me and I landed hard on my left knee, making that knee sore and stiff for many months. Joints heal slowly and incompletely, I’ve found.

But, I didn’t have a mountain bike back then. And up to 8 inches of snow are expected Tuesday, which no doubt will cause a longer pause in my biking.

For my final ride of 2020, I rode The Fancy Best today. There were times when I was on a street where the traffic had packed the snow into a slick looking glaze when I wondered at the wisdom of what I was doing. And it was even colder today than on Saturday when I almost froze my feet. Today, I wore insulated boots and my feet were fine. And despite the scary appearance of some slick streets, I was fine. I rode very slowly, kept a wary eye out and paid a lot of attention to whether the bike seemed stable, but there was nary a slip.

Pausing on F Avenue just south of 42nd Street. From here, I rode very slowly.

So, between Saturday and Monday, I dodged snow for some 30 miles. And that probably concludes the biking adventures for this year.