In Which I Wish For Dry Pavement

My sidewalk, after shoveling this morning. It looked better late afternoon after the sun was shining on it, but I do not think the C Avenue sidewalk has been cleared and I doubt most of the streets on my bike route were plowed today.

Well, the day was not so bad today. I had to shovel snow, but it was only a couple of inches of fairly light white stuff.

After photographing the first snowfall, I spent the bulk of the afternoon grading papers. Not a terribly exciting afternoon, and not much that makes a biker’s blood pump faster, but it was that kind of day. My wife and I even managed an afternoon stroll to the local HyVee Drug Store, and I just enjoyed a Blue Moon, which is part of the groceries we picked up.

I don’t think we would want to be walking up there now. We are at 10 degrees and headed down, and the wind chill is already minus 4.

With the snow we had Saturday, and the expected windy, cold night, my chances of biking Monday are very low. I don’t have a winter beater bike ready at the moment, and even if I did, I don’t want to face too much ice even on a mountain bike—and from what I could see of side street conditions today, ice will be an issue Monday. It didn't snow enough for Cedar Rapids to plow many side streets, so that special white icy glaze that is a feature of Cedar Rapids streets in winter is likely to prevail.

I will attempt, this winter, to ride as much as I can—but I will also attempt to avoid riding on ice.

We’ll see what the week brings. It will start, I’m afraid, with me driving a Mercury rather than riding on a bike.

But maybe, after a few sunny days, things may improve. Where the snow was shoveled this morning, the pavement will probably be pretty bare by tomorrow, if the wind doesn’t shift the show around too much.

Wish me luck, bike blog pals! May the sun shine strike some bare pavement enough to clear me a biking path. I’ll let you know when I’m back on two wheels, but I’m pretty certain it won’t be Monday.