I think that today was the most extraordinary day of biking ever. I was lying in bed. The clock alarm had just woken me up. People were hysterical.
There’s ice everywhere!
There’s water everywhere!
Environment Canada has issued more warnings!
I smile slowly crept across my face. This, I thought, is going to be fun, and rolled out of bed.
The city was ready and had salted the roads in advance, so they were in pretty good shape. As usual, the sidewalks were abysmal. Want to sit in your nice warm car, with the radio on, sipping your coffee? Enjoy! Want to struggle there with the very legs you were born with? Good luck!
People trying to walk on the sidewalks were falling down everywhere.
Like the peds I stuck to the middle of the street and the going was pretty good. In fact, the hardest part was getting out of the house, the walkway and alleyway were treacherous.
The ride had been a blast. All the gunk got washed off my bike, I wasn’t being slowed down by snow getting into my fenders, the cables were all sliding easily again. Where there was ice, I was able to let ‘er rip and spin the back wheel. Thanks to the studded tires I was able to keep enough control that it was crazy fun without being worried about splitting my head open.
Once I got into the office a big cold front moved in and the temperatures plummeted. By 10:30 it had dropped from +5 to -3 and the water was freezing up. But because the cars were churning it up as they drove it was freezing as a loose slush instead of a slick sheet of sickening sadness.
To top it off, in the afternoon the freezing water caused a water main to break on Laurier, spilling water everywhere and causing the street to be shut down.
The ride home was ok. It was -10 and the roads were quite passable, again proving the disasterbators could safely be ignored. News reports said that Laurier was completely closed on the block of the water main break, including the sidewalks, but I got through without any problems. If you were watching the news on TV you might have even seen me go by in the background as there were a few TV crews out and broadcasting.
