0 comment Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | admin
It's been in and out of deep freeze lately, but today we had the added fun of a high wind advisory. The weatherman wouldn't shut up long enough about the 80 mph gusts they're getting up in Georgetown and Idaho Springs to tell me how fast the wind was blowing in Denver, but as an amateur sailor, I'd peg it at 35 knots sustained with gusts to 50.
I rode into work this morning still recovering from a cold, and due to that, I decided to take Josh's advice and lightrail it to class at DU this evening. Good call, it was warm, and relatively wind free, but when I got out of class and rode the half mile back to the lightrail station, the wind had scalloped the snow banks on campus, made wind loaded cornices on every roof, and blown any liquid water across the road where it had refrozen into a chunky, solid sheet of glare ice.
I made it to the lightrail with only two instances of being blown off course laterally on one of these glare ice patches. The real OMG! started after I got off at 10th and Osage to go home. It's less than a mile to my house, but what a mile. I just kept thinking "keep your legs moving, a gyroscope will get across the ice without falling". This is sort of true, but a following or cross wind will mess that theory up in a hurry. I again tried my sniper tactic of holding my breath as I crossed the ice sheets, the idea being that without the movement from breathing, you will be more stable, and make your shot/not fall on your ass.
I don't know if I can chalk it up to that technique, but I didn't fall somehow.
People look at you like you are nuts when you ride on days like today, but honestly, now I can look back at it and say, "yep, that was difficult, and I made it through anyway".
Insert your own thought here:
I rode into work this morning still recovering from a cold, and due to that, I decided to take Josh's advice and lightrail it to class at DU this evening. Good call, it was warm, and relatively wind free, but when I got out of class and rode the half mile back to the lightrail station, the wind had scalloped the snow banks on campus, made wind loaded cornices on every roof, and blown any liquid water across the road where it had refrozen into a chunky, solid sheet of glare ice.
I made it to the lightrail with only two instances of being blown off course laterally on one of these glare ice patches. The real OMG! started after I got off at 10th and Osage to go home. It's less than a mile to my house, but what a mile. I just kept thinking "keep your legs moving, a gyroscope will get across the ice without falling". This is sort of true, but a following or cross wind will mess that theory up in a hurry. I again tried my sniper tactic of holding my breath as I crossed the ice sheets, the idea being that without the movement from breathing, you will be more stable, and make your shot/not fall on your ass.
I don't know if I can chalk it up to that technique, but I didn't fall somehow.
People look at you like you are nuts when you ride on days like today, but honestly, now I can look back at it and say, "yep, that was difficult, and I made it through anyway".
Insert your own thought here:
Labels: Colorado, Denver, Moments