Riding on snow

[Green RT]

This will be a ride report on a short ride, 3 miles.

 

On Tuesday (10/17), I rode to work. The weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon, turning to snow at night. When I left the house it was overcast but dry. I only live 3 miles from the office and usually take a bus which stops a couple of blocks from my house and then stops right next to the office. But on Tuesday, I had some errands to run after work so I wanted some transportation.

 

I parked right outside the window to my office, so I could watch the weather and the bike easily. We started getting snow flurries about noon or sooner. However the temperature was above freezing and the snow didn't stick to anything. Around 5 pm, the snow started coming down thicker. By now it was accumulating on cars and on the seat and windscreen of the RT. The ground was still clear however. I was thinking I really should get out of there, but wanted to finish up a few things so I didn't leave immediately. Then I notice that it is starting to stick to the ground. At this point I am thinking, I really need to get home. Just then, someone came into my office and it was 10 minutes before I could get away. By the time I suited up, packed my briefcase in the side case, and rolled of the center stand there were 2 inches of snow accumulated in the parking lot. I had to kick a clean spot to get enough traction under my feet to roll it off the stand.

 

When I pulled out onto the road there was a fair amount of snow on the ground, but there were two tracks where cars had driven. About a mile later the tracks were gone and I was riding in a couple of inches of pretty slushy snow. No ice under it but it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling. As I said, it was only about three miles home, three long straight stretches. 3/4 mile to an intersection, right turn, 1-3/4 to another intersection, left turn, 1/4 mile to my driveway. All flat as a pancake. I took the turns pretty slowly. In fact, I did everything pretty slowly. The car behind me must have been understanding. I was doing about 20 mph in a 45 and he stayed about a 1/4 mile behind me. Probably was thinking if I was crazy enough to try to kill myself, he wasn't going to help me.

 

Also at this point the snow and frost was heavy enough that I couldn't see very well, by the time I got home. However, I made it home with no problems. It was never really dangerous but it could have been inconvenient. If I had fallen over I probably would have had to leave the bike by the side of the road. That is, if there was enough traction to get it upright and move it off the roadway. I couldn't have done it by myself. I can just pick it up when there is good traction under my feet. No way I could have picked it up in the snow.

 

The next day sitting in my office at noon, the sun was shining and the roads were dry. I realized that I was pretty dumb. There was absolutely no reason not to have just left the bike sitting in front of the office, taken the bus home, and back again the next day, and ridden home in normal weather. But it was an interesting experience and worth it even if I only learned to be more careful to avoid it happening again.

[NoLongeraK1200RSRider]

Sort of scary.. but glad that you made it without incident. Don't we do some stoopid things sometimes? I learned to ride on a moped.. in Alaska.. on the ice skating rink in our neighborhood in the dead of winter!! Crazy or what? Now I won't even start a ride if it is raining.. let alone snowing and this is after more years of riding than I should probably admit to (since 1960)