Next Time I will Take a Picture

So yesterday on my road home I experienced sleet and wind. It was not pleasant. I rode with my head down, looking at my water bottle, with the occasional glance ahead to avoid certain death. This was almost my fate flying downhill along 520 (the trail! not the freeway) when I happened to glance up and see I was about to ram a slowly moving mountain biker in the middle of the trail. I swerved, said something I wouldn't want Emy to hear, and then promptly put my head back down. When I got home, Bree was amused that I immediately switched into my running shoes and went for a 20 minute jog along the Sammamish River. The sleet switched over to snow on the run, and my wet clothes from the ride just barely kept me above hypothermic levels as I got back. I figure it was good training for cross season in the Fall. Anyone who knows me knows I was loving every minute of it.

Today I awoke to a light dusting of snow everywhere, and a temperature of 32.6F. I wasn't worried, since I had that extra 0.6F to ensure there would be no ice on my ride in. Yeah, right! The ride in was on crusty slush, which held up amazingly well, and offered a reasonable amount of traction. When I got on the trail I saw there were at least three other skinny tire riders who came before me, and so I figured if they could do it, then so could I. There were only a couple of times when I worried I would start going backwards as I made my way up the 6 to 12% gradient along 520, and at one point I was surprised to see I was going 4 mph (fast walking pace)! The ride in would have been uneventful except for the hasty minivan driver that almost took me out in a crosswalk. Unfortunately I had to dab my right foot, which loaded the right cleat with ice, and for the remaining one mile I could only balance that shoe on top of my pedals (which are Speedplays, so it is kinda like balancing your foot on a lollipop).

The ride after work was smooth as butter. Funny - there were not too many people riding today!