A Wee Bit Slickery

Those darker grey-ish areas? - STAY AWAY! It's ice!

The big melt we had going on with all the warmth, rain, and fog went to the deep freeze over night and that means one thing- Ice!

Since I missed out on riding to work two days in a row due to the inclement weather, I wasn't about to sit around all day Wednesday and watch it be Sunny outside without putting my butt on a bike. No matter how icy it might be!

So, with no real agenda in mind other than to stay upright and pedal, I chose the Blackborow DS, decided to take things slow, and went out to explore. I had no idea how far I could get, so I didn't know if I'd be home in five minutes or two hours. But I was gonna get a ride in!

The decision was made to try riding down the Sergeant Road trail Southwestward and then I hopped up onto the dike for the Black Hawk Creek to get a bird's eye view of the scene in the Green Belt. With all the rain and warmth we had I found a lot of ice and wherever people, snow mobiles, pets, or whatever had been on the snow previous to the recent weather it was very icy and hard not to slip out on it.  I actually had to stop a few times just to keep from going down, and I wasn't going fast at all. Eyeballing the Green Belt at these stops it was easy to see that traveling in the Green Belt won't be happening anytime soon.

There is a lot of frozen flood water in places in the Green Belt right now.

So, I decided to run the dike out to the Sergeant Road Trail again, then up to Martin Road, and back toward Irv Warren Golf Course. I went up by the Pro shop and noted that the parking lot had been plowed. Hmm..... If you cannot golf, why bother plowing the lot? Weird.

The "Oh So Pro" parking at the golf course wasn't being used, so I took advantage!

In a few places I was running on what was left of the snow for fun. Now this snow has seen upper 30"s and rain, so it was really crusty. The Lou's were making an awful racket if I sank in a little bit. Ultimate "ripping Styrofoam" sounds! Almost deafening, actually. By the way, I don't think the Lou's treads have ever been cleaner!

On the way home I ran into NY Roll. He invited me in his home for a beer. We yakked about bikes and how I was able to get Ella, his Ridgeback, to talk to me. Apparently she isn't very vocal. Maybe I have a way with dogs? Dunno......

It was great to get out and pedal, but this ice business is for the birds. Penguins, I'd say. Anyway, it has to go. Hopefully with the angle of the Sun getting better everyday this stuff won't be around too long. It's what? A month till Spring? A little over two months till Trans Iowa?

Yeah, Winter is just about done, I hope!