Bad Decisions, Bad Vibrations, Good Hackery, and Good Luck

I went for a little ride today via a new loop that I pulled partly from Google Maps and partly from my rectum. I cruised down Noyes Slough to where it meets the Chena near the University Avenue bridge. I rode along the Chena's bank till the bridge. On the north side where I was, there really wasn't anywhere to get up to University, which is where I was planning to go. As I stood under the bridge and looked west, there was open water steaming in the -30°F air about fifty yards or so away. The area under the bridge looked as though it had frozen recently since there was no snow cover on it. The whole thing was covered in hoarfrost that looked like a popcorn ceiling flipped upside down. I felt stupid as hell as I inched across the ice. I walked with my bike next to me, leaning on it heavily to try and distribute some of my weight over to it. I had turned my iPod off so I could listening for the creaking of ice I expected to hear movie style before I fell in. Luckily all I heard was the cars whizzing overhead on University as I made it all the way across and heaved a sigh of relief.

The next part of my ride was easy as I traversed University then the Johansen bike path since it was all nicely plowed and I was still elated to not be wet. When I reached Danby I was glad that I had decided recently to ergonomize my bars. Basically the route was unplowed and semi-packed by foot and snowmachine traffic. It was basically set like a mile long section of rumble strip. My cheap hack of layering a wedge of bar tape and then wrapping the wedge once probably kept my hands from going totally numb.

Near College Road I took a cut off and blasted down back to the slough. After a bit I cut off it to visit a friend who had helped my in the building of Puggie by allowing me access to a drill press to SL my Graceful Fat Shebas. I stayed just long enough to cool off and end up completely sweating from the ambient temperature instead of my exertions. As I cut out to head for home I was extremely happy for all my wool, which kept me warm despite the fact that it was soaked and I was no longer generating any heat. All in in a nice Sunday ride.