Itsy Bitsy Spider Starts Up the Spout Again

I pride myself on rarely missing a day of bike riding, and hardly ever
for weather, always trying to get at least a few miles in, with an
absolute minimum of one. My longest streak of consecutive days riding
(5 years and 16 days) was broken when I was hit by a car in 2003. One
day in 2004, and again on Sept 23, 2007, I missed days due to travel
issues, and I had some surgery in July 2005 that kept me off the bike
for almost 4 weeks. Other than that, I hadn't missed a day since
1998, and none on account of weather, which meant going out in some
pretty dubious conditions, or some days going out at midnight when the
weather was liken to worsen.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was this past
Wed., Feb. 6; SE Wisconsin got hit by a snowstorm that started the
late afternoon of the 5th and continued until 9:00 p.m. on the 6th, by
which time anywhere from 12 to 21 inches had fallen, depending on
where you were. (measurements on our driveway averaged 14 inches.) I
did make it to and from work by bus - long slow trips both ways - but
the salt trucks and plows weren't even close to keeping up. I did see
one bicycle messenger out while walking to noon Mass in downtown
Milwaukee, and can only marvel that he was getting anywhere at all in
deep snow full of ruts - a better man than I. Though I had a bike
downtown, I wasn't equal to even giving it a try. And the situation
at home was hopeless. Our snowblower did its job and we got our
driveway cleared, but I wouldn't have tried the street with a car, let
alone a bike; in fact, a car was stuck on the street when I was
walking home from the bus.

The roads were still bad yesterday, but I did get a mile of riding in,
before getting back up to 23 miles today, including riding the bike
back home. So my new streak is 2 days!

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

Must be global warming!

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
I pride myself on rarely missing a day of bike riding, and hardly ever
for weather, always trying to get at least a few miles in, with an
absolute minimum of one. My longest streak of consecutive days riding
(5 years and 16 days) was broken when I was hit by a car in 2003. One
day in 2004, and again on Sept 23, 2007, I missed days due to travel
issues, and I had some surgery in July 2005 that kept me off the bike
for almost 4 weeks. Other than that, I hadn't missed a day since
1998, and none on account of weather, which meant going out in some
pretty dubious conditions, or some days going out at midnight when the
weather was liken to worsen.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was this past
Wed., Feb. 6; SE Wisconsin got hit by a snowstorm that started the
late afternoon of the 5th and continued until 9:00 p.m. on the 6th, by
which time anywhere from 12 to 21 inches had fallen, depending on
where you were. (measurements on our driveway averaged 14 inches.) I
did make it to and from work by bus - long slow trips both ways - but
the salt trucks and plows weren't even close to keeping up.

Almost none of the side streets off of Lisbon and Appleton (US 41) were
plowed at all as far as I could tell.

I did see
one bicycle messenger out while walking to noon Mass in downtown
Milwaukee, and can only marvel that he was getting anywhere at all in
deep snow full of ruts - a better man than I. Though I had a bike
downtown, I wasn't equal to even giving it a try. And the situation
at home was hopeless. Our snowblower did its job and we got our
driveway cleared, but I wouldn't have tried the street with a car, let
alone a bike; in fact, a car was stuck on the street when I was
walking home from the bus.

I did not think driving to and from work on Wednesday was bad at all,
since enough people stayed home to make traffic light. But then, I may
be insane.

The roads were still bad yesterday, but I did get a mile of riding in,
before getting back up to 23 miles today, including riding the bike
back home. So my new streak is 2 days!

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

Must be global warming!

Watch out for the black ice, when it gets cold tomorrow!

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was this past
Wed., Feb. 6; SE Wisconsin got hit by a snowstorm that started the
late afternoon of the 5th and continued until 9:00 p.m. on the 6th, by
which time anywhere from 12 to 21 inches had fallen, depending on
where you were. (measurements on our driveway averaged 14 inches.) I

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

I got out of Madison on Tuesday evening, and not a moment too soon. I'd been
out for the prior 3 days at Trek for meetings, and originally was scheduled
to leave for home on Wednesday. But as the meetings ended Tuesday, the
weather was beginning to look... well, interesting is the best way to put
it. Not terribly bad, but people seemed concerned. I got back to my hotel in
Madison at 4pm, logged onto UA.com and saw that they were waiving the $100
change fees for people traveling to/from Wisconsin, and IMMEDIATELY packed
my bags and headed to the airport. Oh my what a place that was, people
trying to get out of there, with both incoming and the corresponding
outgoing flights getting cancelled. As I mentioned elsewhere, it was like
the fall of Saigon. I was one of the lucky ones, escaping via Denver after
Chicago shut down.

Good luck on your next riding streak. You're crazier than I am! People give
me a bad time because I ride on Tuesday & Thursday mornings, no matter what.
But no matter what, here in Northern California, might mean, at worst, epic
rain & wind. Nothing like what you get to ride in!

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"Ron Wallenfang" wrote in message
...
I pride myself on rarely missing a day of bike riding, and hardly ever
for weather, always trying to get at least a few miles in, with an
absolute minimum of one. My longest streak of consecutive days riding
(5 years and 16 days) was broken when I was hit by a car in 2003. One
day in 2004, and again on Sept 23, 2007, I missed days due to travel
issues, and I had some surgery in July 2005 that kept me off the bike
for almost 4 weeks. Other than that, I hadn't missed a day since
1998, and none on account of weather, which meant going out in some
pretty dubious conditions, or some days going out at midnight when the
weather was liken to worsen.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was this past
Wed., Feb. 6; SE Wisconsin got hit by a snowstorm that started the
late afternoon of the 5th and continued until 9:00 p.m. on the 6th, by
which time anywhere from 12 to 21 inches had fallen, depending on
where you were. (measurements on our driveway averaged 14 inches.) I
did make it to and from work by bus - long slow trips both ways - but
the salt trucks and plows weren't even close to keeping up. I did see
one bicycle messenger out while walking to noon Mass in downtown
Milwaukee, and can only marvel that he was getting anywhere at all in
deep snow full of ruts - a better man than I. Though I had a bike
downtown, I wasn't equal to even giving it a try. And the situation
at home was hopeless. Our snowblower did its job and we got our
driveway cleared, but I wouldn't have tried the street with a car, let
alone a bike; in fact, a car was stuck on the street when I was
walking home from the bus.

The roads were still bad yesterday, but I did get a mile of riding in,
before getting back up to 23 miles today, including riding the bike
back home. So my new streak is 2 days!

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

Must be global warming!

In article ,
Ron Wallenfang writes:
I pride myself on rarely missing a day of bike riding, and hardly ever
for weather, always trying to get at least a few miles in, with an
absolute minimum of one. My longest streak of consecutive days riding
(5 years and 16 days) was broken when I was hit by a car in 2003. One
day in 2004, and again on Sept 23, 2007, I missed days due to travel
issues, and I had some surgery in July 2005 that kept me off the bike
for almost 4 weeks. Other than that, I hadn't missed a day since
1998, and none on account of weather, which meant going out in some
pretty dubious conditions, or some days going out at midnight when the
weather was liken to worsen.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was this past
Wed., Feb. 6; SE Wisconsin got hit by a snowstorm that started the
late afternoon of the 5th and continued until 9:00 p.m. on the 6th, by
which time anywhere from 12 to 21 inches had fallen, depending on
where you were.

There's more to life than riding.

At least, so I'm told.

Being temporarily grounded by weather
is survivable.

And the anticipation enhances that first
possible ride when the weather improves.

You'll live.

Unless it's the start of an Ice Age, in
which case I imagine a whole bunch of
new combinations of cuss words will
be coined, and there'll be much grumbling
and gnashing of teeth.

Take heart. The days are perceptibly
becoming longer, and the weather at least
a little more temperate.

Hey, it's February already. And February
is like November backwards. Okay, December.
Forgive me -- as a Sagittarian I'm an eternal
optimist. At least February is the shortest
month. Except this is a leap year. One
extra day. Oh, well.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.



It could be better, too. Dallas has 0 inches of snow for the season....

Pat wrote:

Ron Wallenfang wrote:

But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

It could be better, too. Dallas has 0 inches of snow for the season....

I understand that there's been no snow in Port Moresby this year
either. The catch is that to experience Port Moresby's weather
conditions, you have to be there.

The same is true for Dallas.

Chalo
Austin, Texas

On Feb 9, 3:25*pm, "Pat" wrote:
But now it's snowing again! *66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.

It could be better, too. Dallas has 0 inches of snow for the season....

Snow is a GOOD thing. You are confused.

In the local paper today there was an article about how the department
of highways was driving dumptrucks filled with snow down from the
mountains to our local ski arena so the junior national championships
could be held as scheduled.

4 seasons is nice.

Joseph

wrote:
On Feb 9, 3:25 pm, "Pat" wrote:
But now it's snowing again! 66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.
It could be better, too. Dallas has 0 inches of snow for the season....

Snow is a GOOD thing. You are confused.

In the local paper today there was an article about how the department
of highways was driving dumptrucks filled with snow down from the
mountains to our local ski arena so the junior national championships
could be held as scheduled.

4 seasons is nice.

Joseph
You must be mad!!!

--
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

In article ,
" writes:

Snow is a GOOD thing. You are confused.

uhhhh ... I repectfully but vehemently
implore you to rethink.

When it's fresh, snow might be pretty.
But you know that sooner or later it's
gonna turn into an ugly mess when the
weather warms up.

I don't mind snow, per se. It's when it
gets packed into ice where I want to
ride or walk that chagrines me.

That, and when it ultimately melts, causing
vast lakes of undeterminable depth to establish
themselves around storm drains at intersections.

I /do/ like those quiet, clear, sunny days after
a snowfall when all you can hear is melted water
dripping. Those often seem to be Sundays.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Feb 9, 11:00*pm, John Kane wrote:
wrote:
On Feb 9, 3:25 pm, "Pat" wrote:
But now it's snowing again! *66 inches for the season so far, 20
inches over the average for the entire winter, and it could be worse;
Madison has 76.
It could be better, too. Dallas has 0 inches of snow for the season....

Snow is a GOOD thing. You are confused.

In the local paper today there was an article about how the department
of highways was driving dumptrucks filled with snow down from the
mountains to our local ski arena so the junior national championships
could be held as scheduled.

4 seasons is nice.

Joseph

You must be mad!!!

--
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

The Hell you live in Canada for you don't like snow?!?? ;-)

Joseph (Grumpy from lack of skiing)