We’ve had an honest to goodness dose of real winter - snow plus cold - here in northern Illinois over the first full week or so of 2021. This should have been a boon for winter riding, but the opportunities have been less present than one would hope.
For most of the first week of January we were shrouded in freezing fog. For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it’s a weather situation where fog hangs around and the ambient temperature is at or below freezing. This essentially results in everything being coated in ice and frost; the longer it goes on, the thicker the ice.
It’s a lot of ice…
In our case this past week, this occurred following a bout of freezing rain followed by snow. This meant that we had several days in a row of low visibility on roads where snow sat atop an underlying level of ice.
Same shot - no fog above, fog below.
I love riding in winter in general, and especially when there is snow on the ground (which is not a guarantee here in northern Illinois). But I do have certain limits, and among those are low visibility and ice on the road, particularly in combination. In general, I’d just rather not be on the road when automotive traffic will have trouble seeing me, and trouble stopping or avoiding me when they do.
I also worry about that more in the early part of the season, when people aren’t yet accustomed to driving in the white stuff.
So - for me that means waiting and wishing. And not patiently. But the fog finally broke late in the week, and I was able to get out for short rides the following couple of days.
Over the last couple of years I have taken snow covering on the roads as opportunities to ride some of the gravel routes that I normally avoid. While I find gravel a hateful surface from a cycling perspective (and from a driving perspective, as far as that goes, unless one is looking for an opportunity to drift around corners... which I would, of course, never do...), a solid covering of snow tends to tame its rougher qualities.
Getting back out on the road after a few days off is always a relief.
Finally back on the road again…
Given that northern Illinois’ landscape is mostly prairie converted to agricultural use, the winter landscape can be somewhat bleak, from a certain perspective. But it is punctuated by islands of wintry loveliness:
Trees in snow
And more trees in snow!
And while it’s not completely untrafficked, you do occasionally come across sections of the road where you are among the first to tread since the snowfall.
Almost first…
Of course, in this case a snowmobiler had gotten there ahead of me. This is understandable - our snowfall in the area has become so unpredictable over the past decade or two that anyone who actually still has one of these machines really needs to jump on the opportunity when there’s enough of the white stuff to support a sled. It’s the same phenomenon that caused me to shift to winter cycling from cross country skiing.
Also unusual for this particular snowfall is that it’s remained for nearly a week. And our county road crews have not plowed the backroads, likely reserving resources for later in the season. As a result, I am then reminded about the changing nature of snow on the roadway over time. On earlier rides I was cutting my trail through fresh powder...
Like a pizza cutter but, you know, in snow.
But the last couple rides were over a mix of hard packed snow and ice, challenging me on uphill sections to aim for the open bits of gravel or asphalt to keep purchase with my drive wheel. And I did hit one uphill section without sufficient open surface or momentum on my most recent ride. This leads to a situation on the trike where you are pedaling hard, but the trike just keeps moving slower... and slower... and then backwards.
I tried in this case, as I almost always do, to regain forward motion with a combination of hands on front wheels and bouncing forward in my seat. Anything to keep from getting off the trike. It was, as it almost always is, a failure.
It’s in these moments where I find myself wondering if I should get a studded tire for the rear wheel in winter.
Of course, this type of road surface is a rare occurrence in our area, and when it does happen it also allows for the opportunity for purposeful sideways drifting around corners and such, which a studded tire would prevent. Of one were interested in doing such a thing. Which, of course I, again, am not...
(Ok - in all seriousness, if you have a trike, and you have snow, you have to go out and do this - it’s a blast!)
So - this caused a brief, shameful interlude where I had to dismount and walk the trike the rest of the way up the hill. Fortunately I was all by myself, so no one will ever know.
And - this stuff isn’t going to last, so it’s time to go out and ride!
Orange on white