Despite the fact that I’ve been riding in the snowy season for the better part of a decade, this season has been one of firsts for me in terms of winter riding experiences. A couple of weeks ago I found myself paralyzed with a locked up left brake - resolutely refusing to open, refusing to allow the trike to move.
And the more recent first?
I got stuck.
I mean stuck - repeatedly, in fact. I got stuck in drifts that had been accumulating across the road. Stuck as in there was simply too much snow around the machine for me to pedal thru - all attempts at forward progress were for naught.
Now, this is not exactly the same experience that one has when one gets stuck in an automobile. Aside from brief, fruitless attempts to spin free, I did not need to engage in the usual vehicular shenanigans - rocking back and forth, shoveling out from under he car, getting grippy material to put under the tires... none of that.
I just got off, picked up the trike, moved to the next section of open road, set it down, and started pedaling.
You know, right up to the next drift. Then it was wash, rinse, repeat.
While I have had similar experiences on snow covered trails where the trike’s road tires aren’t ideally suited for managing the icy substrate, I have never gotten stuck in the middle of a country road before.
Looking back, I realized that I do not believe I’ve actually ever encountered snow drifts on my trike before. We certainly have them out here - they are a common impediment for winter driving across the prairie, and particularly so in the northern Illinois wind farms. But usually I wait for the plows to go thru before I head out.
This is not a practice I engage in because I am anticipating drifts. Rather, I just don’t want to get caught in the spray coming off of a plow blade or, even worse, get hit.
But on this particular day the plows had already been thru, and most of the roadways were clear. It was, ultimately, just a half-mile or so of blacktop that happened to be the right sort of open area where a north wind was conspiring with unblocked prairie to undo the efforts of the plow operators.
Ultimately this left me with combination of necessary efforts - dismounting and carrying/dragging the trike over or thru the thick stuff, and where available, hunting for evidence of recent vehicle passage, where the wheel cut thru the drift offered less resistance.
Mostly I enjoy the challenges winter riding throws my way - the variation in the scenery, the strategizing around what to wear and which routes to take all make it a different experience from the rides of the more moderate seasons. It’s just possible, however, that the snow drifts are a thing I could do without.