Railroad Crossing

I was asked to help out with the Cub Scout Construction City on Saturday and being the considerate husband and father I am, I decided to ride over to the event and leave the car home for the girls (which they did not use).  The roads were icy with a fresh layer of snow covering it and the temperatures had dipped into the low teens.  Yeah, I'm a little crazy but in my defense, it was 30 degrees the night before and I didn't notice how cold it was until I was already on the road, in just a windbreaker.  My body stayed warm but I could feel the sting of the cold where my clothes touched my skin.

Considering the road conditions, I debated my route and opted for a less traveled route to avoid the traffic.  Its a route I rarely ever ride.  I took State Street to the 6th Street underpass and worked my way up the neighborhoods to the auditorium.  On State Street there is a rail road crossing that is so infrequently used that I often forget it's even there.  As I approached, traveling around 16-18 mph, I saw the tracks in the snow.  Tracks are never a good situation on a bike, especially when they don't cross perpendicularly.  At our organized rides, they always warn us to take the tracks at a 90 degree angle, or as close to it as possible.  I've heard of the dangers but have never seen or experienced any problems with tracks before.

As I said, the tracks snuck up on me and before I knew it, they were right there in front of me and, of course, they crossed the road at an angle.  Rather than swerve on the ice I opted to roll over the tracks and hope for the best.  I don't know what happened next but as soon as my front tire hit the tracks, my bike was jumping out of control.  I dropped my feet off the pedals but they never touched the road.  The next thing I know, I'm sliding down the road laying face down on top of my bike with a sharp pain in my knee where it had whacked the pavement.  Hurt and embarrassed, I slowly stood up, brushed myself off,  inspected the bike, put the chain back on the front sprocket and climbed back onto the bike.  Although it happened so fast, I'm pretty sure my front tire got caught in the track and flipped me off the bike.  I now understand the challenges of railroad tracks and will be much more cautious of them in the future.

I did make it to the event and back without another incident but I have limped around all weekend.  The knee is tender to the touch but I'm sure it will be back to normal in a week or so.  I'd rather take a whack to the knee than another hit on the elbow any day.

I love my studded tires!

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love my studded snow tires?  I know I have but I'll reiterate it again.  I love my studded snow tires.

Last year Grandpa Jensen pulled Sydney and Tara in a sled behind his riding lawn mower and they loved it.  This Thanksgiving one of our friends, Chris, pulled them behind his motorcycle and they had a blast.  I figured since Chris was able to pull them with his motorcycle, surely I could pull them for awhile on my bike with the studded snow tires.  Today, in a desperate bit of bribery, I promised Sydney and Tara that I'd pull their sled behind my bike if they helped to clean up their house, especially that heap of toys, dirty clothes and other junk they call a bedroom.  This is a promise I've been making for over a week but they've never followed through.  This time they finally did. 

After dinner I snuck outside, tied a line around my seat post and through the saddle mount and looped it onto the sled.  I really doubted my ability to pull both of them through the snow, especially after our extremely slow start.  With the sled fully loaded, I cranked down on the pedals and popped a nice wheely and then the back wheel spun out.  The sled never moved.  I tried a slower start and slowly towed them out of the alley while my back wheel spun out all over the place and my front wheel jumped from rut to rut unpredictably.  I anticipated troubles so I pulled out my old hockey elbow pads to protect my already tender and damaged  elbows.  Never needed them, thank goodness.

Eventually we pulled out onto the road and the riding got easier.  Best to stick to the hard-packed snow.  The kids had a blast.  I even dumped them a couple times but I never went down.  I think we were out there for about an hour and even though my heart was beating about a thousand times per minute, they egged me on, "Faster Daddy!  FASTER!"  After awhile, I convinced them to take turns and go one at a time so I could go faster (and get a much needed break).  I found an open parking lot for the sugar beet factory where I could really let loose and pick up some speed.  I couldn't tell if the screams behind me where screams of joy or fear but they had a great time and I got in an awesome workout.  Not really an ideal Sunday activity but I'll classify it as family time.  I'm eager to get Evie out on her new infant sled!  A three kid train!  Oh the neighbors much think I'm crazy!

Winter biking

It snowed again on Sunday, and it didn't stop until another 12-15 inches fell on top of the six inches of snow we already had.  The news report stated that some areas of Billings received up to 21 inches of snow this November.  And like a lunatic, I am still riding my bike to work.  I knew that I was in for a doozy when I watched a car drive down our street with a wake of fluid snow behind it just like a motor boat on a calm lake.  Biking in the snow has a whole new set of challenges compounded with traveling feet away from 2000-pound hunks of steel controlled by stressed-out and sometimes angry people traveling to and from work.  My new studded tires do nothing for the snow, especially a foot and a half of it.  The soft snow usually pushes around the front tire of the bike and pedaling feels much like moving through slick sand.  However, after a car packs down the snow, it turns into a dry slush that grabs the front tire and tosses it all over the road.  I'm sure I'm quite the site pushing my bike through the snow at 5 mph frantically turning my handlebars back and forth to right myself before crashing into the snow.  And that's only if I have the speed or torque to push through.  Often I have to dip a foot into the snow losing all momentum.  Sometimes I can start up again but often I have to push the bike until I can find a better spot to start out again.  Billings does plow about 5 streets so when I finally get to one of those streets, I have to fight the traffic on the ice.  That's where the studded tires come in handy.

My Monday morning commute was a real battle.  The roads where only lightly traveled by then so they were a complete mess.  I had to walk most of the block and a half to Broadway before I could even think about hopping on the bike.  Intersections were a nightmare with ruts converging from the cross-street on my path of travel.  I arrived at work on Monday sweaty, out of breath, and my heart was about to explode.  I walked in with my helmet in hand, brushing off the snow when a coworker saw me and exclaimed "You rode your bike today?!"  She was visibly frazzled from her morning commute and proceeded to tell me of her snow troubles.  She struggled to even get out of her garage and after three attempts, finally gunned it shattering her side mirror on the garage door jamb in the process.  She got stuck several times and had to be pushed out of the snow once.  I told her that my bike was easy to push and rarely got stuck.  There are perks to my insanity.

That evening I decided to meet Sarah at the gym for spin class and racquetball.  I struggled again until I finally hit 3rd Avenue where the road was more packed.  As I rode along, some jerk in a gray sedan passed me in my lane just about knocking me off the bike.  I yelled at him while shaking my fist (just my fist) letting him know I was less than enthused with his driving techniques.  I followed the car until he turned off at a parking lot.  I watched as the car pulled through the parking lot, drive parallel to me and turned onto the next street just as I turned onto it.  He proceeded to drive toward me in my lane forcing me onto the sidewalk.  What a jerk!.  Sometimes I wish I had a baseball bat or tire iron strapped to my bike.   Its bad enough that I have to fight the snow because the city is too cheap to plow even after 21 inches of snow, but I have to deal with complete imbeciles and their metal death machines too!  Give me a break.

On a side note, I had a crazy idea this morning while fighting the snow.  I think it'd be awesome if I could rig two skis to my front fork that I could lower while riding through snow and put a studded paddle tire on the back rim.   This isn't exactly what I had in mind but its still pretty cool.  Maybe someday I'll find the time, ambition and tools to build a prototype.

Happy "Cranks"giving - 2010

13 Miles

10-20 degrees

So, many of you know that we got stranded in Billings for Thanksgiving because of the poor road conditions (Montanans are so cheap they won't pay to have the roads plowed.  They'd rather pay the higher insurance premiums!  Well, the ones that aren't driving on suspended licenses anyway.)  I decided to make the best of my Thanksgiving at home and although it was freezing outside and the roads were still slick, I set out on an ice biking adventure.  Last year I went on a nice mountain bike ride in 50 degree weather (Cranksgiving 2009) and the year before I pedaled from my parents house to my aunt's house about 30 miles away in cold weather.  I think I've got a Thanksgiving Day tradition started.

I started at about 10 am and the forecast called for 8 degree weather.  It took me quite awhile to get dressed for the weather but I worked out a good combination but I looked really ridiculous until I was fully dressed with layers of base layer, bike shorts, wool socks, a thermal top, and finally a athletic pants, a fleece pullover, scarf and balclava (fancy word for a ski mask that I can pull down so my face isn't completely covered.  It was probably a couple degrees warmer (less cold) by the time I finally got on the bike.

I set out on the road feeling pretty confident on the ice and hard pack with my studded tires, maybe too confident.  I made it to the "secret" entrance to Riverfront Park where I usually catch a dirt trail that leads me into the interior of the park.  I knew the riding would be tough with the 6-8 inches of fresh snow but I was hoping the trees would have kept some of the snow off the trail and the cross-country skiers would have packed down the rest.  Wrong on both counts.  I geared down and trudged on into the park.  I pedaled until my heart felt like it was going to explode.  In defeat, I jumped off the bike to catch my breath and evaluate the situation.  

To my surprise, the bike stood up on its own in the snow!  Yeah, that was too much snow but I was to determined to give up.  I noticed that my bike hadn't actually shifted down to the lowest gear so I forced it into gear and tried again.  Pedaling was easier but I still couldn't go very far before my front tire got caught on something or before my heart leapt out of my chest.  I should have turned back then but I was too stubborn.  Soon a skier passed me and laughed commenting that I needed skis on my bike.  I really should have turned back then but now I had something to prove.  Man, I really get in my own way sometimes.  I pushed my bike through the snow for the next mile, pedaling when I could, hoping that once I got to the gravel trail, pedaling would get easier.

I hit the gravel trail and had no such luck.  I trudged on thinking that I'd make it too the pavement and the snow would be shallower.  Wrong again!  The pavement was in an open area that had drifted so the snow was even deeper.  However there were fewer ski tracks.  I found I did a lot better on the pavement if I could blaze my own trail.  I was exhausted an discouraged by now and I'd gone so far it didn't seem worth turning around now.  My new hope was to make it to the road where I could ride in the ruts and hard pack.

 Finally up ahead I saw a vehicle pull into a parking area.  Score! I finally had some hard pack to ride on!  When I finally got to the road, it was beautiful.  The whole road was hard pack and I could finally move.  I road the entire length of the road, turned around and road it again.  It was great.

I had one last idea up my sleeve.  On the other side of the park is a trail going around Norm's Island that is very heavily used.  I thought I'd check it out and see if it was ride-able.  The trail was rough but passable.  My wrists were sore by the time I finished from all the bouncing on the trail and I got a kick out of the reactions of the dog walkers as I passed them on bike, much different from the pathetic sympathy that I got from the skiers.  I was having fun but it was time for me to get back to my Thanksgiving feast.  I cruised back home on the ice and hardpacked roads hitting 18 mph, the fastest I've been able to go in over a week.  I love these new studded tires.  I passed a sign reading 22 degrees on the way back.  Awesome!

I got back home and we hurried out the door to our friends' house for a great Thanksgiving dinner.  Not the same as being home with family but we still had a great time.

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" - NEW street trials riding short film

I love watching Danny MacAskill stunt videos. This is his newest. X-games stunts are awesome and the riders definitely go for the wow factor but Danny is a whole different kind of rider. His stunts are so fluid, beautiful and some are even beyond comprehension like how on earth do you balance a wheelie on your back tire and then do a front flip?! Just amazing. Enjoy!