So You're Telling Me There's A Chance...

photo - Chris commuting to the store in a previous snow storm

It's official - we do still live in Colorado. Yesterday the entire state finally got a good dose of that spring snow. I almost forgot what it's like.
Colorado is no stranger to white stuff in spring. Yesterday's storm was considered a blizzard. This winter storm condition can actually be defined and is not just something that the media invented to spice-up newscasts. The last March blizzard that struck was in 2003 and dumped over 30 inches.
A blizzard is defined as: a sever winter storm with low temperatures, strong winds, and heavy lowing snow. It is formed when a high pressure system clashes with low pressure. This causes advection: The transfer of a property of the atmosphere, such as heat, cold, or humidity, by the horizontal movement of an air mass (taken from the freedictionary.com). Blizzards occur in many different regions across the US and Canada. This type of weather also affects Russia and areas of northern Europe.
OK, so what does this have to do with bicycling and the picture above? Simple, we can put our studded tires back on - yeah!

Here's to moon-boots and snowcaves,
LK

Winter

Winter is one of four seasons that the world experiences during the 365 days that constitutes a year. Due to the tilt of the Earth (23.5 degrees) we, in the northern hemisphere, are further away from the sun. As a result, we experience colder temperatures, shorter days, and, in Colorado, snow.
Today we decided to skip a day of work (from our imaginary jobs) and get out on the snow bikes. A few days ago Littleton got a few inches of the fresh stuff and we wanted to get our “cost per tire” down a bit. Also, after pedaling so many miles outdoors on our big trip, we can’t get motivated to use the treadmill in the basement. Who really gets psyched to do that anyway?
We got started early since the temperature was supposed to rise above freezing today. Mud and studded tires don’t mix well – picture Fruita after it rains. Leading the way to our favorite trail destination, I rolled over a variety of frozen terrain. I encountered glare ice, frozen snow, and powder. The first two weren’t a problem but the last one was a pain in the you-know-what.
After riding a few times on our winter tires, we are very pleased with the performance. We’ve found them to be very suitable for almost all conditions. On pure ice they grip well and we can even accelerate. On the varied terrain like packed or frozen snow, the tires are still very grippy, but do slip laterally in some instances. Powder seems to be the downfall of the spiked-enhanced rubber; you spend the same amount of time going sideways as you do forward. What you lose in distance, you more than make up for in workout intensity.
Ultimately, we have really enjoyed the winter landscape. In the past we have spent our time hiking to hang on frozen waterfalls or driving to escape the snow. I kind of like this part of reinventing ourselves; it’s new, it’s challenging, and it keeps us outside on the bikes.
Life is good,
LK